Media coverage of wildfires omits one key element: Humanity's role
This summer saw some of the worst wildfires in recorded history.
Not just in the western U.S., but Algeria, Canada, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Turkey and Russia all faced annual fire seasons of vast destruction, fear and choking air pollution. And it's not over: hundreds of firefighters continue to battle across California with the most active fire months still ahead.
Global media outlets cover these firestorms like the disasters they are, but too few point out that human-driven climate change is their shared accelerant. 2021 may have been bad, but many expect the future to be even worse. We are burning our own house down. If we're to survive, we need to acknowledge our pyromaniacal role now.
While wildfires occur every year and are an important element of functioning ecosystems, the scale of 2021 fires naturally raises questions about their relationship to climate change. The media often notes a changing climate can create conditions for wildfires to flourish, but coverage often falls short when discussing their cause and consequence. To be clear, increasing wildfires create a doom-loop that increases atmospheric carbon levels that risks worsening the next fire season.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/media-coverage-of-wildfires-omits-one-key-element-humanity-s-role/ar-AAPnOAP
