Monday, July 9, 2012

Smoky needs a science lesson.

Have you seen the commercial with Smokey the Bear saying "only you can prevent forest fires"? Every time I see it I laugh because it's so stupid. I mean  it really is when you think about it. I'm only in 4th grade and even I know that the four main causes of wildfires are lightning, volcanic eruptions, spontaneous combustion, and rockfall sparks. I don't have any control over any of those things. I thought the causes of forest fires was pretty basic natural science studies stuff that most people know. Actually I learned about the four causes in scouts but I already knew about lightening. Everyone should already know lightning causes a lot of fires and nobody controls lightening. Although it'd pretty cool, like Zeus or something. Even the fires that are caused by humans are still out of the control of most normal people, like power lines. Wouldn't it make more sense to just tell kids to "leave no trace" like they do in my scouts when we go camping. Make sure you aren't lighting fires in the woods without water near by and don't throw lit cigarettes in the woods. That's the stuff people can control. So no, you are not the only person who can prevent forest fires. Not everything bad that happens to the earth is our fault. A lot of it is natural causes. Aren't grown up supposed to know these things? Good grief.

4 comments:

  1. Very wise. But remember, not everyone is fortunate enough to be a Boy Scout!

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  2. You have a good point, but I think Smokey might actually be right. He's saying "only you can prevent forest fires" not "you can prevent all forest fires."
    By being a good scout you can stop the fires that would've been caused by human action, and since lightning is a force of nature, those fires couldn't have been stopped anyways.

    I enjoyed reading your post very much, keep up the blogging!

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  3. Actually, to refine the point, it's worth considering that you *can* prevent some naturally caused forest fires. Through good stewardship of the Earth, (i.e. good forest management), you can at least lessen the extent of the fires and damage to inhabited areas. Too bad good forest management is hard to find. (Coming from someone who got to watch the Flagstaff fire from his office.)

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  4. Yes! Most fires are started by natural causes that you can't control. Some fires, however, are caused by the carelessness of humans. As others have pointed out, you CAN prevent those fires from starting. As I learned in GIRL SCOUTS, we can prevent fires by making sure that cooking fires are completely extinguished, that flammables (lighters, propane, lanterns) are stored in vehicles or metal bear boxes, and that we aren't irresponsible with matches, lighters and fireworks.

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