Amazon fires: Causes, impact, and prevention strategies

Amazon rainforest facts, species, and threats

The World Wildlife Federation presents a brief overview of the Amazon rainforest, covering key facts like location, size, and importance. An overview of threats includes unsustainable resource extraction, climate change, and poorly planned construction projects.

Interviews with loggers, tribespeople, environmentalists, ranchers, and scientists about Amazon rainforest deforestation.

Around for 10 million years, the Amazon Rainforest might completely disappear before the end of the century. This 10-minute read shares personal accounts from loggers to Indigenous people, with satellite images of the deforestation of a 134,000...

Finance sector has power to help the Amazon rainforest

Read this article to uncover the potential role of the financial industry in addressing deforestation, climate change, and biodiversity loss in the Amazon rainforest. The finance sector can significantly contribute to conservation efforts by...

Nonprofits strive to replant the Amazon and slow global warming

This article explores the efforts of nonprofit organizations like Rioterra in reforesting the Brazilian Amazon to mitigate climate change. Their goal is enormous: reforest an area twice the size of Germany, costing over 20 billion dollars. In order...

The current state of Amazon rainforest deforestation

Scientists say the Amazon rainforest is approaching between 20%-25% deforestation, a critical tipping point at which the damage is irreversible. Demand for beef and soy are the main drivers.

Infographic illustrates the diverse and fragile Amazon ecosystems

This infographic helps readers better understand the vast rivers, forests, plants, and animals that call the Amazon rainforest home. Home to the largest collection of plant and animal species in the world, the Amazon rainforest has 16 thousand known...

Brief article explaining why the Amazon rainforest might now produce more carbon dioxide than it absorbs

Climate change and deforestation may have transformed the Amazon rainforest into a net source of planet-warming gases instead of a carbon sink, according to Smithsonian magazine.

Impact of Brazil's politics on the Amazon rainforest

In this seven-minute podcast, Andrew Limbong speaks with environmental researcher Erika Berenguer about Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s ambitions to save the Amazon Rainforest from deforestation.

NASA satellite data and sound recordings used to assess rainforest health

This two-minute video describes the work of scientists who are analyzing the impact of repeated forest fires in the Amazon by recording the unique sounds in degraded forests. The team is using acoustic sensors to record sounds of wildlife in the...

Amazon has historically opposed efforts among its employees to unionize

Amazon has done everything from creating mandatory anti-union meetings to hiring union-busting consultants, and even engaging in employee surveillance. Such efforts have proven to be a lightning rod for pro-labor groups.

Bezos has frequently cited a 1999 article titled Amazon.bomb to illustrate how dire the early predictions about Amazon got

Over the years, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos often recalls how wrong the predictions in the 1999 Barron’s cover story were. Among other things, that article declared Amazon’s entire business model to be unsustainable and destined to fail, noting its lack of profit and dependence on a massive amount of capital to fund its growth.

The ritual burns of California forests

Many ecosystems around the world have adapted to regularly occurring wildfires. Some human cultures saw the advantage of such fires and integrated them into their community rituals. Learn about similar tribal traditions looking to better manage California's forests today.

A third of Americans now live in wildfire risk zones

Climate change and human development into fire-prone regions have extended the wildfire season, with some areas experiencing fire conditions year-round. Extreme conditions, poor compensation, and exposure to carcinogens have complicated firefighter recruitment, further exacerbating wildfire risks.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Amazon has fulfillment centers all over the world

Amazon fulfillment centers are the large warehouses where products that customers have ordered are stored, packed, and shipped. In order to efficiently manage inventory and process millions of orders each day, the centers rely heavily on advanced technology and robotics.

Climate science 101: climate change, its impacts, and potential solutions

How do we know that this warming is happening and that it’s caused by humans? How strong is the evidence? What risks can we expect and what can we do about them?

A primer on the environmental impact of fishing and overfishing

Learn why overfishing is a problem and what are some solutions to reduce fishing’s environmental impact while maintaining vital sources of food and livelihoods.

Fireworks contribute to air, water, and soil contamination and disrupt wildlife

Fireworks displays have far-reaching environmental consequences, including acid rain from displays during storms and microplastic pollution in water supplies. Wildlife has also been seen abandoning sites during fireworks and never returning.

The surprising world of coal seam fires

Hundreds of coal seam fires are actively smoldering around the world at any given time, including some that have stayed lit for centuries. These fires have occurred naturally for millions of years, lit atop deposits of coal in the earth. Dive into...

Lightning may kill as many as 320 million trees each year

Ignoring the effects of tree loss resulting from lightning-induced wildfires, researchers at the Technical University of Munich developed a quantitative model to estimate the loss of these organisms due to cloud-to-ground strikes, based on global lightning data and forest structure. They expect the estimate to rise due to increased strikes resulting from climate change.

Invasive species can harm infrastructure and threaten human health

The wildfires in Hawaii in 2022 were made worse by flammable invasive grasses introduced from Africa as livestock pasture, and Zebra mussels native to the Caspian and Black Seas have spread across Europe and the US, where they can clog power plant pipes. Invasive mosquitoes can carry diseases, such as dengue and malaria.

See how a 2018 fire in Paradise, California, exposed the limits of emergency coordination

This Frontline documentary shows how the Camp Fire stretched and ultimately overwhelmed the complex web of agencies involved in emergency response, including fire suppression, 911 dispatch, law enforcement, and emergency management, with catastrophic results.

Examining the causes of power outages, from system damage to preventative measures

Stray balloons, contact with trees, malfunctioning equipment, and severe weather are among the causes of failures that can cause widespread, unplanned blackouts. Although contingency options that rely on alternative transmission pathways to deliver electricity from generators to consumers may be possible, some shutoffs, brownouts—available power is reduced—and cycles of repeated outages may be intentionally implemented to protect public safety.

How Elon Musk's businesses have shaped Texas' Bastrop County

After deadly wildfires in 2011 burned a significant portion of the county, the tech boom in Austin pushed development eastward. Elon Musk has since made the region a key hub of his businesses, including a Tesla gigafactory considered one of the largest factories in the world by volume. Watch this reporter visit the town to hear the pros and cons of the transformation.

Understanding the causes and environmental impacts of crude oil spills and leaks

Although some oil regularly leaks from the bottom of the oceans through the gradual erosion of sedimentary rock, major spills result from accidental ruptures of pipelines or damage to transportation vessels or rigs. Oil can break down the water-repelling ability of feathers, remove the insulation of fur, and poison food chains if ingested.

About 69% of dangerous Black Friday incidents happen inside retail stores

Some posit that this is because tensions tend to run high there as customers fight over a limited physical supply of discounted goods. Another 20% of incidents take place at store entrances, where long lines often form well before the retailer opens its doors.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

Three Ebola species are responsible for most large outbreaks of the disease, yet the only approved Ebola vaccine is known to work against just one of them.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.