Forest Service fire investigators on Friday placed the blame for the Calf Canyon fire — one of two wildfires that combined to become New Mexico’s largest blaze — on a planned burn set over the winter that continued to smolder for months. After decades of embracing a policy of putting out fires as quickly as possible, federal and some state officials have come around to the idea of prescribed burns in recent years. The basic concept, backed by science and Indigenous groups’ long history of using intentional fire, is that modest controlled burns can clear flammable vegetation and preempt the kind of destructive megafires that have devastated the West.

In a sophisticated chemical analysis published Tuesday in Environmental Science & Technology, the team found that DDT-related chemicals were seven times more abundant in coastal condors than condors that fed farther inland. Looking at the birds’ coastal food sources, researchers found that dolphin and sea lion carcasses that washed ashore in Southern California were also seven times more contaminated with DDT than the marine mammals they analyzed along the Gulf of California in Mexico. One mysterious chemical that is likely connected to the DDT dumping in California was 56 times more abundant in coastal condors and 148 times more abundant in California dolphins.

First, there were dust storm warnings. Then came a derecho that ripped through the U.S. Midwest and Great Plains on Thursday (May 12, 2022). The National Weather Service was urging people not to drive. The Weather Channel reported Thursday evening that hurricane-force winds blew over large semi-trailer trucks on highways, and uprooted trees. There were reports of gusts between 70 and 107 mph (112 and 172 kph) in some areas. The incredible photos and footage of dust and high winds on this page were posted to Twitter from the states of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. Wow! The Weather Channel said Friday morning:

The Evidence Project is a photography-led campaign created by Britta Jaschinski, Keith Wilson and Arturo de Frías focusing on the impact of the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and the causes of viral pandemics. These images by many of the world’s leading photographers are their evidential proof to provoke governments, businesses, opinion leaders and consumers to initiate the changes required for a safe and sustainable future for all life on Earth. Central to this campaign is the production of a new crowdfunded book, which the creators expect to publish later this year.

“Unfortunately, our results show clearly that even the lowest reported annual dolphin capture rates are not sustainable.”