A gripping new documentary on raging megafires weaves together stunning cinematography with deeply researched revelations that reveal the futility of current policy around managing wildfires, writes veteran wildfire reporter Robert McClure in a new EJ InSight column. His review, with three big takeaways.
Concerns about seaborne plastic waste go back decades, but science writer Juli Berwald suggests that myths and disinformation about sources and solutions continue to cloud the waters. From lentil-sized nurdles to sprawling fishing nets, 200 million tons of plastic now fill the ocean and, for her, it has become evident that the ocean plastics story is really a land story. But will the newly signed international treaty on plastics offer relief?
"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has advanced the nation’s largest dam-removal project, which could restore flowing water to more than 400 miles of the Klamath River near the California-Oregon line."
"A five-year review by U.S. officials has determined that Endangered Species Act protections for ocean-going salmon and steelhead that reproduce in the Snake River and its Idaho tributaries must stay in effect."
"James Kiona stands on a rocky ledge overlooking Lyle Falls where the water froths and rushes through steep canyon walls just before merging with the Columbia River. His silvery ponytail flutters in the wind, and a string of eagle claws adorns his neck."
"Oregon Department of Forestry has been inundated with complaints after releasing a map of wildfire risk on every tax lot in the state."
"Hunted for centuries for their pelts, sea otters had dwindled to near-extinction by the 1910s, leaving a population of about 1,000 worldwide and only about 50 in California, in small pockets on the Central Coast and Southern California’s Channel Islands."
"Alex Ramel took the lead on electrifying buildings in Washington state — and fossil fuel interests want to make an example of him."
"Oregon authorities are investigating four additional deaths potentially linked to last week’s scorching heat wave, bringing the total number of suspected hyperthermia deaths to 14."
Advertisement 
