Climate Wildfires
All Stories
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![Fading trees on red background]()
![Fading trees on red background]()
Wildfires are erasing Western forests. Climate change is making it permanent.
The evidence is clear: Forests are shifting to scrublands across large swaths of the Western U.S.
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![Animation: trees on fire with a coal plant in the background]()
![Animation: trees on fire with a coal plant in the background]()
California is banking on forests to reduce emissions. What happens when they go up in smoke?
How faulty rules and wildfire could unravel California’s climate progress
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![A firefighting helicopter flies as smoke from the Alisal Fire shrouds the sun on October 13, 2021 near Goleta, California. Pushed by high winds, the Alisal Fire grew to 6,000 acres overnight, shutting down the much-traveled 101 Freeway along the Pacific Coast.]()
![A firefighting helicopter flies as smoke from the Alisal Fire shrouds the sun on October 13, 2021 near Goleta, California. Pushed by high winds, the Alisal Fire grew to 6,000 acres overnight, shutting down the much-traveled 101 Freeway along the Pacific Coast.]()
California’s Alisal Fire signals that fall wildfire season is underway
The coast is aflame as the Santa Ana winds shift.
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Can we move our forests in time to save them?
Trees have always migrated to survive. But now they need our help to avoid climate catastrophe.
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![firefighters watch trees go up in flames]()
![firefighters watch trees go up in flames]()
You thought the U.S. fire season was bad. Russia’s is much worse.
Emissions from Siberia’s fires are more than Germany’s total annual greenhouse gases.
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What is ‘fire weather,’ and why is it getting worse?
A new study of the American West shows that climate change is driving more days that are hot, dry, and windy — the perfect conditions for deadly wildfires.
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![Ponderosa pines are silhouetted by the diffuse orange glow of smoke lit by dozens of fires.]()
![Ponderosa pines are silhouetted by the diffuse orange glow of smoke lit by dozens of fires.]()
Outpaced: Wildfire control projects are burning up before they can even start
In California forests, climate change is moving faster than climate adaptation.
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![An older man wearing a plaid shoe-sleeved plaid shirt, sunglasses and a cap holds sawmill dust in his left hand. Behind him, a blue sky and a young forest let you see a mountain range rising in the horizon.]()
![An older man wearing a plaid shoe-sleeved plaid shirt, sunglasses and a cap holds sawmill dust in his left hand. Behind him, a blue sky and a young forest let you see a mountain range rising in the horizon.]()
Nonprofit finds hope against wildfires with unexpected ally: charcoal
To capture carbon and jumpstart forest thinning, Methow Valley couple – and Washington taxpayers – bet on biochar.
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A deadly fungal disease on the rise in the West has experts worried
Researchers haven’t pinned down exactly what’s behind the rise in Valley fever cases or how to stop it. One thing is nearly certain, though: Climate change plays a role.
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![Emory and Henry Peters, 2, walk with their nanny Cynthia Chavez at Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. The unusual orange and red-hued skies were a result of smoke from the Northern California wildfires.]()
![Emory and Henry Peters, 2, walk with their nanny Cynthia Chavez at Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. The unusual orange and red-hued skies were a result of smoke from the Northern California wildfires.]()
Wildfire smoke claims more than 33,000 lives each year, new study finds
And that number doesn't even account for long-term exposure.
