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Welcome to the Pyrocene: Living with Fire in a Changing World
Since 2023, global fires have intensified and are even reshaping the earth’s ecological landscape to some extent. The Canadian forest fire is one of the most representative fire events. In addition, the Maui fire in Hawaii, large-scale fires in the Pantanal wetland in western Brazil, and forest fires in Greece… have turned 2023 into an unusual “fire year.” Stephen Pine, an emeritus professor at Arizona State University who specializes in environmental history, believes that humans have entered the “Pyrocene”. Nature that “walks with fire” Today, with frequent fires, the plants in nature are most affected. However, plants are much more tolerant of fire than we think. Charcoal fossils 400 million…
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The Dark Side of Southern Europe’s Summer Paradise
With over 200 days of clear skies annually, coupled with pleasant climes, southern European countries like Greece, Italy, and Spain have become favored summer retreats for Western society over the past century. Verily, in certain locales along the Mediterranean seaboard, amid sandy beaches and buildings with graceful lines, together with a storied history, it resembles a terrestrial paradise. However, in recent years, record-shattering high temperatures, compounded by arid air and robust winds, have transmuted Corfu, Sicily, and Rhodes—Mediterranean attractions that habitually welcome throngs of tourists in summer—into seas of flames. Even sans wildfires, many nations in southern Europe have weathered extreme heatwaves, with thermometer readings in Italy, Spain, Greece, and…
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Wildfires in Canada Cause Air Pollution Crisis in North America
Recently, the northeastern United States has experienced some of the worst air pollution in decades. At about 11 a.m. on June 7, 2023, the visibility in New York City decreased significantly. By 1:00 noon, iconic buildings such as the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty could no longer be seen clearly. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the whole city was completely shrouded in an orange haze, full of “a sense of doom”. According to data released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the air pollution index of New York City, Syracuse, New York State, and some cities in neighboring Pennsylvania all exceeded 400 on that day, reaching…
