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I mean, there are large chunks of the world that don’t generally catch on fire. The entire eastern have of the US, for example. The land is more expensive, but

I mean, there are large chunks of the world that don’t generally catch on fire. The entire eastern have of the US, for example. The land is more expensive, but if you converted a corn field or prairie to forest anywhere from Wichita to Washington you wouldn’t expect it to burn down in a massive forest fire. The fire cycle thing is more of a mountain west problem.

pengaru 5y ago
Where I grew up in the midwest prairie fires were definitely a thing [0]. Controlled burns were performed and even the local community college would perform them on a local prairie for education purposes, as they were such an integral part of the ecosystem. And in case you haven't noticed, the climate is changing. Whatever assumptions you may have about the probability of abundant fuel left on the planet's surface going up in smoke are unlikely to stay correct, if they even are today. [0] https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/education/Pages/ILPrairies.aspx https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/education/Pages/ILPrairies.asp...
chongli 5y ago
Forests that don’t burn down in regular fires don’t sequester carbon long term either. Trees die and slowly rot on the forest floor, releasing their carbon back into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels come from accidents of evolution. When plants first evolved lignin there was nothing around that could decompose it and so it built up in large layers, later to be converted into fossil fuels under pressure. Now there are fungi which can decompose lignin and so there will never be a natural build-up of lignin again. Our best bet is to grow trees to sequester carbon and then cut them down and use the wood for durable goods such as houses and furniture. If we can take care of this wood to prevent it from rotting or burning then it’ll sequester carbon for a long time. We’ll have to find ways to cut out fossil fuels from the wood supply chain though.
- jjk166 5y ago
  > Forests that don’t burn down in regular fires don’t sequester carbon long term either. Trees die and slowly rot on the forest floor, releasing their carbon back into the atmosphere. But at the same time those old trees are rotting, new trees are growing. So long as the forest exists (as opposed to say prairie), the carbon is sequestered.
  - chongli 5y ago
    Yes, that is true, but forests are limited in capacity by the fraction of earth's surface they cover. Fossil fuels represent hundreds of millions of years of accumulated growth. Against that even a thousand-year-old forest is minimal.
lazide 5y ago
Forest fires are a thing anywhere forests exist, from Canada [https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report] to Siberia and the Artic Circle [https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?749191/summer-wildfires-record https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?749191/summer-wildfires-reco...] It just doesn't get much press when it is in the middle of nowhere, generally, as compared to blanketing one of the most populous states in the US. You can think of a forest like a giant spring. The more it grows, the more energy it stores/the more compressed it is, until eventually the right conditions happen and BLAM, it lets loose. This is true of all forests and frankly all collections of carbon. The ones underground just happen to be particularly well 'trapped'. Even peat bogs catch on fire sometimes.
- azornathogron 5y ago
  Even the carbon underground burns in some cases. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-seam_fire https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-seam_fire Hopefully the really deep stuff doesn't have the oxygen available to combust.

pengaru 5y ago

Where I grew up in the midwest prairie fires were definitely a thing [0]. Controlled burns were performed and even the local community college would perform them on a local prairie for education purposes, as they were such an integral part of the ecosystem. And in case you haven't noticed, the climate is changing. Whatever assumptions you may have about the probability of abundant fuel left on the planet's surface going up in smoke are unlikely to stay correct, if they even are today. [0] https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/education/Pages/ILPrairies.aspx https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/education/Pages/ILPrairies.asp...

chongli 5y ago

Forests that don’t burn down in regular fires don’t sequester carbon long term either. Trees die and slowly rot on the forest floor, releasing their carbon back into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels come from accidents of evolution. When plants first evolved lignin there was nothing around that could decompose it and so it built up in large layers, later to be converted into fossil fuels under pressure. Now there are fungi which can decompose lignin and so there will never be a natural build-up of lignin again. Our best bet is to grow trees to sequester carbon and then cut them down and use the wood for durable goods such as houses and furniture. If we can take care of this wood to prevent it from rotting or burning then it’ll sequester carbon for a long time. We’ll have to find ways to cut out fossil fuels from the wood supply chain though.

jjk166 5y ago
> Forests that don’t burn down in regular fires don’t sequester carbon long term either. Trees die and slowly rot on the forest floor, releasing their carbon back into the atmosphere. But at the same time those old trees are rotting, new trees are growing. So long as the forest exists (as opposed to say prairie), the carbon is sequestered.
- chongli 5y ago
  Yes, that is true, but forests are limited in capacity by the fraction of earth's surface they cover. Fossil fuels represent hundreds of millions of years of accumulated growth. Against that even a thousand-year-old forest is minimal.

lazide 5y ago

Forest fires are a thing anywhere forests exist, from Canada [https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report] to Siberia and the Artic Circle [https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?749191/summer-wildfires-record https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?749191/summer-wildfires-reco...] It just doesn't get much press when it is in the middle of nowhere, generally, as compared to blanketing one of the most populous states in the US. You can think of a forest like a giant spring. The more it grows, the more energy it stores/the more compressed it is, until eventually the right conditions happen and BLAM, it lets loose. This is true of all forests and frankly all collections of carbon. The ones underground just happen to be particularly well 'trapped'. Even peat bogs catch on fire sometimes.

azornathogron 5y ago
Even the carbon underground burns in some cases. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-seam_fire https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-seam_fire Hopefully the really deep stuff doesn't have the oxygen available to combust.