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The relationship between global warming and the fire cycle in North America

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Johnny Dangerously, Oct 26, 2007.

  1. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Out of respect for the folks on the West Coast, I started a separate thread on this to limit the potential for partisan politics on that thread. However, there's good discussion about this topic right now on "Real Time," and I found a few stories with varying points of view.

    Some of these links are years old, and some are fresh. They are in chronological order.

    http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/11/02/global.warming.enn/index.html

    http://www.livescience.com/environment/060706_globalwarming_fire.html

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5541423

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-warming25oct25,1,7881915.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucrr/20071026/cm_ucrr/thefirethistimethewarmingnexttime

    I don't really have a comment. I just thought this would be an interesting discussion.
     
  2. Left_Coast

    Left_Coast Active Member

    SoCal has been burning in the fall for decades. It happens when the wind blows 90 mph, humidity is 1.5 percent and you have assholes with gasoline cans and a match in parks and in the mountains lighting things up.
     
  3. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Having read a ton on the Santa Ana winds this past week, that doesn't seem like a global warming thing to me. Just a damned weird thing that can get out of control if everything falls just right (or wrong).
     
  4. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    Or cigarettes?
     
  5. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    If global warming has anything to do with it, I would guess it would be from causing a lack of rain in that part of the country, causing drought, making things drier than normal, and thus increasing potential for a bigger fire. Of course, environmental policies that forbid controlled burns can do the same thing. So can natural cycles. Not sure there's a connection.

    Besides, wouldn't global warming help put the fires out? I mean, it's supposed to create these massive hurricanes and melt the ice caps, right? Wouldn't that flood California? Problem solved.
    That's one of the biggest problems I have with global warming proponents — they want it both ways. It'll cause floods. It'll dry things out and cause drought and fires. In the end, any weather records or abnormal weather events get blamed on global warming, when in truth it may just be shit we haven't seen in a while.
     
  6. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Maybe you should try actually reading the research. Then you'd understand how it can cause both.

    Now, they get fires the size of the ones in California in other places out West all the time, but they'd don't get nearly as much publicity because there aren't as many homes to be burned.
     
  7. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    Three of the fires were arson. One started when a car accident resulted in downed power lines.

    Global warming didn't have shit to do with it.
     
  8. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

  9. pallister

    pallister Guest

    I wish I could find itto post, but the editorial cartoon I saw tonight had a picture of two trick-or-treaters: One had a costume with "Bush admnistration" on it, and the guy was holding up an empty box, saying "There's no candy left." The other guy, whose costume read "The Left," said, "&$%!^&%#! GLOBAL WARMING!"
     
  10. Norman Stansfield

    Norman Stansfield Active Member

    Is old_tony sick??? ???
     
  11. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    No, just too tired to respond when there is no point to respond to.

    Are house fires related to global warming, too?
     
  12. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    So saith old tony, the vocational climatologist.
     
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