AmericanPapist Comments
Well I heard that due to the extremely hot and dry winds, the soil and vegetation in California has been drying out more than usual. Of cours the immediate reason for those bush fires is arson, but if somebody lets his cigarette fall into a swamp it is less likely to burn than a dry bush, isn't it?
I am by no means a "global warming hysteric", but I think in this you are doing injustice to "60 minutes".
Wasn't there a song about Southern California that mentioned that it didn't rain there?
I talked a bit about global warming at my Soccer Mom site today. I'd actually already had the quote written down when I saw this post. I also explain what makes me reticent to hop on the global warming bandwagon.
Thom,
Bash 60 minutes all you want, hold forth your own views on global warming theory, but you're more credible when you at least give your opponent's line of reasoning before you rip into them.
Just saying.
Kate
The global warming nuts claim science is on their side but their evidence only points to a slight increase of global average temperature. They do NOT have "scientific evidence" that this increase in average temps is caused PRIMARILY or even mostly by industrial modern societies.
Of course we have SOME affect on our environment. But not enough to matter when we're talking global heating.
In fact, the geological record shows that the planet has NO PERFECT TEMP. It's gone from hot to cold and hot again over and over for millions of years all without SUVs and factories.
200 years ago fires in the great plains would burn for weeks - tossing more soot and debris into the air than all our autos combined in a year.
There's no cause for panic - except those who want socialism and see this as an excuse to scare us into it.
AmPap wrote: "...human beings are the one species that is able to and tries to put [fires] out."
Hmmm. I remember a scene in THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY where a rhino stomps out a camp fire.
I think you owe rhinos around the world an apology.
The tree-hugging peace-loving Godless left.
The drive by media strikes again, Kate! You're in great company.And these clowns in the "mainstream" media wonder why we no longer trust or believe very little of what they "report." Tom
ps Goofy Harry Reid should stop speaking before he "thinks."
Thomas,
I know that you are trying to make a point, so I am not arguing that. But here is something to think about.
The severity of the fires is exasperated by human beings through faulty but well intentioned government and/or environmental group policies.
1) Fire suppression - fire is part of the natural cycle. By suppressing some fires, forest lands are allowed to over-grow, concentrating too much fuel into too little space.
2) Controlled burns (or lack thereof): The Forest Service often times wants to do a controlled burn in some areas to remove excessive undergrowth. Time after time, the AQMD (California Air Quality Management District) will block it on air quality grounds, or groups like the Sierra Club will sue to block it because the area is part of the habitat of some endangered species.
I'm short on time right now to provide references, but they shouldn't be hard to find. In 2003, when the last time Southern California had a series of major fires, Senator Diane Feinstein admitted after the fires that she would look at these policies to see how they contributed to the severity of the fires.
Brian those are excellent points. I grew up in San Diego, so I'm aware of some of these issues. Everything you mention is (to me) clearly a more proximate cause of these fires than "global warming."
BD and AmPap: right. It is a misnomer to call these fires "Southern California" wildfires. They are actually "Extreme Southwestern California" fires, ie, in the only spot where some brush (fuel) is able to grow in the desert, and the same spot where people live.
Brian posted pretty much on what I would write. I'd echo others critical of your unfair approach. You can do way better than imitating the drive-by media approach.
Certainly, human influences are more dire in these fires than climate change. One can indeed trace their severity to human intervention in the environment, careless smokers or intentional arsons aside.
As has been said above, the earth has gone through cycles of heat and cold before and is going through one now. There is global warming, but it is 90% or more part of a natural cycle of events.
Whilst mankind does put methane into the atmosphere, many times more is produced by bovine flatulence - so are we to slaughter all the cows to stop it?
Politicians have jumped on the 'global warming' bandwagon as a way of raising taxes without too much protest from the populace.
'Environmental' companies, such as the producers of wind turbines and solar panels are doing very nicely thank you as a result of the hysteria that a corupt press have whipped up to sell more papers.
Well, we've been told againa nd again that global warming was going to bring us heavier and heavier hurricane seasons in the southeast.
Now that we are running out of water in Atlanta because the last few hurricane seasons have been lighter than predicted, our drought is a product of global warming. We just can't catch a break, apparently. Mother Nasture hates us.
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