Agricultural Fires And Global Warming

On May 13, 2007, the MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an image of fires in Honduras and Nicaragua, along with smoke-filled skies over the Pacific Ocean. Places where MODIS detected active fire are marked in red.

Click image for more detailed image.

The last few weeks the fires in Florida, naturally caused by lightening, showed the residents of the state how bad fire is for the atmosphere. Choking smoke blanketed the state, until this week, when it has rained nearly every afternoon so finally today the smoke is mostly gone, the air is mostly clear.

Who did it, well it sure wasn't all powerful man, the fire crews were doing yeoman's duty, but the best they could do was contain the fires, somewhat. Not put them out. They built roads around the fires and hoped they would burn everything inside the roads and eventually go out for lack of more fuel. Then came the rain.

So along comes the pictures at the top of the page. The majority of the fires shown are very likely man caused, brush clearing, land clearing, and agricultural waste burning. The CO2 released by this fires is enormous, the ash, the soot, yet no one complains about the damage to the atmosphere. Why?

The answer is very simple, it's not about globull warming, it's about destroying the U.S. economy. If it were about globull warming, then these fires would take center stage. Most third world countries do the same thing, set their country on fire, mostly for agricultural reasons, as the fires spread, the whole country is set ablaze by embers blowing in the wind.

Next time you hear about how bad your car is, and how burning fossil fuels are for the atmosphere, think about this and the massive 'damage' that is done by this practice.