Before you do anything else, you might want to take a look at a N.Y. Times map tracking the wildfires in the west…

WILDFIRES

WILDFIRES

The science could not be clearer. The burning of fossil fuels is making the Earth hotter. That makes trees and other vegetation drier. And those conditions make wildfires start more easily, burn hotter, and spread faster. These hot, dry conditions increase the likelihood that wildfires will be more intense and burn longer, making them harder to put out.

Highly detrimental to the environment, people’s health and livelihoods, wildfires are destroying forests, agriculture, and communities. Accelerating in their devastation year after year, by mid-September, 2020, five of the 10 largest wildfires in California’s history – including THE largest ever – had happened. 79 large wildfires were still  actively burning in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming leveling acreage the size of New Jersey, with one in every 33 acres burned in the state of California. In Oregon, ten percent of the population had been evacuated and  critical populations of endangered species and native habitats incinerated. It is questionable whether they will ever recover. Unimaginably, the smoke travelled 3,000 miles to Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland and over the Atlantic.

Extraordinary photographs were published in the New York Times on September 10, 2020.

 

CURRENT NEWS

Why epic California rains might not prevent a dangerous fire season

By Hayley Smith 01/31/23
It’s something of a Golden State paradox: Dry winters can pave the way for dangerous fire seasons fueled by dead vegetation, but wet winters — like the one the state has seen so far —…
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AP

AI wildfire detection bill gets initial approval in Colorado

By Jesse Bedayn 01/23/23
A year after the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history scorched nearly 1,100 homes, Colorado lawmakers are considering joining other Western states by adopting artificial intelligence in the hopes of detecting blazes before they…
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Wish You Were Here. Ignore the Floods and Fires.

By Lydia DePellis 12/10/22
Climate change is reshaping the American economy. New Mexico is leaning on ecotourism and sustainable industries to see it through, but extreme weather keeps getting in the way....
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Smoke From California Wildfires Dimmed Solar Energy in 2020

By Cristen Hemingway Jaynes 12/09/22
In September of 2020, the smoke from major wildfires in California made the skies so dark that the state’s solar power production was reduced by 10 to 30 percent during peak hours, according to a…
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Ancient Indigenous practice could curtail today’s wildfires

By Ayurella Horn-Muller 12/08/22
A study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances found that historical Indigenous "cultural burning" curtailed wildfire patterns on local scales over a period of roughly 400 years in the southwestern U.S.Driving the news: As…
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Global Warming Fuels More Frequent Wildfires In The Arctic—Which Leads To More Global Warming, Study Finds

By Madeline Halpert 11/03/22
TOPLINE Rising global temperatures have sparked more frequent wildfires in the Arctic in recent years, according to a new study published in Science, a trend that is expected to worsen as earth’s temperature continues to…
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Official: 2021 Colorado wildfire losses surpass $2 billion

10/27/22
A wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and businesses in suburban Denver last winter caused more than $2 billion in losses, making it by far the costliest in Colorado history, the state insurance commissioner said.
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Californians Who Fortify Their Homes Against Wildfires Will Now Pay Less for Insurance

By Lauren Leffer 10/19/22
California homeowners might soon see some reprieve in skyrocketing property insurance rates. That is, if they take steps to wildfire-proof their houses. The West Coast state is the first in the country to require insurance…
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Mobile Homes, the Last Affordable Housing Option for Many California Residents, Are Going Up in Smoke

By Anne Marshall-Chalmers 10/02/22
But she was more exasperated than scared. She had lived at Creekside Mobile Home Park on Dam Road for 17 years and had lost track of all its close calls with wildfires. Creekside, a park…
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Column: California spends billions rebuilding burned towns. The case for calling it quits

By Erica D. Smith and Others 09/27/22
Most days, Ken Donnell steals a moment to gaze at the forested valley that surrounds this remote grid of streets in the mountains.Before the Dixie fire came barreling through the Sierra Nevada last year, leveling…
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Western Forests, Snowpack and Wildfires Appear Trapped in a Vicious Climate Cycle

By Bob Berwyn 09/26/22
When Stephanie Kampf visited one of her wildfire test plots near Colorado’s Joe Wright Reservoir in June of 2021, the charred remains of what had been a cool, shady spruce and fir forest before the…
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In California, a Race to Save the World’s Largest Trees From Megafires

By Twilight Greenaway 09/23/22
When the Washburn Fire burned through part of Yosemite’s iconic Mariposa Grove in July, photos of its famed giant sequoias steeped in smoke and surrounded by automated sprinklers to shelter them from the flames shocked…
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KEY RESOURCES

Wildfires

09/13/22
Climate change is increasing the size, frequency, and intensity of wildfires as well as the length of the fire season. All fire needs to burn is an ignition source and plenty of fuel. While climate…

As Wildfires Grow, Millions of Homes Are Being Built in Harm’s Way

09/09/22
Across the Western United States, wildfires are growing larger and more severe as global warming intensifies. At the same time, new data shows, more Americans than ever are moving to parts of the country more…

California’s wildfire season is here. How to get ready

08/27/21
The Great Plains have tornadoes. The Southeast has hurricanes. And California has earthquakes and wildfires. More than 4 million acres were burned last year in what was the state’s worst wildfire season to date. So…

Facts + Statistics: Wildfires

09/16/20
As many as 90 percent of wildland fires in the United States are caused by people, according to the U.S. Department of Interior. Some human-caused fires result from campfires left unattended, the burning of debris,…

Wildfires and Climate Change: Visualizing the Connection in Five Sets of Photos and Charts

09/08/20
Every year, millions of acres of land are consumed by fire in the United States. By raising temperatures, melting snow sooner, and drying soils and forests, climate change is fueling the problem. Here’s what we…

Eden Reforestation Project

11/18/19
Eden Reforestation projects reduces extreme poverty and restores healthy forests by employing local villagers to plant millions of trees every year.

Global Forest Watch

09/09/19
Forest Monitoring Designed for Action: Global Forest Watch offers the latest data, technology and tools that empower people everywhere to better protect forests.

MORE NEWS

How to protect yourself from wildfire smoke

By Hayley Smith   07/22/21  
Wildfire season is already off to a record-breaking start, and experts are warning that smoke from the state’s biggest blazes may be as dangerous as the flames themselves. In 2020, smoke from California’s wildfires blanketed…
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Dixie fire burns more than 100,000 acres while Tamarack fire crosses state lines

By Hayley Smith and Matthew Ormseth   07/22/21  
The Dixie fire burning in Butte and Plumas counties mushroomed to more than 100,000 acres Thursday, becoming the second California blaze this year to surpass that acreage milestone. The aggressive fire has now destroyed at…
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Western Wildfires Hurt East Coast Air Quality—It’s Time to Rally Together

By Sami Grover   07/22/21  
When I was watching the horrific videos of flooding in China, my sense of foreboding was heightened by the itching of my eyeballs. The air here in Durham, North Carolina, was decidedly hazy and unpleasant. This…
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See How Wildfire Smoke Spread Across America

By Nadja Popovich and Josh Katz   07/21/21  
Wildfire smoke from Canada and the Western United States stretched across the continent this week, covering skies in a thick haze and triggering health alerts from Toronto to Philadelphia. Air quality remained in the unhealthy…
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Extreme fire behavior has erupted in the West. Here’s what that means.

By Matthew Cappucci   07/20/21  
Months remain until the peak of wildfire season in the western U.S., but hundreds of blazes have already torched more than a million acres, pouring smoke into the sky and offering an ominous warning of…
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cnn

The Bootleg Fire in Oregon is so large, it’s creating its own weather

By Joe Sutton, Michael Guy and Hollie Silverman   07/20/21  
As hot, dry weather conditions continue to fuel wildfires across much of the United States, the Bootleg Fire in Oregon has become so intense that it's creating its own weather. The fire has scorched more than 606 square miles --…
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Dangerous conditions complicate wildfire fight in Western U.S.

By Washington Post Staff   07/19/21  
Erratic winds and dry lightning added to the dangers for crews battling the nation’s largest wildfire on Monday in parched Oregon forests, just one of dozens burning across several Western states.
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As the Bootleg Fire burns, locals are faced with the realities of climate change — and remain skeptical

By Joshua Partlow   07/17/21  
Youth pastor Matt Wolff and his wife, Jennifer, followed God’s direction when they settled at the end of a rutted dirt track in the pine forests above this southern Oregon town. And they have prayed…
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Heavy smoke expected to linger above western Montana

07/16/21  
Smoke from wildfires across the U.S. West has wafted over large swaths of western Montana on Friday, leading to unhealthy air quality in Missoula and Frenchtown. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality recommends that active…
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Bootleg Fire rages in Oregon, burning 50 structures and threatening California’s power supply

By Paulina Firozi and Reis Thebault   07/13/21  
A fast-growing wildfire blazing across southwest Oregon has burned through more than 153,500 acres, forced hundreds of evacuations and is imperiling a major power grid as much of the West endures yet another heat wave.
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Heat Wave Updates: West Gets Some Relief From Scorching Temperatures

By Giulia Heyward   07/13/21  
The scorching temperatures from the West’s third heat wave of the summer, which fueled quick-spreading wildfires and fears of power outages over the weekend, began to ease some this week. But warnings of dangerous conditions continued in…
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Brutal heat wave persists in U.S. West as Oregon wildfire rages

By Sergio Olmos   07/13/21  
PORTLAND, Ore. July 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. West endured a fourth day of scorching heat on Monday as temperatures again threatened to shatter records, major wildfires burned nearly unchecked in drought-stricken Oregon and power…
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Wildfires blaze across western states as heatwave shatters records

By Guardian staff and agency   07/13/21  
Warning of potential for ‘extreme growth’ of Oregon blaze as two die in Arizona fire reconnaissance plane crash. Firefighters are working in extreme heat to contain a number of wildfires raging across the US west,…
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California fires are burning faster, hotter, more intensely — and getting harder to fight

By Hayley Smith and Alex Wigglesworth   07/13/21  
The fires have burned more than 140,000 acres, from soaring mountains along the California-Nevada border to forest north of Mt. Shasta and the gateway to Yosemite. But many of 2021’s biggest blazes have one thing…
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Western officials reckon with reliability challenges as heat and ‘wildcard’ wildfire threaten grid

By Kavya Balaraman   07/13/21  
Energy officials in the Western U.S. are reckoning with short and long-term electricity reliability challenges as soaring temperatures and a "wildcard" wildfire strain the power grid. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), over the weekend,…
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Wildfires blaze across western states as two die in Arizona plane crash

By the Associated Press   07/12/21  
Firefighters struggle to contain northern California fire amid warning of potential for ‘extreme growth’ of Oregon blaze.
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Western states at risk of unprecedented heat as wildfire season begins

By Zack Budryk   07/12/21  
Forecasts indicate the Western U.S. is set for another week of above-average heat as the traditional wildfire season begins. The National Weather Service (NWS) on Monday warned that portions of the region are at risk…
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California hit by record-breaking fire destruction: ‘Climate change is real, it’s bad’

By Hayley Smith   07/12/21  
California is off to another record-breaking year of wildfires as the state enters its most dangerous months, with extreme heat and dry terrain creating the conditions for rapid spread.
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Soaring Temperatures, Wildfire Threaten California’s Power Grid

By Anne C. Mulkern   07/12/21  
Extreme heat and a wildfire in Oregon pushed California to the brink of switching off power to thousands of people over the weekend as climate-related disasters affect communities across the parched western United States.
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How Bad Are U.S. Wildfires? Even Hawaii Is Battling a Surge

By Simon Romero   07/05/21  
The blaze first swept across parched fields of guinea grass. Then the flames got so close to Emma-Lei Gerrish’s house that she feared for her life. “I was terrified it was going to jump the…
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Underpaid firefighters, overstretched budgets: The U.S. isn’t prepared for fires fueled by climate change

By Sarah Kaplan   07/01/21  
Biden announced more resources for tackling wildfire Wednesday, but experts say, ‘We need a new approach’
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Arizona wildfires: Bigger, hotter than ever. How will the land recover?

By Anton L. Delgado   06/28/21  
In the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, soil repels water across the burn scar of the 2020 Bighorn Fire. Steep slopes and an imminent monsoon mean the hydrophobic ground is ripe for erosion.
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Wildfires Threaten Urban Water Supplies, Long After the Flames Are Out

By Henry Fountain   06/25/21  
Wrangling a 25-foot-long tube of straw up a steep hillside studded with charred pine trees, three volunteer workers placed it in a shallow trench that had been dug along the slope. Locked in place with…
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Big Sur fire: hundreds of firefighters battle blaze raging in California

By Gabrielle Canon   06/22/21  
Firefighters are battling to contain a wildfire that erupted near Big Sur last week, as the flames continue to engulf the dry California landscape and threaten historical sites, cabins and ranches. The fire is one…
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‘If You Move Out Here, You Make a Deal With Nature’: Life in a Fire-Prone Canyon

By Jaime Lowe   06/19/21  
The Palisades Fire that forced hundreds to evacuate last month on the outskirts of Los Angeles never got close to James Grasso’s house. But he watched it carefully from the hilltops in Topanga Canyon in…
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Rocky Mountain forests burning more now than any time in the past 2,000 years

By Philip Higuera and Others   06/15/21  
The exceptional drought in the U.S. West has people across the region on edge after the record-setting fires of 2020. Last year, Colorado alone saw its three largest fires in recorded state history, one burning…
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Pair of Arizona Wildfires Burns Tens of Thousands of Acres

By Daniel Victor   06/07/21  
A pair of wildfires in Arizona have burned tens of thousands of acres and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate, the latest in what experts fear will prove to be an unusually damaging and dangerous…
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Newsom to introduce major plan for wildfire safety

By Sara Stinson   05/24/21  
Dry conditions across the Bay Area are sparking concerns about wildfires ahead of Memorial Day. Firefighters had their hands full over the weekend putting out small but dangerous wildfires. Conditions are extremely dry in Contra…
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Can Wildfires Be Prevented?

By Dan Lambe   05/24/21  
Wildfire devastation grows annually as rising global temperatures lead to more frequent and intense fires. The number of people affected by wildfires grows as a result, with housing developments in high-risk fire zones putting 4.5…
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Another summer of California power outages poses threat to Newsom as he faces recall

By Taryn Luna   05/24/21  
Each time the power goes out, frustrated Californians look for someone to blame. That could spell trouble for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will appear on a recall ballot during another hot and dry season and…
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US West Enters Fire Season Facing Extremely Dry Conditions

05/24/21  
With much of the western United States experiencing drought conditions not seen in 125 years, scientists and wildfire managers are concerned that the region is entering the fire season in worse shape than last year,…
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Researchers study conditions that can lead to overwintering wildfires

By Bill Gabbert   05/23/21  
Fires can appear to be out, but retain smoldering combustion deep in the fuelbed and flare up again when the weather favors flaming behavior and fire spread. This phenomenon occurs not infrequently in boreal forests…
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To prevent wildfires in 2021, Oregon adopts new rules for temporary power shutoffs

By KGW Staff   05/21/21  
In Lane County, fire victims are also suing two utility companies over last summer's Holiday Farm Fire that broke out east of Eugene. They claim tree branches sparked when they touched powerlines, and that grew…
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I-95 in Brevard County reopens as firefighters battle 1,600-acre wildfire

By Thomas Mates   05/21/21  
Interstate 95 reopened Friday evening in Brevard County after being closed for most of the day due to smoke from a 1,600-acre brush fire in neighboring Indian River County, according to authorities. The fire broke…
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The Straightforward Way to Make California’s Wildfires Less Deadly

By Alissa Walker   05/21/21  
Everywhere he looks, California state senator Henry Stern sees burning. “When you go through the trauma of fire, it just sticks with you,” he says. “It stays in your head all the time and you…
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Three-quarters of California now in extreme drought — and wildfire season coming fast

By Alexandra Kelley   05/21/21  
After prolonged periods with little rainfall and snowpack, portions of the U.S. West are now experiencing severe drought, with states like California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona plagued with large swaths of drought.
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Study: Wildfires threaten river networks in western U.S

05/19/21  
A new study conducted by researchers from The University of New Mexico has found that wildfires — which have been increasing in frequency, severity and extent around the globe — are one of the largest…
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Silent calamity: The health impacts of wildfire smoke

By Bob Henson   05/10/21  
Articles on U.S. wildfires don’t often show a photo of someone gasping in a hospital bed or felled by a heart attack. Yet an increasing body of evidence suggests that the biggest societal impacts of…
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‘Firefighters Out There in the Snow’: Wildfires Rage Early in Parched West

By Simon Romero   04/30/21  
New Mexico’s first major wildfire of the year ignited this week near a campground where visitors can hike to view hundreds of prehistoric petroglyphs. After scorching nearly 6,000 acres in a matter of days, the…
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Will wildfire and climate change doom redwoods?

By Susanne Rust   01/26/21  
Two months later, the park remains indefinitely closed, crews are working to clear “hazard trees” — those that could come crashing down — and the debate continues on whether its redwood forest can rebound as…
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Rain and Snow Headed for Wildfire-Damaged Areas of California

By Allyson Waller   01/22/21  
A parched swath of Central California is set to receive welcome rounds of rain and snow over the next week, but the forecast is raising concerns about flash flooding and mudslides in areas that endured…
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Hounded by Wildfires, Californians Rethink Their Willingness to Rebuild

By Debra Kamin   01/15/21  
In a relative instant, countless ancient redwoods, hundreds of giant sequoias and more than one million Joshua trees perished.
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2020 rivals hottest year on record, pushing Earth closer to a critical climate threshold

By Chris Mooney, Andrew Freedman and John Muyskens   01/15/21  
Escalating temperatures poise planet to breach1.5 C for the first time, possibly later this decade
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2020 rivals hottest year on record, pushing Earth closer to a critical climate threshold

By Chris Mooney, Andrew Freedman and John Muyskens   01/14/21  
The year 2020, which witnessed terrifying blazes from California to Siberia and a record number of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, rivaled and possibly even equaled the hottest year on record, according to multiple scientific…
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California’s epic wildfires in 2020 took deadly aim at the state’s most beloved trees

By John Branch   12/09/20  
California’s redwoods, sequoias and Joshua trees define the American West and nature’s resilience through the ages. Wildfires this year were their deadliest test.
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The long-lasting mental health effects of wildfires

By Jane C. Hu   12/03/20  
In the wake of a fire, governments and newspapers count the damage: lives lost, acres of forest burned, homes and businesses destroyed. Those are the hard numbers, the data we have to measure the destruction.…
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Severe Wildfires Raise the Chance for Future Monstrous Blazes

By Ula Chrobak   11/24/20  
  To lessen the risk of catastrophic wildfires, California’s forests need more routine burns. This message has been echoed for years. Relentlessly putting out even small wildfires in the Golden State and other parts of…
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British Columbia’s Carbon Tax Regulations

10/27/20  
B.C.’s carbon tax provides a signal across the economy to reduce emissions while encouraging sustainable economic activity and investment in low-carbon innovation. In 2008, the province implemented North America’s first broad-based carbon tax, proving that…
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Colorado’s second-largest wildfire forecast to grow amid high winds

By Andrew Freedman   10/23/20  
At least five people are missing in the East Troublesome Fire, which burned 140,000 acres in 24 hours
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This is what remains of the only school in Berry Creek, Calif.

By Sarah Kaplan   10/21/20  
Climate change has its most extreme effect on overnight low temperatures, which are increasing even faster than daytime highs. These maps show how much warmer California
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