[MCN] Fire: We've made sure more is coming: Deal with it

Lance Olsen lance at wildrockies.org
Mon May 23 11:27:18 EDT 2016


Crucial interaction between fire and mankind explored in new research

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
PUBLIC RELEASE: 22-MAY-2016
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"Imagining that we could live without fire is 
both folly and impossible. Importantly, our 
combustion habits - both fossil fuels combustion 
and landscape burning - ensure that we are 
building new dynamism into our social-ecological 
relationship with fire through climate change. We 
must learn to live with fire as it will this will 
become an increasing problem that needs a fuller 
discussion among all affected: stakeholders, 
policy-makers and scientists."
  http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/interaction-fire-and-mankind
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A pioneering team of international researchers 
have devised a 'manifesto for fire science' to 
explore the pivotal relationship that exists 
between mankind and fire, on a global stage.

The team, brought together by Dr Claire Belcher 
from the University of Exeter's wildFIRE Lab and 
colleagues, delves into the complex relationship 
that fire has had with our planet and humans over 
millennia, from the first fires through to its 
role in the industrial revolutions worldwide.

In their synthesis the experts deliberate the 
intricate role that fire has made on the natural 
environment, and the tension it can create with 
human inhabitants as populations have expanded.

Crucially, the researchers suggest that a 
combination of factors, including the problem of 
invasive plants, landscape change, climate 
change, population growth, human health and 
economic, social and cultural attitude make a 
re-evaluation of the relationship between fire 
and man necessary.

The innovative research paper was produced 
following a Royal Society discussion meeting, 
held in September, and is published as part of 
volume exploring both the natural and human face 
of fire in the respected scientific journal 
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 
on Monday, May 23.

Dr Belcher, who is an Earth scientist 
specialising in the study of natural fires in the 
Earth system, said the research would help 
policymakers "reassess their attitudes" towards 
how to deal with fire in the natural world.

Dr Belcher said: "It is imperative that we 
consider this complex interaction between fire 
and humankind on a global scale, and not just 
imagine it is a localised, or of far away, 
concern.

"What we have shown is that understanding fire is 
a broader and more complex issue than it is 
perhaps treated now - it encompasses physical, 
biological and social sciences as well as 
engineering, and the humanities - and it needs to 
be seen as such by policymakers, both home and 
abroad.

"In the UK we may imagine that fire is only an 
issue in hot, dry areas of the world, such as the 
US or Australia, but even in the UK a wildfire 
can have a massive impact - The SE faces 
particular threat from wildfire via the proximity 
of at risk forests and heathlands to core 
infrastructure for example if a wildfire were to 
cause a part closure of the M25 even for an hour 
in peak time the cost to the UK economy would be 
close to £1million."

Dr Belcher highlighted: "In order for mankind to 
consider a more sustainable coexistence with fire 
into our future researchers and policy makers 
need to come together to explore fire's 
relationship with man and our planet across 
timescales and across political boundaries".

The experts conclude that: "Imagining that we 
could live without fire is both folly and 
impossible. Importantly, our combustion habits - 
both fossil fuels combustion and landscape 
burning - ensure that we are building new 
dynamism into our social-ecological relationship 
with fire through climate change. We must learn 
to live with fire as it will this will become an 
increasing problem that needs a fuller discussion 
among all affected: stakeholders, policy-makers 
and scientists."
###
The full issue can be found after publication at: 
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/interaction-fire-and-mankind

-- 
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"The recognition that things that are not 
sustainable will eventually come to an end
does not give us much of a guide to whether the 
transition will be calm or exciting."

Timothy Geithner
quoteaddicts.com/130710

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