First of all, if you haven’t seen the movie An Inconvenient Truth you need to do so. I couldn’t possibly give a suitable recap of all the information presented there.
Ok. This can’t be a coincidence…
Every year for the last several years has set new records for wildfires. The Nov. 20 edition of Business Week first brought this to my attention when they reported:
From the West to Texas to Florida, fires are bigger, longer, and more numerous than in any year since 1960, when records begin.
The grim trend is in line with findings published in Science last July, when the fire season was still young. Using data since 1970, a multi-institution team found that fire activity leapt suddenly in 1987, as plant and soil moisture levels began to fall below a critical threshold earlier each year.
The scientists contend that climate change, rather than forest management, is the culprit. Earlier springs, along with hotter, drier summers, are transforming moist plants from fire barriers into fuel.
So, after doing a little research on the web it is pretty scary. A simple Google search for the words “record year for wildfires” returns some scary supporting data:
If you have kids, or at least were planning on living another 50 years on Earth, this is scary stuff. Personally, I believe global warming is real, and I also believe that mankind is not going to stop it. I hate to admit it, but at this point I have no faith in our collective ability to take the necessary steps to solve this problem – even though we have all the technology necessary to do so.
