SmokeyBear.com - ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT WILDFIRES.
Bottled water may still be "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people", but I would like to throw in another contender for delusional marketing, this time on the part of the US government's most recent administration.
For decades (stretching back to the 1940s) Smokey the Bear has been a well-advertised icon for forest preservation. His chubby, furry cheeks and forest ranger hat are recognizable across generations throughout the nation. Never before, however, has dear old Smokey been such a perpetrator of lies.
"Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires" used to be the old tagline. This statement was relatively innocuous given its ambiguity. The understanding was that Smokey was referring to man-made fires started by camping accidents or, more sinisterly and thankfully rarely, arson. People, of course, cannot prevent all forest fires since many are natural and caused by unpreventable events like lightning strikes or volcanic eruptions.
Concurrent with a change in the Oval Office, Smokey's line changed. Substitute "wildfires" for "forest fires" and you get an ill-developed, economically selfish, and scientifically illogical ploy to protect precious human property at the expense of some of our dearest natural treasures.
PEOPLE CANNOT PREVENT WILDFIRES. THEY ARE BY DEFINITION "WILD" OR PART OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.
People can, however, stop themselves from building valuable property in valuable and fire-prone forests. We don't stamp out forest fires to save the trees or wildlife. Sorry Bambi, we do it to save houses.
The administration's solution to protecting property while reducing the incidence of wildfires? Cut down more trees! If there's less forest to burn, then there won't be as many fires and those that do start will be less severe. Logical, right? Unfortunately, trees that are logged for lumber are not the whole problem. It's the brush, something a particular Bush should learn some more about before he supports more misguided policy.
Forests are complex communities of varied plant and animal life. Some key floral aspects are the undergrowth and brush that lies close to the ground, young trees that are not so big and tall, old trees that are big, tall, and strong, and dead trees that are still standing. Wildfires clear out the undergrowth, brush, and dead trees, fertilize the soil with ashes, and create room for new growth, all without harming the big and tall trees at their areas of growth (their tops), also known as the crown. [Yes, trees keep growing at the top, not at the bottom. That's why if you carve your love's initials into a tree four feet off the ground, they will still be just four feet up 20 years later.] By fighting wildfires, more undergrowth and brush is allowed to persist, thus creating bigger stockpiles of highly flammable fuel. Guess what happens next?
When the next wildfire starts, it burns hotter and faster than normal due to the excessive fuel. As a result, the precious crown is burnt as well, and since these are trees have rich, hard wood, they burn very well for a much longer time than brush. Thus we get "raging wildfires" that burn for days and days and defy attempts to stamp them out. By interrupting a natural process that has gone on for millennia, to the point that some species have adapted to the fires such that their seeds only germinate after exposure to extreme heat, the current administration has created acres of tinderboxes around the country that are just waiting for the next spark (natural or man-made) during a dry summer to burst into flames.
In one sense, maybe we really are the only ones who can prevent wildfires. We can start by taking a burning Bush out of office and the rest of his deluded disciples.
Bottled water may still be "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people", but I would like to throw in another contender for delusional marketing, this time on the part of the US government's most recent administration.
For decades (stretching back to the 1940s) Smokey the Bear has been a well-advertised icon for forest preservation. His chubby, furry cheeks and forest ranger hat are recognizable across generations throughout the nation. Never before, however, has dear old Smokey been such a perpetrator of lies.
"Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires" used to be the old tagline. This statement was relatively innocuous given its ambiguity. The understanding was that Smokey was referring to man-made fires started by camping accidents or, more sinisterly and thankfully rarely, arson. People, of course, cannot prevent all forest fires since many are natural and caused by unpreventable events like lightning strikes or volcanic eruptions.
Concurrent with a change in the Oval Office, Smokey's line changed. Substitute "wildfires" for "forest fires" and you get an ill-developed, economically selfish, and scientifically illogical ploy to protect precious human property at the expense of some of our dearest natural treasures.
PEOPLE CANNOT PREVENT WILDFIRES. THEY ARE BY DEFINITION "WILD" OR PART OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.
People can, however, stop themselves from building valuable property in valuable and fire-prone forests. We don't stamp out forest fires to save the trees or wildlife. Sorry Bambi, we do it to save houses.
The administration's solution to protecting property while reducing the incidence of wildfires? Cut down more trees! If there's less forest to burn, then there won't be as many fires and those that do start will be less severe. Logical, right? Unfortunately, trees that are logged for lumber are not the whole problem. It's the brush, something a particular Bush should learn some more about before he supports more misguided policy.
Forests are complex communities of varied plant and animal life. Some key floral aspects are the undergrowth and brush that lies close to the ground, young trees that are not so big and tall, old trees that are big, tall, and strong, and dead trees that are still standing. Wildfires clear out the undergrowth, brush, and dead trees, fertilize the soil with ashes, and create room for new growth, all without harming the big and tall trees at their areas of growth (their tops), also known as the crown. [Yes, trees keep growing at the top, not at the bottom. That's why if you carve your love's initials into a tree four feet off the ground, they will still be just four feet up 20 years later.] By fighting wildfires, more undergrowth and brush is allowed to persist, thus creating bigger stockpiles of highly flammable fuel. Guess what happens next?
When the next wildfire starts, it burns hotter and faster than normal due to the excessive fuel. As a result, the precious crown is burnt as well, and since these are trees have rich, hard wood, they burn very well for a much longer time than brush. Thus we get "raging wildfires" that burn for days and days and defy attempts to stamp them out. By interrupting a natural process that has gone on for millennia, to the point that some species have adapted to the fires such that their seeds only germinate after exposure to extreme heat, the current administration has created acres of tinderboxes around the country that are just waiting for the next spark (natural or man-made) during a dry summer to burst into flames.
In one sense, maybe we really are the only ones who can prevent wildfires. We can start by taking a burning Bush out of office and the rest of his deluded disciples.
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