Montana Efforts In The News:

Spring 2024 - A Missoula Roundtable with Wildfire Smoke Ready partners--Climate Smart Missoula, Missoula Public Health, the E.P.A., MT DPHHS, and University of Montana researchers. Check out:

• EPA wildfire smoke grants aim to improve indoor air quality - Missoulian
• US EPA investing in Montana climate resiliency projects - KPAX-TV
• EPA DPHHS discuss plans to enhance wildfire smoke awareness - NBC Montana

WHAT WE'RE READING
​We'd love to hear what you're reading, listening to, and watching!
Email [email protected] to submit wildfire smoke news to be shared on this page.​

​FEATURED

• An early-life wildfire exposure sickened these monkeys for decades
• The Hazy Days of Summer | The New Yorker​
• We Can See Clearly Now - by Bill McKibben (substack.com)
• What to know about smoke, heat and health I Montana Free Press
• How wildfire smoke can harm human health, even when the fire is hundreds of miles away – a toxicologist explains

PHYSICAL HEALTH IMPACTS OF WILDFIRE SMOKE

• New research finds building evidence for the long-term health effects of wildfire smoke
• Wildfire Smoke Can Wipe Years Off Your Lifespan: Study
• UW research links wildfire smoke to increased risk of emergency room visits for people of all ages
• Wildfire smoke 'like a giant cigarette' to lungs | Newsroom
• Wildfire smoke linked to increased risk of dementia, study says
• What Are the Health Risks of Wildfire Smoke Exposure? - The New York Times 
• Opinion | Wildfire Smoke Is Damaging Our Children’s Lungs - The New York Times

PUBLIC HEALTH + EQUITY

• As wildfires grow, poor, elderly disproportionately affected - Stateline​
• ​Wildfire Smoke Pollution a Growing Global Threat
• Wildfire smoke is the next public health crisis | The Hill 
• Poor air quality from wildfires increases health risks to vulnerable people | BC Gov News
• The Canada wildfires are exposing the harmful effects — and health inequities — of air pollution
• Extreme heat and wildfire smoke can collide in deadly ways

MENTAL HEALTH + WILDFIRE SMOKE

• How do wildfires affect mental health? A new study makes the connection
• How I Battle Wildfire Anxiety | Slate
• Paper: Air pollution via wildfire smoke increases suicide risk in rural counties | Illinois
• Wildfires can impact your mental health - Northwest Public Broadcasting

POLICY + PLANNING

• How wildfire smoke is erasing years of progress toward cleaning up America's air
• States are working to protect people from dangerous wildfire smoke — are ‘clean air centers’ the future?
• Montana receives federal funding to expand air quality monitoring stations
• Wildfire smoke spotlights need for better indoor air quality, experts say - National | Globalnews.ca

Photo: Mason Dow

BUSINESS + ECONOMICS + TECH
​

• Wildfires are now costing the US up to $900 billion annually
• The threat of wildfires is rising. So are new artificial intelligence solutions to fight them​
• ​ The new business of wildfire preparedness could grow to be massive : NPR
• Wildfire smoke impacts more than our health — it also costs workers over $100B a year. Here's why. - CBS News

CLIMATE CHANGE

• North America’s summer of wildfire smoke: 2023 was only the beginning - What's Up New
• Viewpoint: Climate Change, wildfire and the air we breathe
• Climate change makes fires, smoke worse in ‘new abnormal’ - The Columbian
• Can the Wildfire Smoke Spark Climate Action? Environmental History Offers a Mixed Lesson - The Messenger
• ​​Climate change is increasing the fire risk on the mostly treeless Great Plains : NPR

WILDFIRE SMOKE PREPAREDNESS

• Wildfire smoke leaves harmful gases in floors and walls − air purifiers aren’t enough, new study shows, but you can clean it up
• ​​​Did you breathe in a lot of wildfire smoke? Here's what to do next
• How to protect yourself from wildfires; The perils of hot neighborhoods : Here & Now Anytime : NPR