January: A Wild Year in the Making

2020 saw record setting wildfires around the world.  Fueled by droughts, increasing temperatures, and changing weather patterns, 52,113 wildfires in the western United States scorched 8,889,297 acres of land.  In Australia, fires claimed the lives of more than 30 people, with some estimates suggesting over 400 fatalities, according to Time.  Wilderness firefighting personnel have struggled to combat the rapidly increasing number and size of fires.  Climatologists and meteorologists around the globe have linked this increase directly to climate change, a fact met with indifference and often hostility from many U.S. Republicans, including President Donald Trump. Read more about the topic here: Ledger writer Keira McDonald’s article “In the Midst of a Pandemic, We Are the Virus.”

The good to come out these wild fires? More young people are becoming activist for climate change.