US Wildfires Shown To Erase Clean Air Improvements
According to a new study in The Lancet
Wildfire and smoke fill the sky over a western US forest - click to enlarge
December 6, 2023 - A new study in The Lancet has tabulated the toll of two decades of wildfires on air quality and human health in the continental U.S.
The study concludes:
Wildfires have become increasingly intensive and frequent in the western USA, resulting in a significant increase in smoke-related emissions in populated areas. This increase is likely to have contributed to a decline in air quality and an increase in attributable mortality. Reducing fire risk via effective policies besides mitigation of climate warming, such as wildfire prevention and management, forest restoration, and new revenue generation, could substantially improve air quality and public health in the coming decades.
STAR's Shobha Kondragunta was one of this study's authors.