Topanga, California, US – Leaves crunched under Eli Lichter-Mark’s boots as he walked through his back yard in Topanga in the Santa Monica Mountains, where a drought driven by climate change has siphoned moisture from the oak tree canopy. “You’re here at the crunchiest time,” the beekeeper told Al Jazeera.
A sign on the road leading to his house declares: “Danger – extreme fire hazard area.” A 20-minute drive from the Los Angeles sprawl, the community of about 8,000 people is a tinderbox. Most people live in wooden bungalows, built at a time when the fire risk was lower.
