Monday, April 27, 2009

Fires make climate change worse - report

In a vicious cycle made worse by humans, scientists now believe fires spur climate change, which in turn makes blazes bigger, more frequent and more damaging to the environment. Climate experts have known that a warmer world would spawn more fires, but in research published on Thursday in the journal Science, scientists reported that fires -- especially those set by humans to clear forests -- influence climate change. Smoke particles sent into the atmosphere by fires inhibit rainfall, which makes the land drier and encourages more fires to start, said study co-author Jennifer Balch of the University of Santa Barbara in California. On a global scale, burning releases vast amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, making fires more likely in a warming world, Balch said in a video news briefing. The report's authors estimate that greenhouse emissions from the world's fires equal about 50 percent of emissions that come from the burning of fossil fuels...Reuters

Why are fires "especially those set by humans to clear forests" worse than naturally occurring fire? What makes them "special"? Do they emit more or different smoke particles? Seems to me those set fires, by preventing future larger and hotter burning fires, will over time result in fewer greenhouse gases being released.

What we have hear is a clear bias against humans and human activity.

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