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Calum Cunningham

@calxcunningham.bsky.social
208 followers 486 following 5 posts

Australian ecologist into wildfire, wildlife, and the wonders of nature

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Reposted by Calum Cunningham
Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 19h
The latest corporate tax data just dropped. And congrats to Santos Ltd - 11yrs in a row of no company tax.
Table of Santos ltd company tax 2014-15 to 2024-25

Year	Total income	Company Tax
2014-15	$3,389,399,798	$0
2015-16	$3,476,002,729	$0
2016-17	$3,715,263,715	$0
2017-18	$3,498,043,596	$0
2018-19	$4,360,612,850	$0
2019-20	$5,013,931,702	$0
2020-21	$4,070,327,153	$0
2021-22	$4,746,037,784	$0
2022-23	$6,257,384,778	$0
2023-24	$8,210,276,022	$0
2024-25	$5,117,008,013	$0
Total	$51,854,288,140	$0
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Lucy Hamilton @lucyham.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Go back to watch this. It’s absolutely spot on. The massive jump in ON’s numbers isn’t “natural.” It is very likely an anomaly reflecting massive social media distortion. Manipulating algorithms? Overseas disinformation factories. Who is paying for it? Gina’s money @ Advance? Or? #Auspol
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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Can someone explain why – in an economy in which the central bank has decided we need almost 700,000 people to be unemployed – those people live in such dreadful poverty that it can make you up to 10 times more likely to die in the prime of your life?" www.theguardian.com/business/gro...
theguardian.com
In such a rich country, it is shameful how many Australians on jobseeker are dying in desperate poverty | Greg Jericho
Lifting the abysmally low jobseeker rate to the poverty line would save thousands of lives
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Glen @gergyl.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Or at least should notice that the word racist is therefore fair in her case, isn't likely to be held to be defamatory.
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Amy Remeikis @amyremeikis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Every single Pauline Hanson story reporting on her latest racist comments should also include that a court has upheld that she racially discriminated against Mehreen Faruqi.
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Wendy Harmer @wendyharmer.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
My daughter ( in her 20's) is dreaming of the day when we grow up and get a new flag... like many her age. Came up with this... you like it?
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Fascinating, and more grist for the mill theconversation.com/we-revisited... Sure to generate more discussion!
theconversation.com
We revisited a forest experiment that lay forgotten for 30 years. What we found was astounding
There is no silver bullet for managing forests, but this study answers some historic questions.
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Wendy Harmer @wendyharmer.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
All been said before,but the thought occurs,daily...what sort of brain-dead, fuckknuckle reckons we should aspire to live on Mars? There's no air up there, mate, or water.The human body will boil in minutes from radiation. It's -60 C and covered in toxic dust. WHAT KIND OF FK'N IDIOT ARE YOU?
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
More than 400 scientists, young people, Indigenous leaders, and conservation experts have written collectively to @albomp.bsky.social and @jimchalmers.bsky.social, pleading for adequate $ to protect and restore nature biodiversitycouncil.org.au/news/scienti... - @biodivcouncil.bsky.social
biodiversitycouncil.org.au
Scientists and young people send joint letter to PM about intergenerational failure of the budget on nature | Biodiversity Council Australia
Deep frustration with the budget has led more than 400 scientists, young people, Indigenous leaders, and conservation experts to write collectively to the Prime Minister and Treasurer, pleading for ad...
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Friends of the Earth Australia @foe.org.au · 19/05/2026
The community in south eastern SA worked for years to gain a moratorium on the process of fracking. However, the South Australian Gov is moving to lift the fracking ban in the states south east, which will open the door for new gas drilling operations. www.foe.org.au/sa_fracking_...
foe.org.au
Keep the SA fracking moratorium
Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) believes that social and environmental issues cannot be separated from each other. As a result, FoEA is a social and environmental justice organisation. We seek t...
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gavin jones @ecologyofgavin.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
In a sea of opinions about the role of LLMs in academics I offer my own. Apart from being harmful, exploitive plagiarism machines, LLMs rob us of the opportunity to experience the gift of friction in writing, which changes how we think. We must not give away that gift. doi.org/10.1002/fee....
doi.org
Thinking like a mountain in the age of AI
Click on the article title to read more.
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David Pocock @davidpocock.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
CSIRO have now lost more jobs under the Albanese Governmet than under the Abbott Government. We have to do better on research funding and backing our scientists. www.smh.com.au/environment/...
smh.com.au
‘Worst thing I’ve ever seen’: CSIRO slashes climate modelling jobs
Australia’s science agency is cutting more than 100 jobs in its Environment Research Unit, which critics say will crush our capacity to predict climate change.
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Paul Dutton @pdutts68.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Anyone supporting National Party that thinks this sort of redneck comment and political stance is ok then you can all get fucked and in the bin. Go fight an idiots war you truly think Australia is at risk. Don’t deserve to be here. #Political #Racism #AusPol www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...
abc.net.au
Live: Littleproud says government must ensure Iran footballers don't bring values of 'tyranny'
Nationals Leader David Littleproud says the government must ensure Iranian footballers who have sought asylum in Australia do not bring values of "tyranny". Follow live.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 02/03/2026
*New short blog* - finally (with help) got around to getting a total estimate of Grok's climate pollution 🫠 - Once all fossil gas online, = to between half and all of Tesla's ANNUAL GLOBAL avoided emissions - Currently, 5x the emissions of Tesla's total manufacturing ketanjoshi.co/2026/03/02/m...
Bar graph comparing emissions from Grok's fossil-fuelled data centres to avoided emissions from Tesla's products for the years 2023 and 2024. Comparison of emissions from manufacturing xAI's chatbot responses (5,127,553 tonnes CO2e) versus all Tesla products (1,056,000 tonnes CO2e) with respective analyses.
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Michael Dahlstrom @michaeldahlstrom.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Initially, many of the owl deaths had appeared accidental, as they had been struck by cars. But after conducting a series of $300 tests, it became clear a common product sold in supermarkets was to blame. au.news.yahoo.com/300-tests-sp...
au.news.yahoo.com
$300 tests spark call for ban of controversial product sold at Bunnings, Coles, Woolworths and Mitre 10
With the government unlikely to outlaw the dangerous product, the retailers have been urged to act.
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Can't bring themselves to use the word 'dingo', because murdering _dingoes_ via poison, as opposed to the deliberate misnomer 'wild dogs', is deemed odious by many. scijournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... Never mind that 'wild dog' is deeply offensive to First Nations peoples too!
scijournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Tracking bait fate: reducing the ‘unknowns’ in baiting programs
Mini-transmitters complimented the use of camera traps to monitor bait fate when investigating the success of wild dog management programs. The reduction in ‘unknown’ bait fate was a result of the mi...
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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 09/12/2025
Big new blogpost! My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more. --> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful. www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
screenshot of my post
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Kate Marvel @drkatemarvel.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
How much of the observed global warming was caused by humans? Science's best estimate: ALL OF IT
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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
I seriously cannot get over how stupid it is to be cutting back on research right now #ThePoint thepoint.com.au/off-the-char...
thepoint.com.au
CSIRO 350 job cuts a damning indictment on Government priorities, misses 'golden opportunity' on research
The announcement this week that CSIRO are to cut 350 research jobs is another damning indictment on Australia’s ongoing failure to prioritise research and development.
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
This is why for a long time I've found the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science a rather insulting propaganda exercise www.abc.net.au/news/science... CSIRO funding as a percentage of GDP: 1982-83 = 0.17 2024-25 = 0.03 ... Scientific extinction event imminent?
abc.net.au
The CSIRO cuts are just the tip of the iceberg for Australia's science funding
Australia is known as a country of innovators, but with a combination of brain drain, continuous cuts, and a loss of critical science projects, is Australia losing its edge?
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Robbi Bishop-Taylor 🛰️🌏 @satellitesci.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
✈️ Flying into NZ for #FOSS4G @foss4g.org - couldn't help but nerd out on all the beautiful tidal flats that surround Auckland. Here's a quick #DEAIntertidal tidal flat elevation map of Auckland’s Manukau Harbour, generated using #opensource code + satellite data loaded via #OpenDataCube and #STAC!
Elevation map of the intertidal zone in AucklandPhotograph of the intertidal zone in AucklandPhotograph of the intertidal zone in Auckland
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Yung En Chee @yungenchee.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
A very solid, evidence-informed speech against the Albanese government's cynical push to rush through Labor's deeply inadequate, integrity-challenged EPBC package Thank you @zalisteggall.bsky.social
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Is now a good time to talk about how many lambs are killed in different parts of Australia by foxes and feral pigs as opposed to dingoes? Oh, and what kills foxes and feral pigs, and helps to reduce their activity? Rhymes with bingo. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
abc.net.au
Feral pigs are eating 99 out of every 100 lambs on this NSW property
Neville Mattick says feral pigs are eating the lambs on his farm in the NSW Central West, with fewer than one in 100 surviving this season.
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Rohan Fisher @rohanfisher.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
I have been developing techniques for the automated assessment of fire events across Australia using NAFI (firenorth.org.au) data. These are the top 10 largest across Australia so far this year. 3 of them are > 1 million hectares (Terra-Fires, 100x mega fire). The year is not over.
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Matt Jones @mattwjones.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
🚨 Launched: State of Wildfires Report 2024-25 The Americas felt the harsh reality of what it means to live on a more fire-prone planet, with extreme #wildfire episodes made 2-3 times more likely by #climate change. 🔥 Full details via our brand new website: stateofwildfires.com/latest-report/
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Seriously?! It was actually your own party and Anthony Albanese that scuttled the EPBC reforms last time around, to appease your W.A. Labor colleagues and mining interests! And now you're asking us to lobby to pass legislation we haven't even seen the details of?! www.linkedin.com/posts/murray...
linkedin.com
We need your help to deliver a new Federal Environmental Protection Agency that enforces the law and protects our incredible natural environment. Tell the Senate to pass the EPA:… | Murray Watt | 11...
We need your help to deliver a new Federal Environmental Protection Agency that enforces the law and protects our incredible natural environment. Tell the Senate to pass the EPA: https://alp.org.au/...
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
I really hope that the environmental & conservation community has learnt their lessons from the safeguard mechanism fiasco. Those that should have known better were played by Labor, & threw many of their own under the bus. Now we're seeing the consequences. Let's not do the same with EPBC reforms!
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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Absolute must idea.
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Rex Patrick @mrrexpatrick.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Having charged Richard Boyle for 66 offenses, tied up the courts for 6 years, spent $339,703 on external legal fees, chilled whistleblowing - with the Court refusing to convict - it’s mind-blowing the CDPP still thinks his prosecution was in the public interest. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️ #auspol
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Rohan Fisher @rohanfisher.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
However resilient country can be built, fuels at scale can be managed. Fund the tools to monitor fuels, fund the rangers on country. Watch these fires, especially their behavior related to previous burning, on the NAFI Moblie app.
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Dr. Crystal A. Kolden @pyrogeog.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
It doesn't just *feel* like wildfires are becoming more catastrophic, they actually are. Led by @calxcunningham.bsky.social at Univ of Tasmania, this is a paper we started nearly 10 years ago, now in @science.org. Press release from @ucmerced.bsky.social here: news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/wi...
news.ucmerced.edu
Wildfire Disasters Surged in the Past 10 Years, Study Shows | Newsroom
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Dr. Crystal A. Kolden @pyrogeog.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Published today: our new paper showing a 44-year trend of increasing global wildfire disasters (fatalities and economic losses) due to climate change-induced extreme weather. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires
Climate change and land mismanagement are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments. However, despite worsening fire seasons, evidence is lacking globally for trends in socially ...
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Calum Cunningham @calxcunningham.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Out today in @science.org, we show wildfire disasters have surged in the last decade, as climate change intensifies fire weather and exacerbates other vulnerabilities. 📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... With @pyrogeog.bsky.social @climate-guy.bsky.social
science.org
Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires
Climate change and land mismanagement are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments. However, despite worsening fire seasons, evidence is lacking globally for trends in socially ...
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Senator David Shoebridge @davidshoebridge.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Guess where former defence ministers are? 👀 The revolving door is a real obstacle to good governance and it should be SHUT.
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Andrew Wilkie MP @andrewwilkiemp.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Gov reaffirming salmon farming expansion in Mac Harbour shows appalling disregard for the natural environment. Obsessed with appeasing big business, they’d rather offer hollow apologies later for driving the Maugean skate to extinction than take real action now. #auspol #politas
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David Pocock @davidpocock.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
It’s time to stop the Aussie gas scam. Let’s put our people & industries first. Sign my petition: www.davidpocock.com.au/prrt_petition
davidpocock.com.au
Stop the Aussie gas scam petition
TRUST. INTEGRITY. LEADERSHIP.
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Dr. Crystal A. Kolden @pyrogeog.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
It's 2025, and it's still climate change driving major forest loss through wildfires. With insights from @climate-guy.bsky.social and @calxcunningham.bsky.social @ucmerced.bsky.social @utas.edu.au www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...
nytimes.com
Climate Change Is Making Fire Weather Worse for World’s Forests
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
For these reasons, we cannot simply look to trends in mean precipitation, or mean evaporation, to tell us anything about changes in *extreme* precipitation or evaporative demand (i.e., atmospheric "thirst"). To do so would be deeply misleading. Yet it remains common practice.
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
The discourse surrounding precipitation changes in a warming climate (both public discussion and even scientific one at times) is complicated by widespread conflation of changes in averages vs extremes (and also actual vs *potential* evaporation/evaporative demand). [Thread]
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Jonathan Coop @coopecology.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Our new research highlights the extent that aspen stands may act as a firebreak, slowing or stopping fire. Applications for land management and implications for fire-driven conifer-to-aspen forest conversion. Thanks @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social for the summary below. doi.org/10.1002/eap....
Unburned aspen stands in contrast to blackened conifers following the 2023 Lowline fire in Colorado, USA.
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Evan Frost @wildwoods.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
"Effective fire suppression is currently masking the potential for very destructive fires, because such changes in already hazardous locations may push systems past critical thresholds, leading to disproportionate increases in damage." IOW, we're pouring gasoline on the fires that are to come. 🌏
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Communications Earth & Environment @commsearth.nature.com · 09/07/2025
🔥The intensity of wildfires is projected to rise across 88% of global fire-prone areas under 1.5°C warming, with the largest increases expected in wildland-urban interfaces already prone to disasters @calxcunningham.bsky.social 👉Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
nature.com
Wildfires will intensify in the wildland-urban interface under near-term warming - Communications Earth & Environment
The intensity of wildfires is projected to rise across 88% of global fire-prone areas under 1.5°C warming, with the largest increases expected in wildland-urban interfaces already prone to disasters, ...
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Grant Linley @glinley.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
I am happy to share my final PhD chapter in @oikosjournal.bsky.social The 2019–20 wildfires altered vegetation structure yet had little effect on most species’ relative abundance. However, several species shifted their diel activity in burnt landscapes. doi.org/10.1002/oik.... #FireEcology
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Mike Flannigan @mikeflannigan.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Updated figure from Jain et al. showing global extreme fire weather trends since 1979. Metrics are global 95th percentile of annual Fire Weather Index (FWI), Initial Spread Index (ISI) and the Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD). The trend is clear - we are seeing more extreme fire weather due to warming.
graphs showing fire weather index (FWI), initial spread index (ISI) and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) 95th percentile trends 1979 to 2024. Updated from Jain et al. 2022 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01224-1
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Eamonn Wooster @predator-smarts.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
What is the Human Shield Hypothesis, how do we test it and what do those tests find? New paper out in Ecology Letters today asking these questions. Thanks to @kaitlyngaynor.bsky.social and Mike Noonan for having me. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
The Human Shield Hypothesis: Does Predator Avoidance of Humans Create Refuges for Prey?
The human shield hypothesis posits that predators avoid areas of human disturbance due to perceived risk from humans, and prey therefore seeks refuge in these areas of perceived safety. Our systemati...
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Pup Fiction @pupfiction.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
FFS. All this coming about because the AFL set the rules and won’t budge. They are the problem, which nobody seems to acknowledge
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Dr. Crystal A. Kolden @pyrogeog.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
This is your regular reminder that ALL buildings in California must build to seismic codes, but only those in CALFIRE's designated high hazard areas must build to WUI fire codes. Why the discrepancy? Who the hell knows...but it means the cycle of rebuild and burn again will continue.
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Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS @euanritchie.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Australia’s federal election will be May 3. If you want a safer climate & much greater protection for biodiversity, & you should because everything depends upon this, you can make that happen by preferential voting! In this order (best to worst) Greens/Teals & sensible Indies Labor LNP ToP/PHON
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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Live footage of Tanya Plibersek eating a giant shit sandwich and selling out Australia's environment to curry favour with foreign salmon companies that pay no tax. Bravo
Screencap of Tanya Plibersek introducing the changes to the environmental acts that will ensure that Australia's environment is shat over forever by companies because there is a profit to be made
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Dr. Crystal A. Kolden @pyrogeog.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
In Sept 2020, in the wake of a record CA fire season, I wrote an opinion piece for @nature.com about the need to focus on the human metrics of fire, not the acres burned. The #LAFires underscore that our obsession with size fails to convey the scope of the impacts. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/d41....
nature.com
Wildfires: count lives and homes, not hectares burnt
Smarter ways to assess fires will bring better methods of preventing damage.
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