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  • The Work Is All Of Us

    October 05, 2020 |

    Texas Observer |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Texas

    What started as an informal support group in Texas for undocumented workers who had been injured while working, has morphed into a mutual aid organization that helps connect immigrants and those who are uninsured with health necessities and resources. The group is unique in the U.S., as it advocates for both disability rights and immigrant rights, while also providing support for disaster relief efforts.

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  • Fighting Wildfires With Fire

    September 30, 2020 |

    Wall Street Journal |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    The absence of an active "fire culture" in the American West has contributed greatly to the scale of catastrophic wildfires fueled by decades of aggressive fire-suppression tactics. In Florida, Australia, and pockets of experimentation in California, ancient practices of controlled burns – frequent low-intensity burns – minimize the buildup of dead-tree fuel on the ground. Such human-set fires have been known to go out of control. And their smoke can be a health hazard. But Native American and other indigenous cultures have shown the overall benefits of letting forests burn.

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  • The Residents Setting California on Fire in Order to Save It

    September 30, 2020 |

    Future Human |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, California

    Fire Forward trains Californians to conduct controlled burns, setting fires to make future wildfires less destructive. With state and federal resources skewed heavily toward suppression of wildfires, the prevention-minded approach of controlled burns – informed by forest management science and inspired by ancient Native American practices – depends on informing and training more people to conduct controlled burns independent of government. Fire Forward's scale makes it more of a demonstration project than an effective response to the overall problem, but it grew during 2020's historic wildfires.

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  • Europe's New Trick Against Wildfires: Let It Burn

    September 29, 2020 |

    Bloomberg |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Portugal

    Led by Portugal and Spain, European nations have shifted their responses to wildfires from a heavy emphasis on suppression to a more prevention-based approach. Climate change has increased fire risk greatly. By letting smaller fires burn, to reduce the fuel available to future megafires, and with other forest-management methods, Mediterranean countries have had no large blazes so far in 2020. Portugal, three years after a massive fire killed at least 120, registered its lowest number of fires in a decade. In Spain, prevention includes Fire Flocks, herds of sheep and goats whose grazing cleans up forests.

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  • How Finland kept Covid in check

    September 23, 2020 |

    Financial Times |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Finland

    Finland has been able to keep their COVID-19 infection rate and death toll much lower than other countries by "shutting down rapidly" and relying on a law on preparedness that was devised after the Winter War in 1939-40. The law, which "explicitly mentions pandemics," helped the country to stockpile medical and protective equipment. According to Sweden's state epidemiologist, “Their level of preparedness is just way beyond anything we would even dream about in Sweden."

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  • University of Arizona researchers unveil new model for desert farming in warming world

    September 20, 2020 |

    Arizona Daily Star |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

    In an experimental garden in Arizona, scientists are seeing how to produce sustainable and local food in a desert environment. They’re growing plants under a photovoltaic “canopy” of solar panels that provide necessary shade for the crops and, at the same time, generate cheap, renewable energy for irrigation systems and farm equipment. So far, they’ve been able to grow basil, Anasazi red beans, and a special bell pepper. While not all crops will work in this system and scaling the garden has its challenges, learning how to grow food in the desert is necessary to adapt to a future with climate change.

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  • The art of fire: reviving the Indigenous craft of cultural burning

    September 20, 2020 |

    The Narwhal |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: Tsilhqot'in Nation, Canada

    A 3-year pilot is developing a traditional fire management program for First Nation communities using cultural burns, a practice banned for over a century. Cultural burns are used to reinvigorate the landscape so that seeds and berries grow and animals return. The low intensity, slow burns also reduce wildfire risks and other issues linked to climate change, such as infestations. Stories about cultural burns are being recorded from tribal elders to preserve the rich cultural knowledge about traditional fire management techniques. First Nations hope to be able to use cultural burns on their tribal lands.

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  • California May Need More Fire to Fix its Wildfire Problem

    September 18, 2020 |

    Stateline |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, California

    Prescribed burns are considered the best way to contain catastrophic wildfires, and fires sparked by lightning or by Native Americans once burned more land in California than has burned in 2020's record-setting fires. But burning its way out of danger is hardly a simple matter for California now. Obstacles are many. Long-standing policies of aggressive fire suppression, plus climate-change-induced drought and pestilence, have amassed more fuel for fires. Dense populations in fire-prone areas, make for daunting logistical and financial obstacles.

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  • Who Can Breathe in Lane County?

    September 18, 2020 |

    Eugene Weekly |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

    As smoke from local wildfires created an unhealthy outdoor environment, cities in Oregon looked to expand temporary housing options for those experiencing homelessness. While not all have been successful, the Portland area saw success from being able to rely on their "system for responding to severe weather, as well as the Multnomah County’s Emergency Management Department."

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  • How Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Are Getting the Jobs and Pay They Deserve

    September 17, 2020 |

    Yes! Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, California

    The Fire and Forestry Recruitment Program serves as an intermediary between formerly incarcerated people trained as firefighters and the agencies they seek work from once they have been released from prison. California has long used incarcerated firefighters in its wildfire-fighting work, paying them poverty wages and then usually denying them the jobs they're trained for outside prison. FFRP has helped more than 100 such people find jobs, using training, certifications, and job-searching help. Its services are in high demand as a lower prison population coincides with record wildfires.

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