A new study shows how toxic chemicals like benzene are leaching into water systems after nearby fires. The pipes don’t have to burn – they just have to heat up.
Peat beds around the world hold huge quantities of carbon and keep it from warming the planet. But rising temperatures and over-use could turn them from a brake on climate change into an accelerant.
Smoke from wildfires blankets downtown Calgary.
(Shutterstock)
Governments can align their policies to tackle both climate change and post-pandemic recovery.
Burnt trees can be logged and turned into timber and other wood products. But removing them from the forest can have negative impacts on the wildlife.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Restoring western forests – thinning out small trees and dead wood – is an important strategy for reducing the risk of massive wildfires. But these projects aren’t fast, easy or cheap.
Wildfire smoke turned the San Francisco sky orange in the middle of the day in early September.
Ray Chavez/Medianews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images
Deforestation and extreme blazes threaten the region’s biodiversity, risk transforming the rainforest into a semi-arid savannah and expose people to zoonoses that could spur new pandemics.
Electric utilities will often cut off power to prevent equipment from starting wildfires during hot, windy weather.
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Jeanie Chin, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
In an era of climate change and extreme weather, a microgrid — a self-sufficient, energy-generating distribution and control system — puts communities on the path to self-reliance.
My research focuses on how to support children with a parent who must travel afar for work. Strategies that boost understanding and maintain connection with the absent parent build resilience.
A red hazy sunset over Indiana caused by wildfire smoke from the Western U.S.
SOPA Images/LightRocket va Getty Images
Last week, much of the Midwest and eastern US experienced hazy skies and red sunsets. The cause was smoke transported from the Western US by the jet stream and spread as far as Boston and even Europe.
An airtanker drops retardant to help stop the spread of the 2015 Eyrie Fire in the foothills of Boise, Idaho, which was ignited by sparks from construction equipment.
Austin Catlin, BLM/Flickr
Wildfires aren’t always wild. Many of the most expensive and damaging fires happen in suburban areas, and nearly all blazes in these zones are started by humans.
Debris in Paradise, California, after the Camp Fire, Nov. 17, 2018.
Senior Airman Crystal Housman/U.S. Air National Guard
The eerie San Francisco skyline evoked sci-fi movies for a reason. Filmmakers are increasingly using color grading to tinge their films with two hues, orange and teal, to unsettle viewers.
Wildfire smoke fills the San Francisco skyline on Sept. 9, 2020.
(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Coping with intense and prolonged wildfire smoke is difficult, both physically and mentally. Smoke is an environment hazard to be respected, not a personal challenge to be overcome.
Prisoners clearing vegetation to prevent the spread of a wildfire in Yucaipa, California.
David McNew/AFP via Getty Images
Relying on incarcerated workers in emergencies such as the wildfires ravaging parts of the US is a cheap alternative for states. But what protections are there for prisoners?
Wildfire Specialist at the University of California Cooperative Extension; Adjunct Professor Bren School of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Professor of Civil, Environmental & Ecological Engineering, Director of the Healthy Plumbing Consortium and Center for Plumbing Safety, Purdue University