A must-listen conversation with ecologist and data scientist Nathan Mietkiewicz about his new analysis that found humans were responsible for 97 percent of wildfires that threatened homes over the last 24 years. Nathan also walks us through the effects of climate change on wildfire season, and why we cannot suppress or log our way out of the current conditions that are causing megafires across the West. Counterintuitively, the only way forward is more—but controlled—fire.

More fire science

* In the Line of Fire: Consequences of Human-Ignited Wildfires to Homes in the U.S. (1992–2015)* Human-started wildfires expand the fire niche across the United States* Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests* Observed Impacts of Anthropogenic Climate Change on Wildfire in California* Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity* Human-Related Ignitions Increase the Number of Large Wildfires across U.S. Ecoregions

Host/producer: Aaron WeissFeedback: [email protected]Music: Purple PlanetPhoto: Fishermen’s Bend Recreation Site near Salem, Oregon, September 9, 2020, Bureau of Land Management