This month, deadly wildfires have ravaged Hawaii, killing over a hundred people, and hundreds are still missing. The fires were centered on the island of Maui, where they destroyed much of the historic city of Lahaina.

The fires are typical of the increasingly extreme weather events being driven by climate change. But climate is only part of the story — the long history of business-driven destruction of Maui’s historic wetlands and public utilities’ refusal to invest in safe energy infrastructure is also to blame. The Lever’s news editor, Lucy Dean Stockton, spoke with Kaniela Ing, a former Hawaii state representative and now national director of the Green New Deal Network, about how capitalists have destroyed Hawaii’s natural environment from the early twentieth century on, helping fuel the disastrous wildfires we’re seeing now.