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Science/nature/environment

Another 'climate' scare debunked

(6 Posts)
Bags Thu 06-Dec-12 18:15:08

Wildfires in the US have been, increasingly, blamed on global warming climate change climate disruption (woteva!), but it now seems that it is an invasive grass species that's to blame for making them worse

Nelliemoser Thu 06-Dec-12 20:05:27

Oh come on Bags how do you make out the this article is "another climate scare debunked"? It has nothing to do with Climate "scares" let alone debunking them?

It is just about a type of grass that benefits from fire, it burns more easily and this benefits its propagation and spread.

It doesn't make even a mention of the changing wind and ocean current patterns which have a major effect on our planets weather systems. It's these that cause the effect of changing climate and extreme weather patterns. These cause the floods, or the severe droughts that also promote the conditions for wild fires.

Bags Thu 06-Dec-12 20:27:57

The article, as you say, nelliem, did not mention climate change, but wildfires have been blamed on climate change in other news items quite frequently. I've always thought there was probably more to it than that and this article seems to be saying that there is. That's all.

Bags Thu 06-Dec-12 20:29:37

It's reassuring also that the dry grass explanation is actually quite simple. Ockham's razor and all that smile

Nelliemoser Thu 06-Dec-12 20:35:53

It worries me abit about the idea of seeding the roots with fungi to kill them off though. That could cause a major ecological disaster.

Bags Thu 06-Dec-12 20:42:35

Yes, I agree. I'm not sure we should interfere with stuff like that unless there really is no other option. However, if they did proper controlled trials of this fungus first, and made sure it wouldn't attack anything else....
There has been/is ongoing a similar experiment in the UK to find something that will help control the spread of Japanese Knotweed. I'm not sure what stage the experiment is at. I think there was talk of a weevil. I think it's still at the lab stage of checking there wouldn't be any unintended consequences.