Michelle Smith

“Study: Global Warming to Blame for Huge Wildfires.” By Associated Press, the Missoulian on Tuesday November 9, 2004

            Studies carried out in a central Idaho pine forest near Coeur D’ Alene suggest that global warming—not overly thick forests—is the main cause of catastrophic wildfires that have been plaguing the western U.S. for the past two decades.  The study analyzed 8,000 years of sediment that has accumulated in the valley of the South Fork Payette River near Lowman, where records of massive, prehistoric wildfires are buried in the sediment.  The most catastrophic wildfires caused the thickest band of sediment that was deposited and stored in the ancient rock record by a cement like slurry of rain, snowmelt, charcoal, boulders and bits of trees.  Grant A. Meyer, co-author of the study and professor at the University of New Mexico, reported that most fire history is based on studying tree rings and typically extends back no further than 500 years, the age of the oldest ponderosa pines. 

            Most scientists believe the current warming trend is the result of a build-up of greenhouse gases—such as carbon dioxide—caused by the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels.  Jennifer Pierce, a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, and the lead author of the study, suggests that this may mean forests cannot be protected by thinning projects, because historical evidence shows that fires will continue to burn hotter and larger on a planet that continues to heat up.  Stephen Arno, a retired U.S. Forest Service fire ecologist said, “Climate should not be ignored, but forest thinning remains the best defense against catastrophic wildfires.”

            Several published scientific reports on global warming point to catastrophic environmental consequences within the next few decades as the Arctic ice shelf melts and life on Earth adjusts to a changing climate.  Accelerated warming is likely to cause forests to spread into the tundra regions and be followed by a northward migration of wildlife, possibly spreading diseases into the Arctic environment.  Widespread extinction of many delicate species, even in areas far south are also likely, according to some of these reports.  There are some suggested economic benefits, like the opening of northern oceans to shipping and the discovery of new petroleum reserves in areas now too far remote to drill due to polar ice, but ought humans let the economic benefits out way the destruction of Earth for future generations?  The threat of catastrophic wildfire will only continue to increase, and the drastic logging measures by President Bush will only destroy our forests and cause wildlife to become extinct, and in no way prevent catastrophic wildfires. 

            As Warren points out in her essay, The Power and Promise of Ecological Feminism, “things” do not need to be similar to humans to be recognized as an “awesome” thing and to be included in our moral universe.  Lopez argues that we come to know the land and to discover what more may be there than merchantable timber, damable water, and netable fish, is by looking upon the land not as its possessor but as a companion.  This is a lot like Leopold’s ecocentrist outlook, where one needs to take up a residence and bond with the land.  Create a marriage with it, based on love, appreciation, respect, and trust, just as you would create that same marriage with your spouse.  To be intimate with the land like this is to enclose it in the same moral universe we occupy.

Once we do this we owe the land respect.  We as a culture need to see the harm we are doing to the land and the environment.  We also need to recognize that the harm we inflict on the environment, ultimately takes its toll on the land.  All adults ought to take responsibility for their actions and try to make the universe a safe and healthy place for all who inhabit it. We saw some of this irresponsibility and childlike behavior in The Misfits.  All of the characters at the start of the movie did not know how to intimate relationships with others or the land.  They didn’t have a home anywhere.  None of the characters were able to take responsibility for their actions throughout the majority of the movie.  Towards the end Rosi, Gay, and even Perce were starting to understand what they were doing and all the harm they were causing.  They finally were making an attempt to take some responsibility for their actions.  Lopez says the same about euro Americans and not being able to take responsibility.

In The Rediscovery of North America, Lopez recalls meeting a Nunamiut man at Anaktuvuk Pass in the Brooks Range in Alaska named Justus Mekiana.  Lopez was there working on a book and asked Justus what he did when he went into a foreign landscape.  Justus said, “I listen.”  Certain things, no matter how long they are studied for may never be learned or understood, but we will always be rewarded if we give the land credit for more than we imagine.  According to Lopez, “In these ways we begin, I think, to find a home, to sense how to fit a place.” 

We could learn things by the way our ecosystems recycle within themselves.  The land has more knowledge than we see in form and in function.  For example, it was stated in this article, that the period from about 1350 to the beginning of the 20^th century was known as the Little Ice Age.  During this time, Rocky Mountain glaciers grew larger, and wet, cool conditions allowed grasses to flourish on forest floors, which provided tinder for frequent but cool ground fires.  Fire is a huge source of natural nourishment for the land.  Grant A. Meyer said this period is seen as a time when cool fires and old trees seemed to be in harmony.  If others could learn to be in harmony with the land, then all who habitat it would be greatly rewarded for generations to come. 

We ought to try and accept the idea that the land has more knowledge than we see, and that the animals know more than us.  When it comes to catastrophic wildfires not being caused by overly thick forests—but actually by global warming—it becomes a more serious environmental issue, one that we can and ought to deal with.  I believe we ought to try to take on the ecocentrist outlook of Leopold and Lopez and try to get all of humanity, nature, and systems living in harmony once again.  To find a place and make a home of it.  Respect and love it as we would our spouse.  We ought to respect that each ‘thing’ has a place, and a job.  Whether it has to do with humans, rocks, a small flower such as the Draba, we all need to find our place to make the universe live in harmony.