Over
the past 35 years, meteorological data shows that fire season have become much
longer. Fire seasons are a time of year when wildfires are most likely ignited.
For example, in parts of the western US and Mexico, Brazil, and East Africa,
fire season are a month longer than they were 35 years ago. Between 1996 and
2013, 54% percent of vegetated surfaces on earth experience long fire weather
season more frequently than between 1979-1996. These longer seasons are due to
variety of things that are all linked towards global warming and climate
change.
Once again, the problem is due
to global warming, which inevitable links down to greenhouse gases,
particularly carbon dioxide. We should therefore, try to reduce the amount of
greenhouse gases to slow down the global warming. This could possible shorten
the time of the fire seasons.
Barriers
to this solution would be participation and awareness of the people. People are
most likely unaware of the longer fire seasons and therefore, would not try to
shorten them. If we could educate them about this topic, it might make them
aware of their actions. However, we would run into the other barrier,
participation. People would most likely not want to change their lifestyle to
stop global warming. This is a saddening truth that people would not
participate, when their actions could stop many occurring problems in the
world.
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ReplyDeleteThis article stood out to me, because I also did research on a recent wildfire in California. As with many other environmental problems, global warming and climate change are the culprits. Wildfires threaten habitats and vegetation and can also negatively impact otherwise natural processes, such as rainfall absorption. Carbon Dioxide is released as fires burn. Additionally, forests are destroyed. The extra carbon is no longer absorbed by the trees and flows free in the atmosphere, causing more damage to the ozone layer. In an effort to extinguish the flames, a lot of water is used, depleting our low supply even more. Soil and leafage destruction prevents the absorption of excess water, which poses a threat with flooding. A longer wildfire season also has economic downfalls. Preventative measures can be expensive; certain methods require a lot of energy. I agree that awareness should be increased. If people were educated about the consequences of longer seasons and more frequent fires, they might realize that making gradual changes may help the environment immensely and doesn’t require a dramatic lifestyle change.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, the answer to this problem will have to be people changing their lifestyles, and I agree that it's borderline pathetic to see so many people disregard these serious environmental problems around them. Not only do trees supply oxygen for us, but they also take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. We should be thrilled that there is such a process that naturally helps our environment, but instead we fuel the fire, metaphorically and physically, with our stubbornness and laziness.
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