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Hola, welcome to Climate at the Border! We’re here to help you cover the most pressing climate issues in the region. In each edition, we’ll bring you what you need to know to get started and make recommendations for localizing, humanizing, and reporting solutions on the topic.
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What You Need to Know
- Globally: Wildfires are both a consequence and a driver of climate change. Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and shifting weather patterns — the hallmarks of a warming planet — create dry, fire-prone conditions. At the same time, wildfires release enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and black carbon into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming in a dangerous feedback loop. Wildfire smoke can travel thousands of miles, turning local disasters into global air quality and public health crises. Exposure to wildfire smoke increases the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular illness, especially among pregnant women, children, the elderly, and those with chronic conditions.
- At the Border: Southern California, Arizona, and northern Baja California have seen more frequent and severe blazes, fueled by rising temperatures, persistent drought, and shifting land use. The resulting smoke often lingers in the borderlands, where access to healthcare and clean indoor air can vary widely. Migrant shelters, rural communities, and urban neighborhoods in cities like Tijuana, Nogales, and El Paso are especially at risk. Air quality alerts may not reach everyone, and those working outdoors or in transit are often left unprotected.
- Migration: As hotter, drier conditions fuel more frequent fires in border regions, migrants traveling through remote terrain are increasingly exposed to extreme heat, smoke, and fast-moving flames. Many cross through deserts and brushland with little access to water, shelter, or medical care. In addition to direct threats, wildfire smoke can worsen air quality across the region, affecting border communities and shelters where migrants often stay. These layered risks, driven in part by climate change, complicate an already perilous journey.
Localize: Wildfires Along the Border
Key Reporting Angles
- How is fire management coordinated across the US-Mexico border, in places such as the Tijuana–San Diego corridor or the Sonora-Arizona desert?
- What resources or policies exist for cross-border collaboration, and how do local and federal agencies like CAL FIRE and CONAFOR track, communicate, and respond to transboundary air pollution caused by wildfires?
- How do language barriers or jurisdictional issues impact firefighting efforts?
Stories to Inspire Your Coverage
- “The Mexican firefighting crew that saves lives across the border” by Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker
- “Cómo los incendios forestales transformaron la vida de una maestra y la llevaron a luchar por la justicia ambiental” by Johani Carolina Ponce, Yale Climate Connections
Ask an Expert & Find Resources
- Edmund Seto, Professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. He has led air quality monitoring initiatives in the San Ysidro-Tijuana region.
- CAL FIRE and CONAFOR, National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), US-Mexico Border Information Center on Air Pollution (CICA), Binational Air Council in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo
Humanize: Who Is Most Affected?
Talk to the Communities on the Frontlines
- How are residents coping with prolonged exposure to unhealthy air? Can they afford air purifiers? Are cities providing clean-air shelters?
- Are outdoor workers aware of air quality risks, and do they have access — whether through work or otherwise — to masks or any protection?
- What health risks are firefighters, children, and older people facing from recurring exposure to smoke?
Stories & Studies to Inspire Your Coverage
- “Wildfire smoke is here to stay: How to clean the air inside your home” by Bernard J. Wolfson, Tucson Sentinel
- “Farmworkers feed the country, but who protects them from wildfire smoke?” by Nate Perez, NPR
- “What we know about the health effects of wildfire” by the Stanford Report, Stanford University
Ask an Expert & Find Resources
- Ricardo Rubio, University of Utah, Department of Sociology, co-author of the report “Carcinogenic air pollution along the United States’ southern border: Neighbourhood inequities in risk”
- Carolina Prado, Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University
- American Lung Association for data on wildfire smoke and respiratory illness, Doctors Without Borders for work with migrants, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for air quality and public health
- Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma guide on covering wildfires
Solutions: What Are the Fixes?
Highlight What’s Working & What’s Not
- What community-driven or government-led programs are helping reduce wildfire risk in border regions?
- “The Trump administration has temporarily suspended an air quality monitoring program at national parks across the country,” The Washington Post reports. What air quality monitoring tools are available to local communities, and who is making use of them?
- Are cross-border collaborations producing effective solutions for wildfire prevention and clean air?
Stories & Studies to Inspire Your Coverage
- “Estamos enfrentando condiciones en los incendios que no habíamos visto antes” by Emilia Delfino, Mongabay
- “These DIY air purifiers could make clean air more accessible during wildfires” by Amudalat Ajasa, The Washington Post
- “California’s wildfire crisis: Expert insights on causes, spread, and solutions” Penn State, Institute of Energy and the Environment
Ask an Expert & Find Resources
- List of Stanford Experts on Wildfires
- Enrique Jardel, expert in fire ecology and management, professor in the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico
- American Geophysical Union experts on the science of wildfires
- US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and SEMARNAT (Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment), Border 2025 Program, Wildfire Resilience Project in Arizona
What’s Next?
- Have a wildfire story from the border? We’d love to amplify it. You can send it here: editors@coveringclimatenow.org.
- Want more on climate? Sign up for our other newsletters.
- Any questions? Send them to training@coveringclimatenow.org.
Nos vemos pronto, see you in soon!
– CCNow’s Climate at the Border team
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