Setting the World on Fire
Scientists now say there is a clear link between the increase of wildfires and global warming. As our summers get longer, hotter and drier -- wildfires in the Western United States are burning earlier, longer, and larger. Host Mike Tidwell talk about this research and how Congress is reacting with University of Montana Ecologist Steven Running and The Wilderness Society's Michael Francis, the director of its National Forest Program.
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NOAA's weather forecasting facility in Rapid City, South Dakota was recently in the line of wildfires. Tidwell talks to meteorologist David Carpenter about what it's like to be evacuated, even when you're the ones making the forecasts.
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Where there's wildfire, there's smoke. Tidwell speaks to Harvard University's Paul Epstein from the Center for Health and the Global Environment. He's warned for years about the health effects of increased wildfires due to global warming. Joining them to discuss state-by-state actions to highlight efforts to educate health officials about the health dangers of wildfires is Will Callaway of the Physicians for Social Responsibility.
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Indigo Teiwes is a mutual fund manager for Portfolio 21, an Oregon firm that specializes in investing in environmentally friendly funds - but she's also a dedicated fire dancer. Indigo discusses how she balances her day job of saving the environment with her carbon dioxide-emitting hobby.
Indigo will be performing at this year's Burning Man festival.
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Photo used courtsey of Mauja.
Musical selections used in this edition of Earthbeat include The Ohio Players; Earth, Wind and Fire; and Social Distortion.