"Wildfires are blazing across western U.S. and Canada, prompting thousands to evacuate, shutting down highways and fouling the air quality over several states."
Plant species that take root outside their normal range and spread aggressively are wreaking havoc in ecosystems worldwide. But specially trained detection dogs are on the job, following their noses to find the invaders so they can be eradicated. Contributor Nancy Castaldo reports on a demo of this conservation tool by a scent-savvy Lab and his devoted handler.
"As firefighters continue to battle more than two dozen active wildfires in California, new research has found that millions of people are living in close proximity to oil and gas wells that are in the potential path of flames."
"Under the denuded slopes of Mount Nyiragongo volcano in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, traders in Kibati town bartered over sacks of charcoal, a product of deforestation that an ongoing conflict has pushed to unprecedented levels, the United Nations says."
"When a wildfire started in the mountains of Fresno County late last month, much of California was on the cusp of a heat wave that would go on to smash records both for its intensity and duration. Over the next week and a half, as the Basin fire swelled to more than 14,000 acres and temperatures in the area reached 112 degrees, at least nine firefighters were treated for heat-related illness. Four were taken to local hospitals, three of them airlifted from the fire line."
"A fairly controlled fire grew to a 10,000-hectare inferno over the course of a day, causing 9,600 residents of an eastern Canadian community to flee and putting a nearby community on evacuation alert."
"Some forest carbon offsets sold by the biggest offsetting company in the United States offer little or no benefit to the climate, a satellite analysis has found."
"The forests of Clayoquot Sound became world famous as the battlegrounds of the decades-long “war in the woods” — and now, a vast swath of the rich old-growth trees are permanently protected."
"After thousands of sequoias were destroyed by extreme wildfires, tribes are conducting cultural burns."
"Gaby Elliott drives down the street scanning front yards for an elusive commodity: space for a tree to grow."
