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June Drapeau's avatar

I found your seemingly unquestioning acceptance of the mantra "climate change produces (more) forest fires" to be out of sync with your usual analytical and skeptical stance on most other things. Wildfires have been around as long as forests have.

1) You agreed that certain trees and plants in wildfire areas have EVOLVED to possess fire adaptations: some pines have serotinous cones which open up with fire to release the seeds, some plants have tough seeds which lie dormant until fire produces germination, some trees/plants have extensive root systems which re-sprout after fire, some trees have thick specialized bark which resists heat and fire. Evolution doesn't occur overnight - it takes millennia. From before people were here to be exact.

2) Examples: The "prairie" provinces are classified as semi-arid. Always have been. The BC interior and parts of Yukon and NWT fit this description too. Recently devised "climate change" has not produced this, despite the wailings otherwise. Naturally occurring variations in rainfall and lightning strikes mean some years have very high numbers of fires, other years have lower numbers. These variations would naturally occur in eastern provinces too.

3) Government fire suppression in the 20th century caused a decrease in wildfire size and occurrence and increased accumulation of deadfall (fuel for fires), especially within range of populated areas, enhancing the ease with which wildfires can start and spread.

4) Public perceptions: Population growth means more towns and populated rural areas are endangered by wildfires, which means wildfires are in people's minds when they occur. Many years ago before numbers/size of all fires were accurately recorded, more wildfires were safely ignored and not in the news at all.

5) Any even cursory research will show that "climate change" has ALWAYS BEEN ONGOING in the history of the earth, is enormously complicated and interacts with many other complex scientific realities. We are presently in an interglacial period which would have happened with or without people's involvement. Not as simple as those who are making $$ megabillions in climate change industries would have us believe.

PS: I'm not a mindless climate change denier but neither do I believe all the propaganda the "science is settled" crowd likes to use to suppress reasonable discussion and invade school curriculums. Science is ongoing, is never "settled."

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Jamie Vann Struth's avatar

Just a quick comment on your preambles.....a lot of times you start off apologizing for being late or missing a week or not having a video or whatever. If you didn't say these things, I would have no idea anything was amiss. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I read a lot of substacks among many other online sources and yours is definitely one of my favourites. But I'm not pining for its release on whatever day is scheduled (I honestly don't know) and I'm happy to read it whenever it shows up. You don't need to keep telling me there's something wrong with it. All the best.....

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