Canada’s 1.1 million square kilometers of peatlands—one of Earth’s largest natural carbon stores—are a little-known but crucial aspect of the country’s wildfire crisis across the boreal forest region. In 2023, between January and mid-July, more than 24.7 million acres of forest burned, spanning from Alberta to Quebec. The wildfires were so expansive, the smoke blanketed most of the East Coast of North America, from Nova Scotia all Saving Canada’s Peatlands to Help Stabilize the Climate the way south to Florida. The worst air pollution in the world on June 6, 2023, was in New York City. The health impacts of the wildfires across Canada sent a clear signal about the costs of climate change. Peatlands are wetland ecosystems where waterlogged conditions capture plant material and keep it from fully 62 Aerial photo of peatlands in the Hudson Bay Lowland, Photo courtesy of Lorna Harris.
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