IoES in the News
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Yifang Zhu in The Philadelphia Inquirer: How climate change is fueling record-breaking California wildfires, heat and smog
In 2001, a team of international scientists projected that during the next 100 years, the planet’s inhabitants would witness higher maximum temperatures, more hot days and heat waves, an increase…
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Glen MacDonald in ABC 7 Los Angeles: La Nina forms in the Pacific – here’s what that means for California’s rain and fire seasons
As wildfires rage up and down California, federal weather officials say the possibility of any relief in the form of rain is slight due to a La Nina weather system…
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Suzanne Paulson in Newsweek: Air Pollution From California Wildfires in Some Regions ‘Unprecedented’
Air pollution from the California wildfires is spreading across the state, with hazardous levels being recorded in many regions. In several areas the Air Quality Index showed regions where pollution…
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Daniel Swain in the New York Times: A Climate Reckoning in Fire Stricken California
If climate change was a somewhat abstract notion a year ago, today it is all too real for Californians fleeing wildfires and being smothered in a blanket of smoke, the…
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Daniel Swain in KXAN NBC: ‘Smoke cyclone:’ Airborne ash from California fires creates disturbing satellite image
For the better part of a month, fires from across the western United States have filled the skies with smoke and ash, creating unhealthy air conditions for millions of Americans. …
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Daniel Swain in Los Angeles Times — A sizzling summer: Hottest August on record in California
In the midst of the state’s most destructive wildfire season, California has garnered another dubious distinction: the hottest August on record in California, according to a report from UCLA climate scientist Daniel…
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Pritzker Finalist Clara Pratte in Good News Network: Solar-Powered Panels Pull Water Out of the Air For Navajo Families Who Have None
What if there was a way of pulling vapor from the atmosphere and bringing it through faucets as clean, drinkable water. Harnessing the power of the sun, Zero Mass Water’s…
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Yifang Zhu in The Bakersfield Californian — Los Angeles suffers worst smog in almost 30 years
Lung-damaging ozone pollution in Los Angeles reached its highest levels in a generation and set records in other parts of Southern California during the blistering Labor Day weekend heat wave,…
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Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative in Curbed: A 2006 Heat Wave Was a Warning from the Future. Why Didn’t L.A. Pay Attention?
The deadly impacts of climate change on a hot, hardscape city were clear 15 years ago. This summer, the Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative released its own findings — during…
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Daniel Swain in Inside Climate News: A Siege of 80 Large, Uncontained Wildfires Sweeps the Hot, Dry West
As fires spread into Washington, Oregon and Montana, the arrival of the Santa Ana winds means more conflagrations for California. “It’s not just the size of the fires, but the…
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Daniel Swain in ProPublica: The Climate Crisis Is Happening Right Now. Just Look at California’s Weekend.
This was the weekend that climate change, in California, stopped being about the future. The weekend that the idea that COVID-19 was worse than climate change, or fascism was worse…
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Daniel Swain in Washington Post: Thousands evacuated as ‘once in a generation’ fires burn through Oregon
The Oregon Department of Forestry estimated the Almeda Fire has burned 2,500 to 3,000 acres. As of late Tuesday, the fire was at zero percent containment, according to Jackson County Emergency…
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Daniel Swain in The Weather Channel: California Sweltering in All-Time Record Heat and Wildfire Smoke Now Faces Santa Ana Wind Threat
California’s latest heat wave smashed some all-time records, contributing to another explosion of wildfires that already topped a state record a month before their typical peak time of year. The…
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Daniel Swain in CalMatters: Strong winds force power shutoffs as fires burn record 2 million acres
Most Californians are waking up today to strong and dangerous winds — and some are waking up without power. PG&E began shutting off power for about 172,000 customers in 22 counties late…
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Daniel Blumstein’s new book “The Nature of Fear: Survival Lessons from the Wild” — Q&A in Psychology Today
Psychology Today interviews Professor Daniel Blumstein about his groundbreaking new book. Delving into the evolutionary origins and ecological contexts of fear across species, The Nature of Fear considers what we can…
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LENS co-founder Jon Christensen in UCLA Newsroom: Faculty, students co-produce documentary on bipartisan environmental solutions
A new documentary exploring environmental politics, which was researched, reported and produced by UCLA faculty and students in conjunction with the Southern California public media channel KCET, is slated to…
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Daniel Swain in TIME: ‘This is Crazy.’ A Record 2 Million Acres of California Have Burned This Year With Heat Conditions Predicted to Continue
The state is experiencing another wave of record-breaking heat this weekend, and offshore winds beginning around this time of year—the Santa Anna winds in the south, and the Diablo winds…
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Daniel Swain in Washington Post: ‘Extremely dangerous’ fire threat in West after historic weekend heat while the Rockies await freak snow
After one of California’s hottest weekends ever observed, a severe fire threat encompasses much of the state and expands over large portions of the western United States. Yet, in a…
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Daniel Swain in TIME: ‘This is Crazy.’ A Record 2 Million Acres of California Have Burned This Year With Heat Conditions Predicted to Continue
In a Friday tweet, climate scientist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, predicted Monday’s new record. He tells TIME the prediction was…
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Daniel Swain in Washington Post: California endures record-setting ‘kiln-like’ heat as fires rage, causing injuries
California just witnessed one of its hottest weekends in memory, which intensified destructive wildfires that erupted. Daniel Swain, a climate researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles, said…
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Daniel Swain in San Francisco Chronicle: Helicopters rescue 200 trapped by fast-moving Creek Fire in Sierra National Forest
A highly dangerous wildfire that ignited in Sierra National Forest Friday evening exploded to 45,500 acres by Sunday. It trapped a number of people near a Fresno County reservoir on…
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Edith de Guzman and the Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative in The Los Angeles Times: As second heat wave sears California, experts say health impacts will worsen with climate change
A recent study by the Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative, which is developing strategies to combat urban heat, found that widespread tree planting and retrofitting of roofs and streets with…
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Daniel Swain in CNBC: Dangerous heat wave to hit California over weekend as wildfires still burn
A dangerous heat wave is expected to hit California over the weekend and trigger one of the hottest days in state history. “I am seriously concerned about this heatwave throughout…
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UCLA Fielding School of Public Health joins consortium to address environmental change and its health impacts
The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health (FSPH) has joined the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA), a consortium of more than 200 universities, research institutes, and government agencies committed to understanding…
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Daniel Swain in Patch — Studio City Heat Wave: 110 Degrees During Labor Day Weekend?
As if August’s heat wave wasn’t enough, Labor Day weekend will bring yet another grueling stretch of triple-digit temperatures. “[It] will probably be a bit more tolerable than during the…
