[1] Pyne received his bachelor's degree at Stanford University after graduating from Brophy College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Pyne spent fifteen seasons as a wildland firefighter at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park between 1967 and 1981, twelve as crew boss.
These writings include his biography of G.K. Gilbert, The Ice, How the Canyon Became Grand, Voyager, and The Great Ages of Discovery.
Other works include The Last Lost World, which he wrote with his daughter, Lydia V. Pyne, and two books on writing nonfiction, Voice and Vision and Style and Story.
[5] Managed combustion of fossil fuels has supported the industrialization that is causing significant reductions in biodiversity and climate change, while the nuclear weapons testing has increased the soil concentration of trace elements.