Was climate change necessary for this fire to occur? Probably not. But was it a sufficient condition that increased it's likelihood of happening? Absolutely. Causation is complicated. This event fits into the predicted pattern by scientists so that should be taken seriously.

I typically ask candidates during interviews to write a function in C that adds two numbers and returns the sum.
You would be surprised (or perhaps depressed) about how many can't do so.

Instead of easing students' egos and feelings, be realistic about it. Those who are serious and committed will continue on.

Agreed - programming can be very challenging. Programming can be easy if the requirements are easy, but Software Engineering, like other disciplines, requires a broader mindset to be able to consider the tradeoffs involved when writing lines of code. maintainability, security, scalability, memory and runtime performance, readability, interfaces, extensibility, etc, etc, etc... Sugarcoating the truth is doing a disservice to newcomers in the field because, frankly, it's setting up the wrong expectations. Any CS professor should understand that. They should communicate the reality that Programming has a spectrum of difficulty that depends on many factors, and while anyone can dip their toes and make something, it takes time, dedication and conviction to master.

Simple is a matter of perspective. Geographical and political lines change, are contested, and have nested levels of complexity. They are arbitrary human constructs and come with the relevant inefficiencies and complications.

There's always a mess involved somewhere, regardless of the approach taken, so the more appropriate question is, how can we minimize that mess and reduce the number of impacted communities? In that sense, I like this mathematical suggestion as a starting premise of discussion.