Yes, Something Can Be Done About Wildfires

Bangladesh, whose garment industry is second only to China’s in size, is responding to both international and domestic pressure and undergoing the most radical revamping of worker safety it has ever seen, in large part due to consumer and client pressure.

In the aftermath of the Rana Plaza disaster, more than 200 clothing brands pledged to make their source factories compliant with international safety standards under two international agreements, using laws and rules to reform.

Eliminating sweatshops and child labor depends on regulation, not consumers' preferences, as supply chains have become so complex and obscure as to prevent simple labels from being valuable.

In the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse, Bangladeshi civilians—often first on the scene of disasters in poorer countries–are being trained to support emergency teams.

After a major fire, labor standards in Bangladesh are improving, but workers must have a voice if these changes are to be sustainable.

Summer in the Northwest presents a great risk of wildfires. A pile burning operation, just one facet of the strategy that Oregon has enacted to conserve its forests, clears undergrowth to lessen the risk of mega-fire. The work stimulates the local economy and provides employment, but it's also a very small part of what needs to be done.

New York City suffered from fires that erupted in overcrowded, run-down apartments. Then the city sleuthed through residential records and found that landlords who foreclosed let their properties fall apart and ignored safety-code violations. Greater Toronto wants to expand upon New York City’s method by using transportation surveys, census data and computer data to build transit lines.

A new timber mill in Costilla County could majorly improve the forest health of the greater region by thinning undergrowth to reduce risk of wildfires, curbing the spread of invasive insects, and decreasing the demand for water in the face of drought. The mill could also create jobs and further economic development for the area.

After once again being granted rights to their native land, the Martu people are bringing back the bioregenerative technique of small-scale land burning. In the past century, wildfires have ravaged the areas these people call home and has lead to the loss of over 18 species of animal. They hope that imparting this traditional method of ecological maintenance will decrease the number of wildfires and in many cases, the resulting extinction of other animal species.

Climate change is only worsening the frequency and ferocity of forest fires. Projects such as researching what makes trees more susceptible to fires, and having satellites send images of fires as they happen, in order to help forest services react most effectively, are new ideas being researched and implemented.