UO E-clips, Oct. 25

When the smoke clears (Forbes.com): The wildfires roaring through Southern California have already caused more than $1 billion in damage, say officials. All hands are focused on the immediate task of putting the fires out before crossing the next bridge: rebuilding the charred parts of the state. But what happens to Southern California's economy once the fires die out? Might it get a lift from rebuilding efforts? … When the smoke clears, there will be a surge in economic activity for a short period of time, says Ed Whitelaw, a professor of economics at the University of Oregon and president of the consulting firm ECONorthwest. But long-term development "depends entirely on the nature of the investment."

Warm, warmer, hot (Lake Oswego Review): You don’t have to be a scientist, or even a weatherman, to realize that global warming is taking place. As Marylhurst University’s president Nancy Wilgenbusch put it in her introductory speech at the Climate Change Forum at Marylhurst Saturday, “I am an astute observer. I feel deeply about the changes that need to be made.” There were plenty of scientists on hand to show why Wilgenbusch is right to be concerned. Scientists are a cautious group. They even prefer that the term “climate change” be used rather than “global warming.” But they provided plenty of evidence of this change, well beyond photos of polar bears on shrinking icebergs. “Consensus is not important,” said Ron Mitchell, a political science professor at the University of Oregon, pointing out there used to be consensus that the earth was flat and that all the planets (and the sun) rotated around the earth. “The evidence supports the claims,” Mitchell said. “Almost everything points in the same direction. Nine out of 10 pieces of evidence point toward climate change occurring.”