Deutsche Welle: Climate Change Sets the World on Fire

Fierce wildfires rage throughout the Americas and Europe, even Greenland. The fires move swiftly and disrupt congested areas, with 64 people caught by surprise and killed in Portugal. Researchers connect the growing threat to rising temperatures of climate change and dried plant life. “With global temperatures rising, scientists say wildfires are likely to become increasingly frequent and widespread,” writes Ruby Russell for Deutsche Welle. Wildfires are no longer seasonal but year-round for areas like the Western United States and even occurring in “areas like the tropics that have no natural ecology.” Human intervention has increased wildfire threats in numerous ways, too, intervening in areas that have natural cycles, which in turns allows leads to large fires that our difficult to control, and farmers reliance on fires to clear lands. Russell concludes, “And all this can have a feedback effect - more fires mean more carbon released into the atmosphere, which in turn drives climate change.” – YaleGlobal