Wildfires

Welcome back to Green World,

In the last few months, wildfires have been raging across the globe. Hawaii, Canada, the USA, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Tunisia and countless more have been affected. But what are the environmental impacts of such a blaze?

The USA has had an average of over 70 000 wildfires a year since 2000. In 2020, Californian wildfires emitted more than 90 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is more than the state's power industry emits per year. It is estimated that humans start 87% of wildfires. Around the world, 4 million squ. km are hit by wildfires every single year. This emits vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which fuels climate change. The smoke causes air pollution in the entire surrounding area and can lead to respiratory problems in humans. The air pollution also kills birds, including those migrating through the area. Studies also show that socially vulnerable populations are more at risk of harm from wildfires, similary to the fact that the global south is more at risk from climate change than the global north.

Due to the mass loss of vegetation, erosion increases significantly causing waterways to become unstable. The soil contains less nutrients and there is a much higher risk of disease or pest outbreaks. Most surviving animals are left without food or shelter. Forest vegetation is a vital carbon sink and with that gone, the amount of CO2 that the forest can extract from the atmosphere is lessened. The burned vegetation is full of nitrogen and phosphorus, which can lead to blooms of harmful algae. The soil absorbs less water, putting the surroundings at risk of floods and flash floods. The water also contains more nitrogen and dissolved carbon dioxide, which reduces the drinking water quality for over a decade.

There are actually a few benefits of wildfires. They are an important driver of natural selection and evolution as only the strongest and most resourceful species can survive. Some bird species benefit from the burnt wood for foraging and fleeing animals are an easy target for birds of prey. There are also some plant species who require fires to be able to produce and disperse their seeds. So wildfires are a natural occurrence similar to floods. However it’s the size and frequency of them in recent years that is so destructive.

However, all in all wildfires do a lot more harm than good as they destroy the biodiversity of the forest. And we can't forget the thousands of people that die in the blazes every year or lose family, friends and homes.

Your Green World Blog Team💚

Sources:
https://earth.org/environmental-impact-of-wildfires/
https://earth.org/impact-of-wildfires/
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/where-europe-wildfires-locations-summer-countries-b1099384.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02707-1
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230919154844.htm

Images:
Forest Wildfire, owned by Project LM (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Idaho wildfire, owned by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Comments

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show...

Greta Thunberg's Speech at the UN Climate Action Summit 2019

Hi Everyone! I thought I would share the transcript of Greta Thunberg's inspiring speech from the UN Climate Action Summit. The phrase we remember is 'How dare you!'. But what did she really want us to take away from it? She wanted us to act, so watch the video using the link below and take action because the world isn't just going to heal itself. Greta Thunberg's speech at the UN Climate Action Summit video "My message is that we'll be watching you. This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic g...

Linking climate change and inequality - 'The Great Carbon Divide'

Hey everyone, Have you heard of 'The great carbon divide‘? It is often referred to as the 'carbon footprint gap' or the 'emissions imbalance‘, and produces frightening numbers. The great carbon divide describes the huge gap between the amount of carbon dioxide the rich versus the poor emit, and these numbers shocked even us. What does this mean? There have been many different studies, and all of them show terrifying results. One study from the Guardian and Oxfam, reports that the richest 1% of the world's population emit more carbon than the poorest 66%. The richest 1% consist of 77 million people, which may seem like a lot at first, but the poorest 66% refers to over 5 billion people! Africa, which is home to 17% of the world's population, only causes 4% of the world's emissions. This top 1% emitted 16% of global CO2 emissions in 2019, that's 5.9 billion tonnes of CO2. Modelling suggests that it would take someone who isn't in the top 1% about 150...

Ecosia

We all need to do something to save our planet: it is no use just leaving it to Greta Thunberg! She is very inspirational, yes, but she can only do so much. She isn't superhuman! The climate crisis is up to us; up to you. We all have to get stuck in. Research, learn, discover and most importantly: never give up! The world's animals need us. The world's trees need us and a simple way to do this is to switch to Ecosia. Ecosia is a search engine but it plants trees while you search the web. Okay, it doesn't have as many websites as google so you may want to have google as a backup but it plants trees: this is your opportunity to make a simple change. Just google Ecosia and search to plant trees. Make a difference. Image: This image is owned by Binyamin Mellish on pexels.com .

An exciting initiative from Co-op and Sainsbury's...

Hi Everyone! Today I want to tell you about something I think is very exciting. If you want to recycle more plastic then this could be your chance! Co-op and Sainsbury's have both launched a new soft plastics recycling scheme where you bring your 'soft plastics' (things like crisp packets, chocolate wrappers and fruit and veg bags) into a designated area. For 'hard plastics' such as yoghurt pots, juice cartons and fruit and veg punnets, you can use either your local kerbside collection but not every area collects plastics in this way, including mine so we collect ours and bring it to the tip ourselves. To check if it's a soft plastic you can use the scrunch test- scrunch up the object and if it pings back then it is probably plastic. Then you need to clean it and bring it into one of the stores. Co-op even accepts plastics from other retailers! Co-op uses the plastic to make bin bags for use in the store which I think is a g...

Eco system Galápagos: Part 1 Geography

Hello and welcome to the first post about the Galapagos Islands. Currents and Winds The volcanic islands of Galápagos started to form 4 million years ago. Where they lie, is unique. They are situated directly on the equator, on the Nazca tectonic plate. The Galapagos Islands are on the crossroads of three currents. The cold South Equatorial Current flows westward towards Galapagos. The warm Panama Current runs in from the north. And finally, the deep sea Cromwell Current runs from the west. The Galapagos Islands are also where the Northeast Trade Wind meets the Southeast Trade Wind. Galapagos Hotspot 21 Volcanoes make up the Galápagos Islands with 13 still active. The reason for this volcanic activity is a giant hotspot under the island. A hotspot is a gigantic column of super heated molten lava, rising up towards the surface. It is immense; at least sixty miles (97 kilometers) across and 1800 miles (2897 kilometers) deep. It connects the islands to ...

How much do you know about air pollution? | quiz

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to another quick quiz! Today we wanted to share some questions about air pollution. This is a very complex issue with many statistics, so these were all taken from reliable sources such as Friends Of The Earth ( friendsoftheearth.uk ) and the World Health Organisation ( who.int ). We hope this is educational and enjoyable! Let us know your score in the comments, or which answer surprised you the most! 1. Around how many early deaths are caused by air pollution each year in the UK? a) 3, 000 b) 30 000 c) 300 000 2. Which of these can microscopic pollutants affect? a) lungs and heart b) lungs and brain c) lungs, heart and brain 3. How long did it take for a road in London to breach the air pollution limits for the year in 2017? a) 5 days b) 5 weeks c) 5 months 4. True or False? You are exposed to 8 times more pollution as a cyclist compared to being inside a car. 5. How...

The life of ... an emperor penguin

Hello, Today, we're looking at the fascinating lives of emperor penguins. These incredible creatures have adapted to survive in the extreme conditions of Antarctica, and in this post, we'll explore their incredible lives. In late May to early June just before the Antarctic winter sets in, female emperor penguins lay a single egg. They then leave the colony and go on a two month hunt. The male rests the egg on his feet and covers it with warm, feathered skin called the brood pouch. He will eat nothing for these two months. The chick hatches in August and the female returned to take over. She has spent two months feeding and now regurgitates some food for the newly-hatched chick. The male leaves to feed himself as he has been living off his fat reserves for the past two months. The female keeps the chick in her brood pouch until the sea ice close to the breeding site breaks up as the temperatures warm. The chick is now strong eno...

Green World

Search This Blog

Wildfires

Labels