Managing Wildfires to Combat Climate Change, with David Wear

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with David Wear, a nonresident senior fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF). As anyone knows who’s recently breathed the air in the northeastern or midwestern United States, wildfires increasingly are posing risks to human health, the environment, and the climate. In a recent RFF issue brief, Wear analyzes how scaling up wildfire management in federal forests—specifically, through methods of clearing the forest undergrowth, collectively called “forest fuel treatments”—could reduce wildfires and the damage that wildfires cause. Wear discusses recent trends in wildfires, how forest fuel treatments can address this growing problem, and more. References and recommendations: “Wildfire Risk Reduction: Effects of the Draft Energy Infrastructure Act” by David N. Wear; https://www.rff.org/publications/issue-briefs/wildfire-risk-reduction-effects-of-the-draft-energy-infrastructure-act/ “The Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-ministry-for-the-future/9780316300162/