About the Event

We have been forever captivated by the power of fire, harnessing it more than a million years ago to improve our quality of life. Today fire is both friend and foe. Climate change, along with controversial forest-management practices, is exacerbating wildfires as well as their environmental, economic and public health consequences. Going forward, how can we work better with nature, and fellow humans, to reduce these impacts?

Panelists: Michael Kodas, author of Megafire and senior editor at Inside Climate News; Colleen Reid, assistant professor of Geography, CU Boulder; and Don Whittemore, former fire chief and incident commander.

Moderated by Susan Moran, print/online journalist and a host and producer of KGNU’s “How on Earth” science show.

Co-presented by City of Longmont Sustainability

About the Participants

Michael Kodas is Senior Editor at InsideClimate News and an award-winning author, reporter, photojournalist and journalism educator. He was the winner of the 2018 Colorado Book Award for his most recent book, Megafire: The Race to Extinguish a Deadly Epidemic of Flame. In 1999 Kodas was part of the team at The Hartford Courant awarded The Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage. His photography was featured in the Ken Burns documentary The Vietnam War, and he has appeared on the HBO program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, among other programs. From 2013 to 2019, Kodas was Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism (2009-2010).

Susan Moran (moderator) is a freelance print/online journalist and editor and a host and producer of “How on Earth,” the KGNU science show. Her work covering the environment, energy development, food & agriculture, etc., has been published in The New York Times, The Economist, bioGraphic, Nature, etc. Moran was an adjunct journalism instructor at CU Boulder for seven+ years. She served on the board of the Society of Environmental Journalists (2014-2020). Moran was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT (2009-2010) and a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at CU Boulder (2001-2002). She previously worked on staff at Reuters (Tokyo, New York, Silicon Valley), Business 2.0 magazine, and other news organizations. She earned a MA in Journalism from Columbia University, and a MA in Asian Studies from UC Berkeley.

Colleen Reid, PhD. is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work focuses on how environmental and social exposures interact to influence health, particularly exposures caused by global climatic changes and society’s responses to those changes. In particular, her research has focused on the health impacts of exposure to air pollution from wildfires, extreme heat events, and proximity to urban vegetation. Previously she was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. She earned a PhD in environmental health sciences from the University of California Berkeley.

Don Whittemore has been training and leading teams and organizations in complex, high-risk environments since 1982. He has served as an assistant chief of a career fire department and incident commander of a national incident management team. His leadership assignments include Hurricane Katrina, Super Storm Sandy, the Colorado floods and wildlands from Alaska to Florida. Whittemore currently works to advance the critical thinking and strategic planning skills of organizations such as US Navy, EPA, Emergency Management Australia and US Forest Service. He also works for Colorado’s Multi-Mission Aircraft program, which provides wildfire detection and near-real-time intelligence. Whittemore holds a Master’s degree from Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

About the Big Picture: Climate Change Series

• Monday–Thursday, April 19–22, 7:30–8:45 pm
• All programs are FREE!

Join us as we take a big-picture view of how humans, largely by burning fossil fuels, have drastically altered the global climate system and living conditions on Earth. We will also explore how humans, from grassroots activists to national and global leaders, are seeking solutions. Our four panels–focusing on earth, air, fire, and water–bring together locally based scientists and other experts. The series is designed to move the public conversation forward, and to inform, engage and empower us all to think globally and act locally.

What we’re learning about these vast and shifting realms is both disturbing and encouraging. Nineteen of the 20 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001. The largest and most powerful storms ever recorded have occurred in the past five years. Mega-wildfires have raged in Australia, California, and right here in our own backyard. Air pollution is ravaging the health of many people, including a disproportionate number of people of color. Yet many cities and states are also making huge progress in transitioning to cleaner, and more equitable, economies and communities. Come join the conversations and be part of the solution.

All panels moderated by Susan Moran, print/online journalist and a host and producer of KGNU’s “How on Earth” science show.

Watch FIRE: FRIEND AND FOE – from Tuesday, April 21, 2021