Wildfires Play Bigger Role in Climate Change than Previously Thought

Wildfires and other types of fires involving plant matter play a much bigger role in climate change and human health than previously thought, according to a recent study.

Scientists have long known that biomass burning - burning forests to create agricultural lands, burning savannah as a ritual, slash-and-burn agriculture and wildfires - figures into climate change and public health. But this study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, is the first to measure the degree of that contribution.

"We calculate that five to 10 percent of worldwide air pollution mortalities are due to biomass burning," Mark Z. Jacobson, a Stanford University professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said in a statement. "That means that it causes the premature deaths of about 250,000 people each year."