Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Robert W. Gray @firebobbc.bsky.social · 6d

What happens when a critical sector like forestry, the backbone of so many rural communities in western Canada, is no longer viable or sustainable because so much standing and future volume has been lost to wildfires? www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Wildfire management at a crossroads: Mitigation and prevention or response and recovery?

As direct and indirect costs of fires continue to grow, so too might motivation to invest more heavily in mitigation

www.science.org

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 11d

Environmental damage is putting European way of life at risk, says @eea.europa.eu report

- EU officials warn climate breakdown and wildlife loss ‘are ruining ecosystems that underpin the economy’

#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Environmental damage is putting European way of life at risk, says report

EU officials warn climate breakdown and wildlife loss ‘are ruining ecosystems that underpin the economy’

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

California Fire Science Consortium @cafirescience.bsky.social · 17d

Registration for RX-310 is now open and includes full access to @fireecology 2025 Fire Congress. We hope this course creates an opportunity for practitioners and managers who might not otherwise be able to attend the Congress. Register now! afefirecongress.org/registration...

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

GrumpyUncleSean🔥 @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social · 17d

Our paper takes a close look at managing designated wilderness in an era of unprecedented change. Please check it out.

A great achievement by lead author @clareboe.bsky.social!
🧪🌍🔥

Clare Boerigter @clareboe.bsky.social · 17d

My research team recently published “Guardians and gardeners: Managing wilderness for the twenty-first century.” If you’re interested in wilderness philosophies, Indigenous stewardship, and the questions raised by climate change and fire - this one’s for you!

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) Guardians and gardeners: Managing wilderness for the twenty-first century

PDF | The 1964 Wilderness Act is a landmark piece of legislation, providing robust protections from development, mechanization, and resource extraction... | Find, read and cite all the research you ne...

www.researchgate.net

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 28d

"Worldwide, we estimate that 82,100 people died prematurely attributable to chronic smoke exposure from the 2023 Canadian wildfires. Of these deaths, 41,900 (95% CI, 28,400–55,400) occurred in North America, including 33,000 in the USA and 8,300 in Canada."

Long-range PM2.5 pollution and health impacts from the 2023 Canadian wildfires - Nature

A modelling study based on satellite observations, machine learning and a chemical transport model quantifies the global and regional exposure to particulate-matter pollution and the human h...

www.nature.com

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Robert W. Gray @firebobbc.bsky.social · 29d

From 2020 through 2024, US workers in the retail, wholesale, transportation, construction, mining and agriculture industries alone lost $1.1 trillion in wages because of exposure to wildfire smoke, according to a new estimate by Bloomberg Intelligence. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

$1 Trillion in American Wages Has Gone Up in Wildfire Smoke

The toxic haze is a nightmare for health and productivity.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle.com · Sep 10

California firefighters are mounting extraordinary efforts to shield some of the planet’s most venerable trees from the Garnet Fire, which has burned over 55,000 acres in the Sierra National Forest.

Firefighters race to save California ancient giant sequoias from Garnet Fire

California firefighters are mounting extraordinary efforts to shield some of the planet’s most venerable trees from the Garnet Fire, which has burned over 55,000 acres in the Sierra National...

bit.ly

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Sep 6

This is fine -dot- gif

Climate crisis will increase frequency of lightning-sparked wildfires, study finds

These wildfires tend to burn in more remote areas and grow larger faster, posing a higher risk to public safety and health

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Sinema's Enema @jonibloni.bsky.social · Sep 6

If you've seen this masterful documentary by Ken Burns, then you're not at all shocked at what RFKjr/Trump/Miller et. al. are trying to pull. Full length and free on YouTube.
#PublicHealth #Quackery #Racism #AmericanExperience #PBS

The Eugenics Crusade | Full Documentary | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS

YouTube video by American Experience | PBS

youtu.be

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

alienjitsu @alienjitsu.bsky.social · Sep 4

California Interagency Incident Management Team 7 conspired with ICE to arrest firefighters and stop firefighting response operations fighting the Bear Gulch fires outside of Seattle.

Gail Waldby ❌👑 @gailwaldby.bsky.social · Sep 3

Firefighters question leaders’ role in ICE raid near Bear Gulch Fire
Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities.
#ICE #Wildfires
www.hcn.org/articles/fir...

Firefighters question leaders’ role in ICE raid near Bear Gulch Fire - High Country News

Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities.

www.hcn.org

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

ClimateChangePost @climatechangepost.bsky.social · Sep 4

Extreme fire weather conditions now 40 times more likely because of climate change.

www.climatechangepost.com/news/climate...

Climate change has made Spain’s extreme fire season of 2025 a common event

www.climatechangepost.com

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Robert W. Gray @firebobbc.bsky.social · Sep 2

...what they’ve found reveals an evolving landscape, where unburned trees in the fire scars have succumbed to the delayed effects of the fires and will likely continue to die off. www.opb.org/article/2025...

Unburned trees left after Oregon’s Labor Day Fires are dying — a potential blow to future forests

Research shows delayed effects of Oregon’s Labor Day fires have killed trees that survived the initial blazes.

www.opb.org

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Robert W. Gray @firebobbc.bsky.social · Sep 2

The additional 409 deaths that were excluded from official death records likely resulted from...lung or heart conditions due to increased exposure to air pollution, as well as indirect factors such as disruptions in other critical healthcare or mental health emergencies... www.bu.edu/sph/news/art...

Death Count for 2025 LA County Wildfires Likely Hundreds Higher than Official Records Show

www.bu.edu

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Freedom Writers Collaborative @fwcollaborative.bsky.social · Aug 31

apnews.com/article/immi...: Oregon firefighter arrested by Border Patrol during wildfire was on track for legal status

Lawyer: Oregon firefighter arrested by Border Patrol during wildfire was on track for legal status

Lawyers are demanding the release of a longtime Oregon resident arrested by Border Patrol while fighting a Washington state wildfire.

apnews.com

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Stacy Farina @stacyfarina.bsky.social · Aug 28

Pro-racism activism from EO Wilson. If you know anything about Rushton, you know that by 1989, it was very obvious to anyone with eyes that he was a raving racist.

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · Aug 28

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Brian Kahn @blkahn.bsky.social · Aug 28

ICE arrested firefighters *battling an active wildfire* www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire

Federal agents showed up northeast of Lake Cushman to check identification of crew members fighting Washington's largest active wildfire.

www.seattletimes.com

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Dr Tom Harris @drtomharris.bsky.social · Aug 26

Whenever a story appears about increasing risk of wildfires, some helpful chap always likes to comment “that global burned area is declining so stop being alarmist.” A new paper explains the paradox.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#climatechange #wildfire #fireweather

Increasing global human exposure to wildland fires despite declining burned area

Although half of Earth’s population resides in the wildland-urban interface, human exposure to wildland fires remains unquantified. We show that the population directly exposed to wildland fires incre...

www.science.org

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Robert W. Gray @firebobbc.bsky.social · Aug 20

I'm sorry, public education and FireSmart are not going to enable us to get ahead of this crisis. This a fuels and fire effects crisis; the more we burn the worse the cultural, social, economic and environmental impacts. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Experts say Manitoba needs better forest management to mitigate wildfires — but some divided on best practices | CBC News

Experts say Manitoba needs better forest management practices to mitigate and prevent the devastating impacts of wildfires, but there isn't a clear consensus on the best course forward.

www.cbc.ca

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Stars and Stripes @starsandstripes.bsky.social · Aug 18

Spain is deploying 500 more soldiers to battle wildfires that have torn through parched woodland during a prolonged spell of scorching weather.

Spain deploys 500 more troops to battle wildfires during extended heat wave

www.stripes.com

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Stephen Soldz @ethicalpsycholo.bsky.social · Aug 18

Those Democrats who are telling us that the midterms will save us are lulling us into disaster. Elections are important, but only when accompanied by an enormous mass movement. Otherwise, the elections won't matter.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · Aug 18

Awful: Trump just threatened to try to ban mail voting by executive order. What's telling is he openly linked this to the midterms, showing he will abuse presidential power in every way he can to rig them.

We talked to elections experts about what's coming. It's bad:
newrepublic.com/post/199202/...

Angry Trump Accidentally Blurts Out Unnerving New Plot to Rig Midterms

Donald Trump just gave away his own game.

newrepublic.com

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Robert W. Gray @firebobbc.bsky.social · Aug 18

There is so much wrong with this piece that I'm not sure where to begin. Confusing vegetation conditions between Australia and Canada for one (regrowing vegetation becomes less flammable in many cases due to physiological and phenological changes after fire). www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: Oh, Canada – don’t make the same wildfire mistakes as Australia

A sobering fact is that prescribed burning is not the panacea it’s been made out to be

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Chris Gloninger @climatechris.bsky.social · Aug 17

The article said it: “More drought and extreme heat, forest fires are starting earlier in the year.”

But it never used the words #climatechange.

Attribution studies show January fires are now 35% more likely in our warmed world. That’s the missing connection.

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

Cheryl in Nova Scotia 🇨🇦🍁🍁 @minibubbly.bsky.social · Aug 18

#NewBrunswick reporting 39 active wildfires; seven out of control

www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/new...

New Brunswick reporting 39 active wildfires; seven out of control

The number of active wildfires in New Brunswick has increased to 37 Sunday.

www.ctvnews.ca

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Reposted by Robert W. Gray

The Final Report @firehorse249791.bsky.social · Aug 18

Spain deploys nearly 2,000 soldiers to tackle major wildfires www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e... #ClimateCrisis #Heatwave #Wildfire #Castile #Leon #Spain #Europe

Spain deploys nearly 2,000 soldiers to tackle major wildfires

Temperatures have soared to 45C in Spain in the past fortnight

www.independent.co.uk

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