** The rise of smoky skies
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Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Breathing wildfire smoke is associated with extensive health risks, C ([link removed]) enters for Disease Control and Prevention ([link removed])
Over the past few years, Westerners have been noticing that wildfire smoke seems to be more prevalent. A new analysis of satellite imagery reveals that they're right: smoky days have increased dramatically since 2016, and not just in the West ([link removed]) . The change has impacted everyone in the country.
San Jose, California, saw the most dramatic increase in smoky days of 400% ([link removed]) . The change in Los Angeles and San Diego was 230% ([link removed]) , while eastern states like Philadelphia and Washington saw an increase of about 40% ([link removed]) in the number of smoky days experienced. In Denver, the increase was about 70% ([link removed]) . "The impacts of wildfire smoke could be one of the largest climate-related impacts across the [West]," said ([link removed]) Marshall Burke, an associate professor of earth system science who led the project for Stanford University. "And as we're seeing increasingly, it's not just limited to the Western U.S."
Such startling findings are concerning due to the human health threats associated with breathing smoke. "Literally no amount of exposure is safe. There's no magic threshold under which we're OK and beyond which we're in trouble. The lesson is that any amount is bad. And the more you get the worse it is." New research shows wildfire smoke exposure negatively impacts the heart, lungs, and even brain while also posing pregnancy risks ([link removed]) .
In order to address the issue of wildfire smoke, the United States will need to curb the risk of wildfire through forest management practices such as prescribed burns, as well as work to address the underlying driver of climate change.
Read more about the reality of living with smoke ([link removed]) , changes in California ([link removed]) and Colorado ([link removed]) , or the process behind the research project ([link removed]) in this series of connected articles from National Public Radio.
Quick hits
** Interior withdraws Trump rule that would've made public lands drilling cheaper
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The Hill ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
** US officials report more than 20 extinctions as bumble bee moves toward endangered status
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New York Times ([link removed]) [20 extinctions] | Bloomberg ([link removed]) [Bumble bees]
** Senate moves toward final confirmation of first BLM director in 5 years
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E&E News ([link removed])
** In the face of the Western drought, planning and preparedness are critical—even as we seek tech solutions like water recycling and desalination
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Ensia ([link removed]) [Plan, prepare] | E&E News ([link removed]) [Water recycling] | Washington Post ([link removed]) [Desalination]
** Texas restricts fracking practice because it causes so many earthquakes
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Vice ([link removed])
** Global 30x30 conservation effort centers Indigenous and locally-led conservation as US tribes argue for more input on managing public lands
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Washington Post ([link removed]) [Global 30x30] | Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed]) [Pueblo of Acoma Governor Opinion]
** Biologists, business owners, advocates ramp up efforts to staunch wolf killing
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Missoula Current ([link removed])
** See where birds are migrating in real time, in one map
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Vox ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Ultimately, we sort of have an ecologically illiterate society, and issues like climate change, it’s kind of dangerous that our average citizens don’t know how the world functions and how we connect to it. We’re more connected than we think. We need each other more than we think.”
—Paul Rogers, director of Utah State University's Western Aspen Alliance, on the lessons aspens can teach us | T ([link removed]) he Gazette ([link removed])
Picture this
** @K ([link removed]) atmaiNPS ([link removed])
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Today is the day! Get to know this year’s contenders ([link removed]) and vote at Fa.
Voting starts today at 8am AKDT! Let the fattest of the fat and chubbiest of chonks prevail!
Learn more about Fat Bear Week from CNN ([link removed]) .
Photo c/o L. Law
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