Christine Eriksen
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drceriksen.bsky.social
Christine Eriksen
@drceriksen.bsky.social
Fire social scientist and disaster geographer 🌍 PI FiRES Project 🔥 SNSF Consolidator Grant, ETH Zürich 🏔️ Focus on wildfire, social dimensions of disaster, climate change adaptation 🌳 Editor #FireEcology 📚 Member PLANAT🇨🇭 www.christineeriksen.com
Hot off the press 🔥 Indigenous stewardship rights and opportunities to recenter #Indigenous #fire, now published open-access in the #FireEcology journal. Thank you @pyrogeographer.bsky.social for leading this collaboration. rdcu.be/eQtLr 🔥 @afe-fireecology.bsky.social
Indigenous stewardship rights and opportunities to recenter Indigenous fire | Fire Ecology
rdcu.be
November 18, 2025 at 7:44 AM
El 2025 va ser un any d'incendis forestals greus a Catalunya. Per això, l'enquesta «Conviure amb els Incendis Forestals a Catalunya» s'ha reobert per permetre que la gent comparteixi les seves experiències. Si us plau, compartiu: www.surveymonkey.com/r/FiRES_CAT 🔥 @paucostaf.bsky.social
CONVIURE AMB ELS INCENDIS FORESTALS A CATALUNYA
www.FiRESproject.com
www.surveymonkey.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Were you impacted by the 2025 #UKwildfires? 🔥 The FiRES survey “Living with Wildfire in the UK and Ireland” has been re-opened to enable people to share their direct or indirect experiences of #wildfires or associated smoke. Please share/ re-post. www.surveymonkey.com/r/firesukie
November 1, 2025 at 11:35 AM
🎬📽️ New documentary: The Age of Fire 🔥🌍 Earlier this year, the ARTE science show '42: The Answer to Almost Everything' interviewed me, Stephen Pine and Kirsten Thonicke about the current #wildfire crisis. How can we learn to coexist with fire (again)? www.arte.tv/en/videos/12...

@unibe.ch @ethz.ch
42: The Answer to Almost Everything - The Age of Fire - Watch the full documentary | ARTE in English
Humans are the only species that can produce fire. For a long time, we lived intimately with fire, which helped our development. But today fire seems like a destroyer, with ever more intense wildfires...
www.arte.tv
October 6, 2025 at 11:04 AM
It’s full steam ahead with a new institutional home for the FiRES project at ETH Zürich. Fieldwork and collaborations continue unabated. You can read more about the move to #ETHZ and other research activities this summer in this blog post: christineeriksen.com/2025/10/03/i...
It’s full steam ahead with a new institutional home for the FiRES project!
As of October 1, 2025, the FiRES project has a new institutional home at ETH Zürich. I am excited to be back in the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, which is hosting the FiR…
christineeriksen.com
October 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
The PLANAT.ch Committee met in Ticino last week, in part to learn from the hard-won lessons of the devastating floods/ rockslides in Maggia valley last summer. Seeing the damage and ongoing efforts to rebuild left a deep impression. This article describes it well: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
August 31, 2025 at 7:55 PM
🔔Hot off the press📣 This paper is part of Rachel Reimer’s PhD on #risk management and #psychological safety in the mountain guiding and avalanche profession. It shows how human-caused hazards negatively impact physical safety in the profession. authors.elsevier.com/c/1lgxI_GvEq...
authors.elsevier.com
August 29, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Again and again the USFS asked its own researchers how to better protect wildland firefighters, and they came back with the same recommendation: Give them masks. Still, leadership held off. Embracing masks would mean admitting how dangerous #wildfire #smoke really is. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/u...
Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying
www.nytimes.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:05 AM
🧵California's fire season now starts up to 6 weeks earlier than in 1990. Although the population has ⬆️27% since then, human-ignited fires have dropped. Instead, the most significant factors are climate-related: earlier snowmelt, drying soils + more flammable vegetation as average temperatures rise.
August 8, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Crying Glaciers: beautiful and heartbreaking Op-Doc by filmmaker Lutz Stautner and artist Ludwig Berger recording the sounds of the melting Morteratsch Glacier in Switzerland in an effort to capture the sounds of a disappearing environment. (via The New York Times) www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/o...
Opinion | The Last Words of a Dying Glacier
www.nytimes.com
July 10, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Christine Eriksen
☢️New commentary in Geo!☢️

'Governing layers of shifting sands: Subterranean hazards, unfolding catastrophes and quotidian fragmentation' by @drceriksen.bsky.social & Gregory L. Simon

This piece unpacks the governance & management of earthquakes & nuclear waste repositories.

doi.org/10.1002/geo2...
June 19, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Hot off the press 🚨 'Governing layers of shifting sands: Subterranean #hazards, unfolding #catastrophes and quotidian fragmentation', free to access in GEO: #Geography and #Environment: dx.doi.org/10.1002/geo2...

Thank you to @snsf.ch and @rgsibg.bsky.social for supporting this collaborative work.
dx.doi.org
June 13, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Please join us tomorrow/Thursday 5 June if you are in Geneva for the #GP2025 #DRR. At 12:45, our learning lab will focus on drought preparedness and wildfire management in Switzerland.
June 4, 2025 at 9:19 AM
🔥 Hot off the press 🔥 In this collaborative workshop paper, we argue for the need to move from rigidity traps towards reparative disaster governance and management. With financial support from @snsf.ch and @unibe.ch, the paper is free to access online in IJDRR: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
From rigidity traps towards reparative disaster governance and management
Despite widespread critique, the established notion of sequential disaster management phases (mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery) continues …
www.sciencedirect.com
May 27, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Photographer Phil Buehler captures beauty amidst the devastation in the fire scar from the Eaton fire in Altadena: www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘Climate change is real’: devastating wildfire photography – in pictures
Artist and photographer Phil Buehler captured some of the worst-hit properties from the the Eaton fire in Altadena, Los Angeles
www.theguardian.com
May 8, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Last week was all go for the FiRES project in Catalonia 🔥 Together with the @paucostaf.bsky.social and CareNet at @uocuniversitat.bsky.social we distributed 4000 postcards to residents who’ve been impacted by #wildfire or live in at-risk areas. Now we’re keeping our 🤞🏼 for many interesting responses.
April 29, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Hot off the press🔥 Social resilience research on climate-related hazards: Trends, accomplishments and shortcomings. We review how research engages with communities and places exposed to climate-related hazards.Open access in @plosclimate.org funded by @snsf-ch.bsky.social dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
April 10, 2025 at 6:13 AM
“This is a climate-induced credit crunch.” Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer - via The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer
Action urgently needed to save the conditions under which markets – and civilisation itself – can operate, says senior Allianz figure
www.theguardian.com
April 3, 2025 at 1:50 PM
It’s that time of year when I’m asked by the Institute to contribute to the Annual Report. It made me realise that a project stock-take is well and truly overdue, as the Geographies of Disasters team has been very busy. Here's a summary of what we've been up to: christineeriksen.com/2025/03/26/p...
Project stock-take: a busy six months!
It’s that time of year when I’m asked by the Institute to contribute to the Annual Report. It made me realise that a project stock-take is well and truly overdue, as the Geographies of …
christineeriksen.com
March 26, 2025 at 10:40 AM
📣🔥 Survey: FiRES @unibe.ch has teamed up with @paucostaf.bsky.social and CareNet @uocuniversitat.bsky.social to study community wildfire resilience in Catalonia 🔥 Have you been impacted or live/work in an at-risk area? Please participate in CAT/ES/EN. Closes 30.6.25: www.surveymonkey.com/r/FiRES_CAT
March 24, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Please join us at the University of Zurich on Wednesday 26 March for the Uncertainty Symposium. In Part 2, David Bresch, Stuart Kirsch, Michael Schaepman and I will focus on environmental uncertainty and climate change: scenarios, responses and perceptions of the future. www.uzh.ch/de/events/ev...
March 21, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Do you have 15+ years of fire research experience, a strong publication record, and editorial experience? The Association for Fire Ecology (@afe-fireecology.bsky.social) is seeking a new Editor-In-Chief for its international scientific journal, Fire Ecology: fireecology.org/jobs-posts/f...
Editor-in-Chief, Fire Ecology Journal — Association for Fire Ecology
The Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) welcomes applicants for the esteemed position of Editor-In-Chief (EIC) for the society’s international scientific journal, Fire Ecology.
fireecology.org
March 21, 2025 at 9:52 AM
After the LA #wildfires, clear skies conceal a 'toxic soup': "Even with only preliminary data, the researchers could say one thing with little doubt. No one should be in or near the burn zone without a mask—especially not doing any kind of exercise." Via @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/w...
After Wildfires, L.A.’s Clear Skies Conceal a ‘Toxic Soup’ (Gift Article)
Scientists collecting water, air and soil samples in neighborhoods ravaged by fires say they’re concerned about long-term health risks for residents.
www.nytimes.com
March 14, 2025 at 9:42 AM
An average #wildfire in the US West burns up to 895 acres per day (=half a football field a minute). The Palisades fire flared up 16 times faster, burning 14,313 acres on its fastest day (7.5 football fields a minute).

Fast fires and why speed matters - via Reuters: www.reuters.com/graphics/CAL...
LA’s Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires show a larger trend in wildfire speed
The Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires were some of the fastest on record. Their destruction shows the significance of speed in wildfire preparedness.
www.reuters.com
March 1, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Christine Eriksen
This master-planned Irvine neighborhood was left untouched by a fall 2020 wildfire amid drought and 80-mph Santa Ana winds. It could serve as a model for a more fire-resistant Los Angeles: www.latimes.com/california/s...
Could this Irvine neighborhood be the blueprint for a more fire-resistant L.A.?
Years before the L.A. fires, Orchard Hills faced a fire of its own — and came out mostly unscathed due to a long collaboration between the developer and fire department.
www.latimes.com
February 20, 2025 at 7:07 PM