tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144851454298108718.post6070956008005076492..comments2024-02-14T00:58:09.367-08:00Comments on So You're Moving to Alaska--Good for You!: Forget Drill, Baby, Drill (at least for now)DeeDeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15902452667920709402noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144851454298108718.post-27113347368638482192015-06-29T17:16:47.148-07:002015-06-29T17:16:47.148-07:00I completely agree with the overwhelming evidence ...I completely agree with the overwhelming evidence of global warming and the much repeated observations of positive feedback from the melting of permafrost. I just do not think the natural boreal forest fire cycle should be compared to the release of greenhouse gases by humans. The boreal forest fires obviously release greenhouse gases, but these gases are recaptured when the forest regrows in a constant cycle. During the fire cycle carbon is actually sequestered in the soil in many ecosystems. The release of greenhouse gases by humans is so large that natural systems cannot recapture the carbon quickly enough to avoid catastrophic impacts. The cycling of greenhouse gases by the burning of boreal forests is simply not comparable to the releases of greenhouse gases by humans. James McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12813312887957290703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144851454298108718.post-31850482671687610882015-06-29T16:54:04.123-07:002015-06-29T16:54:04.123-07:00We know that feedbacks of living things drive clim...We know that feedbacks of living things drive climate. Photosynthetic plants changed the atmosphere (and cell metabolism) to depend on oxygen, but that took billions of years. Humans change things over much shorter timescales, and ecosystem responses to such rapid change are hard to predict.DeeDeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15902452667920709402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144851454298108718.post-10854159874087651372015-06-27T20:25:34.833-07:002015-06-27T20:25:34.833-07:00There is also a theory that returning boreal fores...There is also a theory that returning boreal forest to steppe will increase reflectance reducing the impact of global warming. The thought being that snow covered plains reflects more sunlight than dark colored spruce trees. Frequently burned ecosystems also tend to capture carbon as charcoal instead of cycling it back to the atmosphere. Transition is often a messy process. Maybe the increased carbon release is due to a transitional state and the ecosystem will actually store carbon once it has stabilized in a new state.James McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12813312887957290703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144851454298108718.post-72907156737476807532015-06-27T11:06:44.559-07:002015-06-27T11:06:44.559-07:00Though true wildfires are important to the health ...Though true wildfires are important to the health of forest ecosystems, current consensus is that increased wildfires in Northern regions may act as positive feedbacks to climate warming by releasing carbon not only through combustion but also by burning off the insulative peat layers above permafrost soils makes these soils vulnerable to thaw and release ancient carbon and methane into the atmosphere.Dee Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01146709256649934182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144851454298108718.post-62905366411494157432015-06-26T14:44:12.508-07:002015-06-26T14:44:12.508-07:00Fire is a natural part of the boreal forest ecosys...Fire is a natural part of the boreal forest ecosystem. When I visited in 2001 there were similar fires. I asked a ranger why they did not fight the fires and they told me that the land was not valuable enough to justify the cost. I now know fire actually has many benefits. Certain wildlife actually requires periodic fire to thrive.James McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12813312887957290703noreply@blogger.com