EXPERTS ADVISORY

University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) experts are available to comment on the causes and consequences of this year’s devastating wildfires: more than 800 active wildfires in Canada, over 100 more in the U.S. and more than 1,000 wildfires this year in Europe.

Paige Fischer, associate professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability, is a social scientist who studies human adaptation to climate change and, specifically, wildfires. She conducts research on how people experience and perceive wildfire risk, and what motivates and constrains them in taking action to reduce risk.

“This summer’s wildfires are consistent with the trend scientists have expected and the public has experienced in recent years—wildfires are occurring with greater frequency, magnitude and severity in many places, with serious outcomes for households and communities,” said Fischer, principal investigator of the Western Forest and Fire Initiative at U-M. “Beyond the damage and stress caused by active wildfires, we should be extremely concerned about wildfire impact that is most difficult to control: toxic smoke.

“Researchers have clearly found that more and more of the U.S. population is being affected by wildfire smoke, and that wildfire smoke is terrible for human health across all demographic groups. One of the biggest scientific challenges that remains is understanding what determines whether people take action to protect themselves—what are the big challenges and incentives?”

Contact: [email protected]

Jonathan Overpeck, professor and dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability, is an expert on climate and weather extremes, sea-level rise, and the impacts of climate change and options for dealing with it. He served as lead author on the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 and 2014 reports.

“The current North American wildfire season is surging across the western U.S. and Canada, made worse by the warming and drying effects of human-caused climate change,” he said. “As climate change worsens, so too does the risk of ever larger and more severe wildfires.

“The growing wildfire crisis is also leading to significant declines in air quality, including far from the wildfires themselves, as well as often devastating consequences for human infrastructure and communities where fires are occurring. Erosion, landslides and water contamination are also becoming larger problems as climate change-supercharged wildfire seasons continue to get worse.”

Contact: [email protected]