'California is America fast-forward,' writes one scholar. Does that mean that the dystopian infernos that have consumed parts of the state are simply a picture of what awaits the rest of America?
Wind whips embers from a tree burned by a wildfire in Riverside, Calif. Oct. 31, 2019.
AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu
Instead of suppressing wildfire, the Karuk Tribe in the Pacific Northwest is using it as an integral part of its climate change management plan. Federal, state and local agencies are taking note.
The Getty Fire burns next to the 405 freeway in the hills of West Los Angeles.
Reuters/Gene Blevins
Some Californians want to ban people from living in wildfire-prone areas. Behavioral economics offers a less heavy-handed approach to reducing the costs and risks.
A helicopter drops water while battling the Saddle Ridge Fire in Porter Ranch, Calif., on Oct. 11, 2019.
AP Photo/Noah Berger
Faith Kearns, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Max Moritz, University of California Santa Barbara
Two fire researchers argue that recent fires in Northern and Southern California show why health and social equity need to be part of fire preparedness.
A fire rages through wetlands close to Cape Town in February 2017.
EPA/Nic Bothma
As deforestation rates in Brazil rise, it's worth asking whether the country can repeat the successes of the last decade. Current trends don't bode well.
Cars sit submerged in water from Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Bahamas.
AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa
The usual way we calculate the economic damage of natural disasters underestimates their true toll – which is key to understanding the costs of climate change.
A researcher based in Fairbanks, Alaska, links 2019's record-breaking wildfires in far northern regions of the world to climate change, and describes what it's like as zones near her city burn.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources fire rangers wade through floodwaters as they deploy pumps in Pembroke, Ont., in May 2019. Too many authorities involved in fighting flood risks can often paralyze flood management efforts.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Canadian history and international relations theory gives us perspective on why co-ordinating flood management has proven so difficult in Canada and what can be done about it.
The PSA star, deployed in the wild.
Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com
Wendy Melillo, American University School of Communication
The iconic advertising campaign originated as a way to protect the nation from its WWII enemies. Today, critics are asking if it's causing harm as well as good.
A U.S. Forest Service employee using a drop torch during a planned burn in Arizona’s Coconino National Forest.
USFS/Ian Horvath
Decades of wildfire suppression have allowed flammable fuels to pile up in US forests. Scientists and managers say careful use of planned fires can reduce risks of large, out-of-control burns.
Smoke billows from the High Park wildfire west of Fort Collins, Colo., on June 11, 2012, a year of historic drought across much of the western United States.
AP Photo/Ed Andrieski
Some observers have blamed recent wildfires on poor forest management, while others point to climate change. In fact, a climate scientist explains, reducing fire risks means tackling both issues.
An image from the International Space Station captures plumes of smoke from California wildfires on August 4, 2018.
NASA
Haze from Northern California wildfires has drifted as far east as Philadelphia. Wildfire smoke contains many potentially toxic substances, so anyone exposed to it should take basic precautions.
Wildfire Specialist at the University of California Cooperative Extension; Adjunct Professor Bren School of Environmental Studies, University of California Santa Barbara