Here's a very intriguing piece about fire. We do not see fire as much of a thing as the past. We mastered it eons ago and developed a diversity of uses of fire. However nowadays, they are hidden and replaced by fossil fuels, which turns into electricity, and we seemed to forget a bit about the its existence.
In the past, it has influenced our living so much and without fire I believe human race will never be able to get to this stage. However, we still encounter fire, but we see it more as a hazard rather than a tool, like disastrous bushfire that takes away beautiful homes and landscape; one of the many causes of climate change that makes the earth heats up and boil. But we have to realise that fire can be controlled and mastered just like how our ancestors used to be.
[...] understanding the relative influences of climate, human ignition sources and cultural practices in particular environments is critical to design sustainable fire management to protect human health, property and ecosystems.
However, there is something we have to concerned about as well:
The excessive combustion of fossil fuels driving climate change may completely overwhelm human capacities to control fire. [...] And humans have made this situation worse by liberally spreading highly productive and flammable plants (such as robust grasses and eucalypts) around the world. This may create a truly vicious fire cycle.
In short, even though we understand fire and know how the rules on handling it, it is still a very risky thing to juggle about.
In the age of aviation and high technological advance, we tend to look back and seek refuge in the quiet and serene backyard of nature. Some researchers in the US has spent a long time to record the sounds of nature at Crater Lake's National Park. The funny thing is even though we thought places like this would be absolutely calm, and you'd be loosen up into this beautiful scene. But apparently, the researchers are not so happy about hearing noises that generates from human civilisation.
In this article, the major nuisance noted when recording the sounds of the natural environment is that aeroplanes and helicopters are flying around as they are seeking for absolute silence, and they said it happens 15 percent of the time. To us, this might seem a little bit extreme, but they said they could not find anywhere else without this kind of "noise pollution" in America. As the articles says, species like owls need an absolutely quiet environment to hunt, and this small amount of noise can restrain them from hunting efficiently.
The problem, McFarland says, is that human noise, like climate change, is a problem the national parks can't just fence out.
D.
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