Cooking is a fun way to showcase your creativity and love of food, but it also is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. Unattended cooking is the primary culprit, and two-thirds of cooking fires start with the ignition of food or other cooking materials. More than half of injuries occur when people try to fight the fires themselves.

Heating provides much needed warmth during the winter months, but December and January have the highest number of home fires.  The leading cause of heating fires is the failure to clean heating equipment. Space heaters, whether portable or stationary, cause 33% of home heating fires and 81% of home heating fire fatalities.

The intentional category refers to the deliberate misuse of a heat source or fire of an incendiary nature.  Although three-quarters of intentional fires are started outside, they quickly spread to homes where most of the property damage and casualties occur. Statistics from the FBI show that more than half of people arrested for arson are under 21 years old. Social media trends like the fire challenge are especially dangerous and overwhelmingly affect youth.

Electricity keeps our homes lit and powers our electronics, but lighting, fans, air conditioning equipment, and water heaters commonly cause home fires.  Roughly half of home electrical fires involve electrical distribution (i.e., cords) or lighting equipment.

The health risks associated with smoking are well known, but smoking is also the leading cause of home fire fatalities. Nearly half of the victims are age 65 or older. Approximately 25% of the victims were not even smoking the cigarette that caused the fire.  Trash, mattresses, bedding, and upholstered furniture are the items most commonly ignited in smoking-related home fires.

Washers and dryers keep our clothes clean, but also can spark home fires. Dryers are involved in 92% of these fires and the leading cause is failure to clean the units. Dust, fiber, lint, or clothing ignites 57% of washer and dryer fires.

Exposure occurs when a nearby fire, like a wildfire, causes a home to catch fire.  Prevention and preparedness are the best tools against exposure fires.

Candles are festive holiday decorations, but the number of candle fires triples in December. Roughly one-third of candle home fires start in a bedroom. Falling asleep accounts for 11% of candle fires and 43% of candle fire fatalities.

Prevention is the act or combination of actions to proactively keep something from happening. Fire prevention is a combination of efforts designed to stop fires from starting or spreading.

Detection is the action or process of identifying the presence of something concealed or unknown.  Smoke alarms detect one or more of the products or phenomena resulting from fire, such as smoke, heat, infrared and/or ultraviolet light radiation, or gas.

Suppression is the process of impeding or stopping something. Fire suppression systems, such as fire sprinklers, extinguish or slow down the spread of fire by releasing water under pressure where heat is detected.

Protection is a person or thing that prevents someone or something from suffering harm or injury. Fire protection includes equipment, such as a flame retardant blanket, and design elements, such as a fire door, that reduces the spread of fire.

Preparedness is the state of being ready in the event of a disaster.  Fire preparedness includes installing a smoke alarm in each room and on each level of a home, developing a fire escape plan and practicing it, as well as knowing two ways out of every room.

Education is the process of learning or teaching skills, values, beliefs, and habits.  Fire education includes becoming aware of causes of home fires and how to prevent or reduce home fire injuries or fatalities.

Research is the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions.  Fire research includes the review and analysis of the causes and contributing factors to home fires to raise awareness of the home fire problem.

Development includes the innovation, introduction, and improvement of products and processes.  Many companies and product manufacturers are developing new and improved appliances to prevent home fires.

Global warming refers to the rise in temperature and change in climate around the world. Climate change can confuse species that rely on temperature signals that trigger seasonal events such as migration and reproduction. Global warming can cause seasonal events to happen at the wrong time, which can disrupt the synchronicity of plant and wildlife ecosystems. Global warming also can cause species extinction.

Species exploitation refers to the unsustainable hunting, poaching, and harvesting practices that directly or indirectly harm plants, animals, and other organisms. For example, according to the National Science Foundation, the overhunting of elephants in Thailand has reduced the number of elephants in the region and led to the extinction of the Miliusa beech tree because less elephants were available to disperse the tree’s seeds.

Species extinction occurs when environmental forces, evolutionary changes, or human actions reduce the total number of a species to zero. Scientists estimate that 99% of all the species that have lived on Earth are now extinct. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, vertebrate species (birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and mammals) across the globe have declined 60% since 1970.

An invasive species is a species introduced by humans – intentionally or accidentally – outside of its natural past or present distribution. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, invasive species are a major cause of biodiversity loss: the second most common threat associated with species that have gone completely extinct and the most common threat associated with extinction of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.

Eutrophication refers to the increase of nutrients in rivers and lakes that cause algal blooms and low-oxygen (hypoxic) waters that can kill fish and seagrass and reduce essential fish habitats. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the primary causes of eutrophication are nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer runoff and atmospheric fossil fuel fallout.

Soil is the upper-layer of the Earth where plants grow and organisms inhabit. According to the Worldwide Fund For Nature, 50% of the topsoil on the planet has been lost in the last 150 years. This loss has led to desertification, reduced opportunity to grow food for animals and humans, and increased soil runoff into waterways that harms waterlife.

Habitat destruction is the displacement or elimination of the natural place where plants, animals and other organisms live. According to National Geographic, 80% of the plants and land animals live in forests. Although forests cover about 30% of the Earth, human actions destroy 36 football fields’ worth of trees every minute, according to Conservation International. As a result, those habitats are displaced or destroyed and are no longer capable of supporting plants and wildlife.

Fragmentation is the division of a natural habitat into smaller pieces or the isolation of a habitat from others by natural and human causes. The fragmented habitats may not be large enough to support the species. One study showed that habitat fragmentation reduces biodiversity by 13% to 75%.

Individuals can limit the negative consequences of global warming by reducing their carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly during every stage of a product or service’s lifetime. Many of our daily activities, such as using electricity, driving a car, consuming food, or disposing waste, cause greenhouse gas emissions. Together these emissions make up a carbon footprint. You can reduce your carbon footprint by increasing your use of sustainable products and services and limiting your use of unsustainable products or services.

Sustainable harvesting, fishing, and hunting, as well as adjustments to diet, are the primary ways to conserve plant and wildlife species.

At-risk species may be protected through legislation, sanctuaries, and awareness. Legislation such as the United States Endangered Species Act and Canada’s Species at Risk Act identify species at risk of extinction and critical habitats and provide a framework for conserving and protecting wildlife. Sanctuaries, like those identified by The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, attempt to recreate an animal’s native habitat in order to create a safe and healthy environment to help restore the animal physically and emotionally. Awareness is critical to protecting at-risk species, whether plant or wildlife. All ecosystems are interconnected and understanding how plants, wildlife, and other living organisms exist together in balance will help inform solutions whenever a threat arises.

The primary way to stop an invasive species from establishing itself outside of its natural habitat is through prevention. The Nature Conservancy provides the following actions to prevent the spread of invasive species: research and verify that the plant or animal that you want to buy or adopt is non-invasive; when traveling, hiking, or boating, thoroughly clean your clothing and vehicle to remove weed seeds, pests, and pathogens; do not release aquarium fish, plants, live bait, or other exotic animals into the wild; and educate others about the threat of invasive species to biodiversity.

Riparian buffers are vegetated areas with native trees, shrubs, and grasses beside rivers and streams that prevent pollution and water contamination by blocking and filtering sediment, nutrients, pesticides, and other materials in surface runoff. According to the United States National Resources Conservation Service, riparian buffers are especially useful near farms where nutrients from fertilizers may run off into rivers and lakes.

Soil restoration is the process of increasing organic matter, vegetation, and native plants to improve the quality of soil. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, compost improves soil structure, aeration, water retention, drainage, and nutrient quality, and planting native plants and vegetation with deep roots increases organic matter content and biological life.

Individuals, households, and communities can conserve and restore habitats by planting native species, engaging in sustainable landscaping, and, where natural habitats are not possible, building artificial habitats like bird boxes.

Biodiversity parks and marine protection areas conserve, manage, and protect a wide variety of habitats, including prairie, tundra, ocean, mountains, forest, desert, rivers, islands, reefs, mangroves, and coastal wetlands. The parks and protection areas restore native species and ecosystems, control invasive species and pests, and monitor the wildlife within.