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In California it’s not forests that are burning. OK, sure – sometimes a tree gets caught up in the fire. But it’s not forest fires. What’s burning is the prairie brush known in California as Chaparral.
Eventually, all Chaparral burns. It’s part of the natural cycle. It’s only a problem when the fire spreads to forests and to people’s homes. This happens because of two things that we humans do have control over.
The first is fire suppression. If you keep putting out all fires, the Chaparral will get thicker and more fuel-rich. When it eventually does burn, it will burn hotter and over a larger area, eventually spreading to nearby forests and setting ablaze people’s gardens and houses.
The second is people’s desire to live close to nature. That is what brings people (not accusing Stephan specifically – no idea where his home is) to live right at the edge of the Chaparral, because they want to see some green out their window, not concrete and roads, or at least be able to get there in a few minutes’ walk. This puts their home close to the danger when the inevitable happens, and also makes it politically hard to do controlled burns that would prevent the large brush fires – controlled burns would spread smoke all over the houses if the wind isn’t just right.
I don’t really have a solution. We could stuff the entire population into the big cities. Or we could surround the semi-rural communities with grazing land with actual goats and plow the surrounding. None of these is satisfying.
Hey, Jesus has been dead for almost 2000 years, and people are still waiting for his return.