Wildsmoke: Forest Fire and Our Senses in the North, 1911-1961

Project Information

Wildsmoke

Grant agreement ID: 891029

DOI

10.3030/891029

Project closed

EC signature date 25 March 2020

Start date 11 January 2021

End date 13 March 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 202 158,72

EU contribution

€ 202 158,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITETET I STAVANGER
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Wildsmoke (Wildsmoke: Forest Fire and Our Senses in the North, 1911-1961)

Reporting period: 2021-01-11 to 2023-01-10

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Wildsmoke examined the history of transient wildfire smoke in the northern hemisphere as part of past and continuing environmental change. The project traced smoke across political and disciplinary borders. It implicated national and regional climate change policy, especially issues of environmental justice in areas of Europe and North America most affected by smoke seasons.

The unprecedented scale and frequency of wildfire in the northern hemisphere has made smoke a seasonal occurrence in skies around the world. Over the last decade, ash regularly drifted from fires in northwestern Canada into northern Europe, altering forecasts on both continents, settling in Antarctic ice, and accelerating glacial melt rates. Although climate change has exacerbated smoke events in the twenty-first century, smoke seasons lie within a longer history of human-smoke interaction (wild and domestic) stretching back into deep time. Wildsmoke analyses this accumulated history to draw lessons for the present.

Understanding the way our relationships with smoke have been built over time is important because we will need to live with smoke in the future. Smoke policy must be proactive about managing smoke and its impacts on landscapes and bodies. Smoke has historically been unevenly distributed by wind, vegetation, humidity, and individual vulnerability. A humanistic approach is necessary because the ways in which the bodily and ecological burdens of smoke fall are often determined by socio-political factors. Smoke is not neutral, and has historically impacted some groups more severely than others.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The Project had three objectives:
O1. Break down nationally-confined history to track wildfire smoke across borders and through history.
O2. Build on the insights of sensory history and environmental justice to understand how the slow violence
of wildfire smoke impacts groups differently.
O3. Adapt humanistic perspectives of smoke for practical application within climate change policy.

5 work packages addressed the three objectives. All work packages are now complete.

Work Package 1 (Canadian case) - Complete month 8, had an academic article as its main product. This is now published.

Work Package 2 (Norwegian Case) - Complete month 20, had an academic article as its main product. This is under peer review.

Work Package 3 (Synthesis) - Complete month 19, had a literature review and two digital publications as its main outputs. The literature review was meant for internal use and was incorporated into the other outputs. The digital publications were released strategically to align with the burning seasons and the height of the wildfire season. They reached approximately 10,000 monthly viewers.

Work Package 4 (Outreach) - Complete month 24, had two editorials and one work of creative non fiction as its main outputs. The editorials were published with platforms specialising in translating academic research to public audiences and with reach of up to 4.8 million readers per month, internationally. The creative non-fiction took the form of a short graphic novel aimed at youth, and was widely distributed in North America and Europe. 100 print copies were distributed to interested individuals and groups, and it was archived permanently online.

Work Package 5 (Administration) - Complete month 24, had a policy brief, career development plan, and workshop as its main outputs. The policy brief is complete and under review. The career development plan is an internal document, which has been completed and approved by the researcher and their supervisor. The workshop was run in March 2023, and brought together PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty in the environmental humanities to experiment with drones as a research tool. The main findings from the workshop will appear in a digital publication due out in spring 2023.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The products of the research for Wildsmoke reflect its purpose as a scholarly and public document. The conclusions were intended to be used and exploited by academics, public stakeholders, and government. It was designed as responsive public scholarship which pushes the field of environmental history forward while providing tools for responding to the climate crisis.

Publications were aimed at three key audiences (academics, government, and the general public) and so took diverse forms, including a peer reviewed articles, editorials, and even a non-fiction graphic novel. Impact was generally wider than expected, with significant interest from policy-makers and members of the public. Digital articles were widely shared across all of Europe and North America. The graphic novel was shared widely on social media, and has been passed around by policy-makers in both Europe and North America.

Smoke rises from a wildfire in northern Canada. Photo by author, September, 2020.

Smoke rises from bål (bonfires) during the Norwegian solstice. Photo by author, June 2022