Indigenous communities in California are exposed to disproportionate levels of particulate matter in amounts much greater than previously thought, a new study has found. Using a new technique of measuring prolonged exposure to wildfire smoke, the researchers discovered that the Indigenous communities were exposed to an average of roughly 1.7 times the smoke that would […]
Firefighters in Chile are battling intense forest fires while the country mourns the 122 people who have been killed in the blazes, reported The Associated Press. The wildfires have destroyed entire neighborhoods and hundreds of residents are still missing, authorities said, as Reuters reported. “The wind was terrible, the heat scorching. There was no respite,” […]
Last year was the hottest year on record by a wide margin, and 2024 has a one-in-three shot at being even hotter, according to the Annual 2023 Global Climate Report by the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Scientists from the European Union found that Earth’s average temperature last year was 1.35 degrees […]
The smell of campfire smoke is as associated with summer nights as woodsmoke from fireplaces and woodstoves is with winter. It adds an ancient scent and particles to the air that stick to your skin, hair and clothes. Wildfire smoke likewise doesn’t just leave an acrid smell behind. Its remnants contain harmful chemical compounds called […]
While major wildfires in the U.S. have typically afflicted the west coast in recent years, a a new study based on data from over 30 years has found an increase in the size and frequency of wildfires on the opposite side of the country. The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, reviewed large wildfires, over […]
California tops the list of U.S. states with the most wildfires — 9,260 in 2021. That year, the number of acres burned in the state exceeded two million, more than twice as many as second-ranked Texas, the Insurance Information Institute said. A two decades’ long study in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains has confirmed that forest […]
Quick Key Facts What Are ‘Tropical Forests’? Tropical forests are rich ecosystems located in tropical zones surrounding the equator. They have a dense upper canopy of broad-leafed trees and an astonishingly diverse array of animal and plant life. These forests pack an enormous amount of biodiversity into the six percent of the planet’s land surface […]
New research has found that California’s coastal redwoods have the remarkable capacity to recover from severe wildfires. The study led by researchers from Northern Arizona University (NAU) looked at the ancient trees’ recovery from the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, which burned thousands of acres in California’s Big Basin State Park in the summer of 2020, […]
The Western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus) has been listed as a threatened species in the state of Washington since 1993. Now, the state has decided to list the species, sometimes known as the silver gray squirrel, as endangered. Following a periodic status review meeting on Nov. 17, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) […]