Wildfires Linked To Global Warming?

[Nerf Hofflemire]

[/URL]

WASHINGTON - The increase in the number of large western wildfires in recent years may be a result of global warming, researchers say. An analysis of data going back to 1970 indicates the fires increased "suddenly and dramatically" in the 1980s and the wildfire season grew longer, according to scientists in Arizona and California.


What? Because there are more forest fires, it's global warmings fault? Fires are started by humans and lightning, correct? So how would an increase of fires be contributed to global warming? The garden out back of my house grows more tomatoes than last year. Has to be global warming. This just proves how desprate libs are that global warming is real. But wait. There's more.


"The increase in large wildfires appears to be another part of a chain of reactions to climate warming," said Dan Cayan, a co-author of the paper and director of the climate research division at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Why? What chain reactions?



He said that while part of the increase may be attributed to natural fluctuations, evidence also links it to the effects of human-induced climate warming.
What evidence? There is no real evidence that there is "human-induced climate warming".




Scientists have become increasingly concerned in recent years about the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels.


Yes, yes, we've heard.




Average worldwide temperatures have risen this century as a result of what many believe is a greenhouse effect from that pollution.
Actually, most scientists reject the threory that global warming is caused by human pollution.




The researchers used the files of the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service to analyze 1,166 fires of more than about 1,000 acres. Their findings are published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science.
Beginning about 1987, there was a change from infrequent fires averaging about one week in duration to more frequent ones that often burned five weeks or more, they reported. The length of the wildfire season was extended by 78 days.
The researchers said the changes appear to be linked to annual spring and summer temperatures, with many more wildfires burning in hotter years than in cooler years.
Yes it's true, there are hotter summers than others. Is it global warmings' fault? I personally don't think so.



I'm not going to quote the rest of the article because it's just more of the same points. My point is, just because there have been more and longer fires over the years, doesn't mean that global warming has anything to do with it.

[URL="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060706/ap_on_sc/climate_fires;_ylt=AvJGzbVPXp_7alsPxBs1Suis0NUE;_y lu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-"]Story Here (http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=RMu2Hc6.I3orxzrCRJdJPQCfRYC0bUSun7QAA4Wz&T=1a1ep6atq%2fX%3d1152294836%2fE%3d14715249%2fR%3d news%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d2.1%2fW%3d8%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d1 525224930%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJuZXdzIiBjb250ZW50PS JnbG9iYWwgd2FybWluZztpdDtFbmVyZ3k7cmVmdXJsX3d3d19n bGVubmJlY2tfY29tIiByZWZ1cmw9InJlZnVybF93d3dfZ2xlbm 5iZWNrX2NvbSIgdG9waWNzPSJyZWZ1cmxfd3d3X2dsZW5uYmVj a19jb20i%2fQ%3d-1%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d5023BECE&U=139ag3ila%2fN%3dmwE6G86.Ir4-%2fC%3d508924.8897296.9678890.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2 fB%3d2645450)

[Guns R Cool]

Oh my God!! We're all going to die!! Al Gore was right.

[FKLBRLS]

Wildfires are a natural occurrence that have always been occurring. Sometime every wild plant that has grown will be burnt and replaced. Not all plants will burn down and grow back all at once, but this happens in increments. It allows soil to stay fertile.

Being a proud Californian (a TRUE Californian) I have been around fires all my life. This state is a freaking tinderbox if you let it become that way. Fire happens, you just have to deal with it. Global warming plays no part in fires.

[Guns R Cool]

A pine cone can only open and spill it's seeds if the cone has been exposed to extreme heat.

[Undivided_Attention]

Wow!

Wildfires=Heat

Heat=Warmer Air

Warmer Air=Hotter Temperature Records

Hotter Temperature Records Means Global Warming!

GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL!!! WILDFIRES CAUSE IT!

Oh my, I'm a genius!

[Undivided_Attention]

You know, if it weren't for all those crazy invironmentally-ill patients hugging trees, we wouldn't have all these dead trees and shit out there ready to burn. I mean, look at what heppened at Yellowstone in, what, '89?

[Undivided_Attention]

A pine cone can only open and spill it's seeds if the cone has been exposed to extreme heat.

EXACTLY! It's just like how libs interrupt the free market: they think taxing a businesses excessive profits will bring down prices just like they think making the world wildfire-proof will save more animals. They think that eliminating fires helps the environment when its not!

[Nerf Hofflemire]

Wow!

Wildfires=Heat

Heat=Warmer Air

Warmer Air=Hotter Temperature Records

Hotter Temperature Records Means Global Warming!

GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL!!! WILDFIRES CAUSE IT!

Oh my, I'm a genius!

I think that the article was about the global warming causing wildfires, not wildfires causing global warming.

[Guns R Cool]

I think that the article was about the global warming causing wildfires, not wildfires causing global warming.

Global warming causes wildfires because wildfires caused global warming. It's a circle.

[Wadi66]

And of course they fight against cows roaming the National Forest grazing on the underbrush, so now there's all the dry grass and plants just waiting to ignite. But they don't care as long as the cows aren't there leaving precious "pies" behind.

[Nerf Hofflemire]

Global warming causes wildfires because wildfires caused global warming. It's a circle.

It's not a circle. It's just a load of CRAP.

[Guns R Cool]

In case you didn't figure it out, we were being sarcastic.

[Wadi66]

It's not a circle. It's just a load of CRAP.As in cow pies right?? :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

[Nerf Hofflemire]

In case you didn't figure it out, we were being sarcastic.

I know, Guns!


As in cow pies right?? :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

Right.:icon_wink

[FKLBRLS]

It's not a circle. It's just a load of CRAP.
It's a takeoff on that song from the Lion King.

It's the Circle! The Circle of shit!

Good 'ol cow pies! Ain't nothin' like 'em! (Kinda like their ain't nothin' like a good, juicy, meaty steak!)

[Undivided_Attention]

It's the Circle! The Circle of shit!

:roflmao1: :roflmao1: :roflmao1: :roflmao1: :roflmao1:

[rightwingxtremist]

Ah yes, Global Warming - the politics of fear. You know, global warming is probably the quintessential hat rack of the liberal camp, or at least pretty darn close to the race card. Are there any others that I missed?

- N

[earthtoned]

its not that complicated. Higher temperatures means higher evaporation rates of the soil and brush, which leads to a greated chance of a fire starting/growing. I wont get into global warming. you either believe the science is valid or you dont at this point.

[Guns R Cool]

Not 'higher' temperatures, 'high' temperatures and lack of rainfall. The average temperature has risen .4 degrees farenheit in the past 100 years.

[earthtoned]

Ah yes, Global Warming - the politics of fear. You know, global warming is probably the quintessential hat rack of the liberal camp, or at least pretty darn close to the race card. Are there any others that I missed?

- N

I agree that it has been politicized, which is a very unfortunate, but alas that is the state of things in american politics today. If this issue isnt approached in a more level headed bi-partisan manner, then when a true popular consensus is reached it may be too late to act. Most people tend to believe what is most convenient for them to believe no matter what the overwhelming facts are. Those on the left that are using this as a political football risk alienating the right so much that innaction ensues. those on the right who choose to ignore it because it is promoted by politicians associated with the left wing risk being on the wrong side of what could be a world changing trend. While i do not believe many of the alarmists' predictions on the left, scaring us with visions of cities under water and mass death, I fear the right risks being on the wrong side of this issue as continuing evidence supports at the very least that temperatures are rising. Even the bush administration's official reports admit this, altho you won't hear them talk about it much in fear of alienating whats left of their base.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37232-2004Aug26.html

My question to the conservatives on this board is this: at what point do we start adressing this issue as not a political issue but a shared challenge we may face over the coming decades?

[FKLBRLS]

We need to stop calling assumptions of human-caused global warming "fact". We need to allow those on the other side of the issue to reveal their side of the story. Have you seen anyone have a major interview about how they thought that global warming was not human-caused.

That being said, the Earth is warming, but not at an "alarming rate" and certainly not because of human action. That does not make it nonexistant.

We should be committed to conservation. I believe global warming was developed as a scare tactic to get people to clean up their act. We need to heed the call and do so. Pollution is toxic to humans and lowers life expectancy. It also smells bad and makes the sky look like it does over Pomona, CA. We need to develop cleaner everything. At the same time, we need to stop BS like banning wood-burning fireplaces and charcoal barbeques (which I would advocate since they use less fossil fuel, even though I've personally never owned one). We need to improve responses to disasters, as well as early warning. Saying that hurricanes "might" intensify over the next few decades isn't going to help anything, but improving detection and giving more time to escape as well as better escape tactics would help A LOT.

This is America, the country where it's OK to act as though global warming is coming even though you know it's nonexistant!

[Wadi66]

My question to the conservatives on this board is this: at what point do we start adressing this issue as not a political issue but a shared challenge we may face over the coming decades?As you said in an earlier post, one either accepts the science or doesn't. So.... what's causing the warming and are we responsible for it? Who exactly is responsible, the world in general or the United States? If the world in general is the problem, why aren't the contributing nations being gone after. Please don't bring up the Kyoto Agreement that we wouldn't jump on board with. That was a useless and ineffective attempt which didn't impact those nations who are the greatest polluters.

[FKLBRLS]

I forgot to mention that Wadi. The Kyoto Treaty was nothing but a silly attempt to stifle America. It did not do anything to China or India, who contribute MORE pollution. A lot of these so-called "experts" only release "facts" about global warming when they have something to do with the US. I don't hear any of them bitching about other countries that pollute more than we do. I don't hear of them creating some huge ad campaign over in these countries. I only see them bitching about how bad America is.

[earthtoned]

i wasnt planning on bring up the kyoto agreement. it is admittedly flawed, altho i dont quite share the view that it was designed specifically and purposefully to hurt the US economy. The entire world is connected to the US economy, and when it falters so does everyone else. If countries can create reasonable energy and pollution policies on their own, i'm fine with that, but i think it should be clear by now that what happens around the world directly effects our own economy. Take oil, something our economy is completely dependant on. If the world doesnt develop a more efficient way to convert petroleum to energy, the china's and india's of the world will increas consumption to a degree that our own supply will be in jeopardy, let alone the price spikes we are already feeling. this interconnectivilty demands that these issues be adressed globally in one form or another. if not kyoto, the bush administration needs to step forward with their own plan. until now they have been embarrassingly quiet on the issue. As the worlds largest customer for petroleum and single largest creator of greenhouse gases, we have to show leadership on this.

[earthtoned]

Oil demand by country (in millions of barrels/day)
Country 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
USA 19.70 19.65 19.76 20.03 20.52
China 4.80 4.92 5.16 5.55 6.63
Japan 5.61 5.53 5.46 5.58 5.44
Former Soviet Union 3.90 4.30 4.11 4.18 4.16
Germany 2.77 2.81 2.72 2.68 2.67
India 2.05 2.10 2.10 2.20 2.30
Canada 2.03 2.04 2.08 2.19 2.29
France 2.00 2.05 1.98 2.06 2.04
UK 1.76 1.72 1.77 1.72 1.86
Total World 76.95 78.10 78.44 79.89 82.63