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California wildfires sped up climate change as much as a whole year of power use
- tomatotomato37 8y agoThis title is a bit misleading. Is there any chance we could get "in California" added to the end or is it already at the max char count?
- lmilcin 8y agoAlso, can we mention the fire left space for new growth that in time will reclaim same amount of carbon from atmosphere that was emitted during fire (unless Califirnia becomes desert).
- b_tterc_p 8y agoIs regrow the likely? I recall learning that due to a human enforced lack of wildfires, the ones that break out nowadays burn so hot that the soil itself burns.
- lmilcin 8y agoI grew on a farm. We would burn stuff we didn't want (like hay that went bad, etc) in piles that would burn for many, many hours. The soil underneath is intact, there is so much mass behind it that it may get hot but never so much that it would decompose.
- Fjolsvith 8y agoMany seeds of various plants/trees survive and even require heat to germinate.
- howard941 8y agoThe original title overran the limit, and this one is very close to the boundary.
- morkfromork 8y agoI saw a lot of stories about the smoke blocking the sun and cooling the climate such as: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Smoke-from-California-fires-is-so-bad-that-it-s-13395205.php https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Smoke-from-Californi... goos news/bad news?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- IMcD23 8y agoThe smoke blocked out the sun during the fire, so the temperature was temporarily lower.
- dvvss 8y agoWildfires release carbon that is already an active part of the carbon cycle. Undoubtedly there will be an impact to climate, but typically overall atmospheric carbon will stabilize in a relatively short period of time after a wildfire (as the land is reforested). Carbon from fossil fuels, on the other hand, is not an active part of the carbon cycle. It is net-new carbon. Carbon dumps from wildfires do impact climate, but it is qualitatively different than carbon dug up from under the earth which adds the overall amount of carbon in the cycle.
- Fjolsvith 8y agoIf the climate/environment can absorb a year's worth of carbon dumping in a relatively short time, it seems to me that the source wouldn't matter and the system would balance.
- carlmr 8y agoIt's not that the source doesn't matter, but the forest fire creates a big sink in terms of a forest that can regrow.