it's really hard to innovate your way out of systemic issues.

These massive wildfires we're seeing are manifestations of systemic issues.

So what does it take to get our landscapes back to a point where they'll be resilient against climate change?

It means investing in people, the people who are working in our forests.

And I think that that's what's often missed because

people like hot shots and people equipped to give the land the kinds of fire they need. They don't

look like technology because they're rough and they're sweaty and they work outside. So I'm really

trying to emphasize that these are some of the most high tech solutions we have and they're people and we should be

pouring money into these people to support them so they can do what they need to do to get

our lands back to how they should be.

Welcome to the Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them.

I'm your host, Tracy Thomas, and today I am joined by Wildland Firefighter and anthropologist Jordan Thomas to discuss his

debut book, When It All Burns, Fighting Fire in a Transformed World. This book was long listed

for the National Book Award. It's a gripping tale where Jordan recounts his experiences

battling a brutal sixth-month fire season as part of the Los

Padres hot shots, an elite force of wildland firefighters. The book is a blend of memoir,

anthropological research, and historical investigation, and he and I talk today about the systems

at play from climate change to mental health to colonialism that has led to the increase of these

mega wildfires. As a reminder, our book club pick for October is Frankenstein by Mary

Shelley. We will be discussing the book on Wednesday, October 29th, with Angela Flournoy as our

guest. Everything we talked about on each episode of the Stacks is linked in our show notes.

And if you like this

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