Forests

Hotter temperatures and strengthening winds raised wildfire risk in California and prompted power shutoffs.

"Mining, both legal and illegal, impinges on more than one-fifth of Indigenous territory in the Amazon, according to a new study from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Amazon Geo-Referenced Socio-Environmental Information Network (RAISG)."

"Ariel Kinzinger had a headache. Clark Brinkman coughed and wheezed. LaNesha Collins, feeling physically fine, was frustrated by another day mostly trapped inside looking out at a sepia sun, in Portland, Ore."

"First, the wildfires came to California and Oregon, scorching hundreds of thousands of acres of national forests. Next, weeds will sprout on those blackened lands. They'll be followed quickly by chemical weedkillers like glyphosate, as the Forest Service tries to make trees grow again."

"Saying more needs to be done to preserve nature as a way to help address climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday committed the state to a goal of protecting 30% of California’s land and coastal waters by 2030."

"In 2013, when Enviva Biomass opened a new plant near Belinda Joyner's community in Northampton County, North Carolina, she already knew what to expect."

"Jeannie Weber could probably rebuild her ruined house in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. But as wildfires rage with increasing frequency, it doesn’t seem safe."

"Fires in Brazil’s Amazon increased 13% in the first nine months of the year compared with a year ago, as the rainforest region experiences its worst rash of fires in a decade, data from space research agency Inpe showed on Thursday."

"On her first foray into tree planting, Laiba Atika forgot a key item — a shovel, which her mom later fetched. But the 17-year-old is clear about why she is leading volunteers in the northern Pakistani city of Mardan to plant dozens of pine trees in a scrubby park."

"The Wine Country awoke in flames Monday as windblown wildfires closed in on the Napa Valley from the east and west and swept into Santa Rosa, forcing thousands of North Bay residents to flee their homes in an ominous flashback to the catastrophic infernos three years ago."