Aug 20, 2019 09:30 PM
https://www.vox.com/world/2019/8/20/2081...il-siberia
INTRO: More than 21,000 square miles of forest have gone up in flames in Siberia this month, putting Russia on track for its worst year on record for wildfires. The smoke from these blazes shrouded large parts of the country, including major cities like Novosibirsk, and has crossed the Pacific Ocean into the United States.
On Monday, a wildfire in the Canary Islands forced more than 8,000 people to flee. Over the weekend, new fires ignited in Alaska, extending what’s already been an unusually long fire season for the state. Last week, Denmark dispatched firefighters to Greenland combat a wildfire approaching inhabited areas. If not extinguished, officials are worried the blaze would burn through the winter, further driving up the already massive ice melt Greenland has experienced this year amid record heat.
California, which suffered its most destructive wildfire season on record in 2018, is having a much calmer year by comparison, although the potential for a major fire remains.
But perhaps even more alarming are the wildfires in the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest tropical forest. It’s an area that almost never burns on its own, yet the blazes have grown so intense that they blacked out the sky above São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, on Monday. The state of Amazonas has declared an emergency. The #PrayforAmazonia tag has surged on social media.
Many of these fires stem from unprecedented warmth and dryness across many parts of the world this year. And in the case of the Amazon, they are an unmistakable sign of how humans are radically reshaping the planet. (MORE - details)
INTRO: More than 21,000 square miles of forest have gone up in flames in Siberia this month, putting Russia on track for its worst year on record for wildfires. The smoke from these blazes shrouded large parts of the country, including major cities like Novosibirsk, and has crossed the Pacific Ocean into the United States.
On Monday, a wildfire in the Canary Islands forced more than 8,000 people to flee. Over the weekend, new fires ignited in Alaska, extending what’s already been an unusually long fire season for the state. Last week, Denmark dispatched firefighters to Greenland combat a wildfire approaching inhabited areas. If not extinguished, officials are worried the blaze would burn through the winter, further driving up the already massive ice melt Greenland has experienced this year amid record heat.
California, which suffered its most destructive wildfire season on record in 2018, is having a much calmer year by comparison, although the potential for a major fire remains.
But perhaps even more alarming are the wildfires in the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest tropical forest. It’s an area that almost never burns on its own, yet the blazes have grown so intense that they blacked out the sky above São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, on Monday. The state of Amazonas has declared an emergency. The #PrayforAmazonia tag has surged on social media.
Many of these fires stem from unprecedented warmth and dryness across many parts of the world this year. And in the case of the Amazon, they are an unmistakable sign of how humans are radically reshaping the planet. (MORE - details)