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Europe's New Trick Against Wildfires: Let It Burn

Lauren Millan Lombraña

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

Richard Milne

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

Henry Brean

September 20, 2020 |

Arizona Daily Star |

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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

Kelly Boutsalis

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

Sophie Quinton Alex Brown

September 18, 2020 |

Stateline |

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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?

Taylor Griggs Henry Houston

September 18, 2020 |

Eugene Weekly |

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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

Ray Levy Uyeda

September 17, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

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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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How the Lebanese Diaspora Is Mobilizing Against Food Insecurity at Home

Marianne Dhenin

September 08, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Lebanon, Beirut

Volunteer-run organizations are helping those facing food insecurity throughout Beirut by preparing and delivery food on a daily basis. Although the food system in the country remains heavily strained, the grassroots network of organizations are relying on one another for support which has resulted in diverting aid and strategically funneling resources where they're most needed.

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Drones Have Earned Their Place in Small-Town Wisconsin

Jed Pressgrove

September 04, 2020 |

Government Technology |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Linn, Wisconsin

A drone program has helped the small town of Linn find missing people, rescue people in medical distress, and find multiple drowning victims in the town's lake. Police now spend less time conducting searches and have saved lives with their eye in the sky. By carefully developing policies and by practicing transparency, making flight logs public, the town has eased privacy concerns and earned enough community support to pay for the latest drones with donations.

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They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won't Anybody Listen?

Elizabeth Weil

August 28, 2020 |

ProPublica |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

California’s wildfires historically were contained through periodic but limited burning. But “misguided fire police” over many decades, focused on overzealous fire suppression, has accumulated more dry fuel, resulting in wildfires that have grown progressively larger and more dangerous. Climate change only increases the likelihood of more fires. And the inventory of unburned acreage that has accumulated is now so great that it makes it increasingly difficult to ever catch up.

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