{"id":1254,"date":"2026-07-30T18:06:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/07\/30\/wildfires-wombats-and-wake-up-calls-what-to-read-rethink-and-act-on-this-week\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T18:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:06:29","slug":"wildfires-wombats-and-wake-up-calls-what-to-read-rethink-and-act-on-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/07\/30\/wildfires-wombats-and-wake-up-calls-what-to-read-rethink-and-act-on-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildfires, wombats and wake-up calls \u2013 what to read, rethink and act on this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

This roundup of The Conversation\u2019s environment coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter<\/a>, Imagine<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The world is burning. As ferocious wildfires spread across Europe, some people continue to fly off to the continent on their holidays, seemingly unaware of the extreme dangers facing thousands of people.<\/p>\n

Better climate reporting could help to bridge this gap. There is often a deep disconnect between coverage of acute emergencies and the long-term link with the climate crisis. That can translate into cognitive dissonance \u2013 when your actions and your knowledge don\u2019t match.<\/p>\n

As Doug Specht, an expert in climate communication at the University of Westminster, explains, media coverage of wildfires varies dramatically<\/strong><\/a> from country to country.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s recent fires have been written up as holidays spoiled, energy policy rows, domestic civil protection issues and continental emergency combined. \u201cAll the stories were true,\u201d he writes, \u201cbut what separates them is how far back the story begins. A fire can be explained by today\u2019s barbecue, yesterday\u2019s wind direction, by a dry spring, by four decades of land use change, or by a century of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specht explains how the framing of a wildfire story depends on three factors: \u201cFirst, which desk the story lands on. Travel and news desks seek stories of disruption, while environmental desks look for causes. Second, how far away the fire is, and third where the news outlet already stands on decarbonisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A glimmer of hope<\/h2>\n

Wildfire reporting in France offers a glimmer of hope. Specht describes a shift in both language and prominence. Heatwaves that were once described as oddities are now routinely referred to as the symptom of climate disruption or le d\u00e9r\u00e8glement climatique<\/em>. And some regional newspapers are covering what happens once the flames die down, from replanting woodlands to creating firebreaks.<\/p>\n

Adrianne Kroepsch, a former journalist and assistant professor at the Colorado School of Mines in the US, has researched 1,702 news articles published by local media in Colorado before, during and after the 2012 wildfire season \u2013 the state\u2019s worst in history. She and her colleagues found that the first anniversaries of catastrophic wildfires were the most promising periods<\/strong><\/a> for tough policy conversations in local media outlets.<\/p>\n

Her research identified that anniversary coverage was more likely to highlight the systemic causes of wildfires or outline the hazard mitigation actions needed than initial news stories.<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\n Read more:
\n Chasing the flame: Does media coverage of wildfires probe deeply enough?<\/a>
\n <\/strong>
\n <\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Pushing wildlife to its limits<\/h2>\n

Wildfires don\u2019t only endanger people. The most striking image I have seen all week is that of a baby wombat. Having just emerged from its burrow amid the smoky aftermath of Australian bushfires, a firefighter crouches down to offer a handful of water for the wombat to drink.<\/p>\n

Three climate science professors explain how a new TV documentary series, Force of Nature, is actually a story of resilience<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese animals are not presented as passive victims of a changing climate. They adapt, improvise and survive against the odds,\u201d they write. \u201cThat matters, because fatalism is almost as dangerous as denial. If people believe nothing can be done, they are less likely to act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scientists explain that societies rarely prepare for risks they cannot imagine. \u201cFor too long, extreme weather has existed at the edge of our collective imagination: something that happens elsewhere, or sometime in the future. Force of Nature shows that it is here now, shaping the lives of animals and people alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loading the dice<\/h2>\n

Researchers have found that the length of the fire weather season (when most fires tend to occur) has already expanded significantly in many regions since the 1980s. They explain that larger and more severe fires that are difficult to contain<\/a><\/strong> are now more likely than they were in the past.<\/p>\n

While climate change\u2019s influence on fire weather will escalate in the future, there\u2019s another big factor that strongly affects the odds of risky weather conditions spawning a wildfire. Human action. We can either amplify or dampen the effect of climate change.<\/p>\n

In the vast northern forests of Europe and North America, many fires are set by lightning. \u201cCloser to towns and cities, sparks from faulty power lines or agricultural machinery, arson, or the use of fire to burn farming or logging residue, for example, increase the risk of wildfire,\u201d they explain.<\/p>\n

\n \"silhouette<\/a>
\n A firefighter walks through the scorched and smoldering aftermath of a devastating wildfire near Ille-sur-Tet close to Perpignan in southern France as crews assess the full extent of destruction (July 10 2026).<\/span>
\n arafatmyt\/Shutterstock<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But there\u2019s good news. People can make it harder for wildfires to spread through naturally fire-prone landscapes by converting forest to farmland, or breaking up the highly flammable grassland vegetation of savannahs in Africa, Brazil and northern Australia.<\/p>\n

As Steve Turton, a professor of environmental geography at Central Queensland University, puts it, climate change is loading the dice<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cClimate change creates a warmer background climate in which fuels dry more quickly and remain dry for longer.\u201d And when several dangerous fires occur simultaneously across the same region, there\u2019s greater demand for aircraft, firefighters and emergency resources.<\/p>\n

\n

Don\u2019t have time to read about climate change as much as you\u2019d like?<\/em><\/strong>
\n
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.<\/a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation\u2019s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 47,000+ readers who\u2019ve subscribed so far.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Wildfires are a wake-up call<\/h2>\n

Assessing danger is commonplace for Kate Parkins, a bushfire risk analyst at the University of Melbourne. Together with Elliot Convery-Fisher, an expert in fire management at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in Scotland, UK, she outlines the lessons that countries can learn from Australia\u2019s world-leading fire response systems<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

More real-time emergency alerts are possible but only work well as part of wider communication efforts. The Australian fire danger rating system has four levels.<\/p>\n

As Parkins and Convery-Fisher explain, each level carries a clear set of messages and recommended actions for people to take before and during days of fire risk. These range from moderate (plan and prepare) and high (be ready to act) to extreme (take action now to protect life and property) and catastrophic (for your survival, leave wildfire risk areas).<\/p>\n

Warnings are shared through road signs, weather forecasts, state emergency websites and apps, plus news broadcasts. Yet challenges remain. Some people stay to defend their houses even in very dire circumstances.<\/p>\n

Parkins and Convery-Fisher explain that all warning systems face the same basic problem: \u201cToo much messaging results in communication fatigue, too little messaging and lives can be lost. Australia has spent decades learning how to warn its public. The harder lesson \u2013 getting people to act on this advice \u2013 remains a work in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This roundup of The Conversation\u2019s environment coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine. The world is burning. As ferocious wildfires spread across Europe, some people continue to fly off to the continent on their holidays, seemingly unaware of the extreme dangers facing thousands of people. Better climate reporting could help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}