wetcoast91 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 8:00 am
I keep hearing the lack of prescribed burns and poor forest management accounting for the increased forest fire spread and subsequent smoke...however, this does not answer what's leading to more extremes, persistent droughts and the rapid loss of biodiversity.
Cliff Mass is very knowledgable however some of his past students have commented on his conservative opinons and crazy non-weather views. He's been notorious for playing down the effects of anthropogenic global warming at every opportunity and really doesn't entertain any such discussions with his students.
At least one former prof I had was open about why he dismissed the impacts of fossil fuels in global warming...which was money. "We just have to adapt around climate change. How do we earn money as a country if we cease all economic activity?" I respected him way more due to his honesty.
I do accept that this isn’t the first era of mega fires in this area but I would push back on the idea that modern times are remotely comparable to pre 1950 and especially pre 1900 times.
Settlers would find forests on valley floors back then which barely exist now. How do you clear that land pre chainsaw? You burn it. Still happening today in less developed nations. So people were likely lighting blazes on purpose in a time when our fire suppression effectiveness was far worse than today and many more forests existed than today.
There’s no surprise in my mind that the biggest fire era in this region coincides with the arrival of thousands upon thousands of settlers clamouring for fertile land or timber resources. I’m sure many fires were lit unintentionally too, we know of heavy alcohol consumption of that time, think about the lack of awareness of somebody who has just moved from an overcrowded city out east. Once a fire is lit back then it burns until the rain puts it out.
But it also doesn’t answer the basic question as to why fire sizes have accelerated in the era of most efficient fire suppression. The clear and obvious answer to me is shifting climate. But many people don’t want to deal with the stress of accepting that reality do it gets blamed on something else.
Don’t get me wrong our forest “management “ is based purely on greed and short sightedness. But blaming the problem on that actually gets to the root of the same problem as climate change. We have an economic system that rewards short sighted thinkers, the greedy, the already powerful. Capitalism is supposed to reward innovation but all I see is a stale way of thinking that refuses to change in the face of calamity. (Call me a commy if you feel like it, I’ve never bought into the false dichotomy that criticizing one makes you the other)
First Nations were not perfect people but they seemed to have a much stronger tradition of preserving for future generations. We Sh*t all over that and laughed at their lack of technological prowess but imo the results will ironically inevitably lead us back to the strone age if we are lucky.