Threats

  • Grass-fed Beef: Climate Destroyer

    George Wuerthner

    For many years, I’ve been a critic of cattle production. I have mainly focused on public land grazing because that is one area where citizens can have a voice in management. More recently, concern about livestock’s contribution to climate warming has garnered more attention. The punch line is that any kind of beef is bad…

  • 1,100 Communities at Risk of Urban Wildfire

    George Wuerthner

    The recent blaze that destroyed much of Altadena, California was an urban fire ignited by wind-driven embers. Photo by George Wuerthner A new report from Headwaters Economics concludes that 1,100 communities scattered across the country are vulnerable to urban wildfires, such as the recent Altadena and Pacific Palisades blazes in California. While the origins of…

  • What Does It Mean To Home Harden?

    George Wuerthner

    I have written numerous critiques of the current fire policies that primarily focus on hinterland fuel reduction by logging and prescribed burning. While some limited use of these strategies has a place in reducing fire risk to homes, the main emphasis should be on the house and surroundings. The most significant home losses are not…

  • Why Tribal Co-Management Is A Threat to Our Public Lands

    George Wuerthner

    Given the wrecking ball the Trump administration is taking to our public lands and public values, it might seem trivial to worry about tribal co-management. Our public lands are among the most democratic of American institutions. Every American has a right to voice their opinion about public lands management, but no group should be elevated…

  • Another Trojan Horse To Expedite Livestock Grazing Of Public Lands

    George Wuerthner

    Here we go again. Yet another article “Bill plans to use livestock grazing to lower wildfire risk” about how livestock grazing can reduce wildfires. It seems that every month or so, someone (without much knowledge of fire ecology or even grazing impacts) rediscovers the fairy tale that fuel reduction by grazing will preclude large wildfires.…

  • Trump Oil Directive Will Lead to Greater Climate Crisis And Wildlands Losses

    George Wuerthner

    I published Energy: Overdevelopment and The Delusion of Endless Growth a few years ago. In my research for that book, I gained a couple of insights about energy and its ultimate costs. First, oil and gas are sold on the global market, ultimately setting the price of oil and gas at the pump. Second, energy companies…

  • The Fix Our Forests Act – A Trojan Horse For Logging

    George Wuerthner

    Congress is considering Fix Our Forests legislation. The legislation is a Trojan Horse that seeks to increase fuel reductions on public lands through logging and prescribed burns. However, large wildfires are ultimately not controlled by fuels. Fires need fuel to ignite, but they only spread when the climate/weather is conducive to ignition and the spread…

  • Trump’s Assault On Alaskan Wildlands

    George Wuerthner

    One of the first Executive Orders from the Trump Whitehouse is to reverse environmental protections for federal lands in Alaska and hasten, expand, and encourage resource development. Sec. 2.  Policy.  It is the policy of the United States to: (a)  fully avail itself of Alaska’s vast lands and resources for the benefit of the Nation…

Subscribe to get new posts right in your Inbox

‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

Latest Posts

×