The world is burning, and it appears that we are to blame. Devastating wildfires are increasing throughout the United States. Each year, more and more acres of the Brazilian rain forest are destroyed in ferocious blazes. Vast areas of wilderness around the world are dying, setting the stage for a human and environmental tragedy.

David L. Porter had been covering wild fires in the American Southwest for more than twelve years. The loss of his Lake Arrowhead home to a wildfire in 2003 compelled him to look more closely into why conflagrations are rising worldwide. Porter's...