The Power of Stories––from The Lookout

By Zeke Lunder

I was invited to give a keynote address at Chico State's 'This Way To Resilience' Symposium. My talk was titled 'Telling Better Stories Around the Camp Fire'. It was about how the stories we choose to tell and amplify shape our relationships with the places they are about.

Most of the stories we hear or tell about the 2018 Camp Fire revolve around victimhood and loss. In the aftermath of the fire, there remains widespread trauma and a general fear of fire, the villain of the collective memory. But fire doesn't exist in a vacuum.

This story is about how the landscape attributes of Paradise and Concow set these places up for rare but inevitable episodes of extreme wildfire hazard. Many of the factors which influence this are knowable; becoming versed in the ways of wildfire is essential if people hope to safely dwell in fire's domain.

Fire is the best teacher. Prescribed burning is giving people a safe environment in which to learn from it. In the process, many of us are healing our Camp Fire trauma, and making new stories.

Watch the complete talk here: https://the-lookout.org/2025/04/08/the-power-of-stories/

This is a repost from Zeke Lunder's LinkedIn.