West coast catches fire AGAIN

[Jebslund]

Let me edit that 2030 electric vehicle requirement.

By 2030 all personal vehicles shall be electric and commercial / heavy vehicles shall use the highest efficiency engines available on the market. No commercial vehicle that does not meet (insert a strict but realistic emissions standard here) shall be deemed roadworthy after the 2035 grace period expires. 15 years is more than enough for the commercial industry to buy newer and more efficient engines.

General Electric makes diesel electric hybrid systems which I am sure could be scaled down for a 18 wheeler.

And, again, the issue of cost becomes a factor. The highest efficiency engine available on the market may well put up a barrier to entry too high for new companies. The problem with trying to tell people they have to use the best available engine is that it almost invariably means the most expensive by a *wide* margin. A new Tesla costs over twice what a new Hyundai Accent costs, and that's with both being as basic as possible. That doesn't take into account highly-efficient-but-still-impractical engines, either, which often do still go on the market as luxury models/proofs of concept.

Scale is but one factor, and it's not the engine, but the batteries required to power it, that take up all of the space. That's something that, unless we invent a radically new technology that can safely store and release that much power (which, again, won't be happening any time in the foreseeable future barring some miraculous breakthrough), cannot be scaled down without scaling down range and/or power output.

Are there any transparent materials that would let the light through to the trees while lasting long enough to (eventually) pay for itself?

Sure there are, if you want to build a giant magnifying glass that would be starting fires faster than we can fill it.

The problem is that the amount of water you'd need to fill that thing and still be able to effectively put out more than one fire is also enough to block out the sun on its own. There's also the fact that we don't have the materials to hold that much water suspended overhead. One gallon of water weighs about 10 lbs. Your average in-ground swimming pool holds northward of 15,000 gallons. That right there is about 150k pounds of water, or about 75 tons. Now imagine how many pools it would take to cover the whole of the state.

[The South Falls]

We need to dedicate resources to climate change. I don't think we will though, so we'll just coast with inertia and watch the world burn.

[Rojava Free State]

We need to dedicate resources to climate change. I don't think we will though, so we'll just coast with inertia and watch the world burn.

The thing I'm noticing with climate change is that it happens slow enough that many people forget the world as it was decades before. They're like a frog being slowly boiled in a pot. And some folks were born into this world and know no different

[Ifreann]

Are there any transparent materials that would let the light through to the trees while lasting long enough to (eventually) pay for itself?

Sure there are, if you want to build a giant magnifying glass that would be starting fires faster than we can fill it.

The problem is that the amount of water you'd need to fill that thing and still be able to effectively put out more than one fire is also enough to block out the sun on its own. There's also the fact that we don't have the materials to hold that much water suspended overhead. One gallon of water weighs about 10 lbs. Your average in-ground swimming pool holds northward of 15,000 gallons. That right there is about 150k pounds of water, or about 75 tons. Now imagine how many pools it would take to cover the whole of the state.

I believe the idea was to suspend the water above the fires to heat the water and generate electricity, not suspend the water so it can be dropped to extinguish the fires.

[-Ocelot-]

We need to dedicate resources to climate change. I don't think we will though, so we'll just coast with inertia and watch the world burn.

Instead of dedicating resources to limit the effect of global warming now, we'll do nothing until we are forced to dedicate resources for more A/C, more fans, thermal insulation etc. And we'll all end up being poorer except for the ultra-rich who will move to another place and/or buy enough comforts to avoid the worst of it. The rich won't be affected, which is why no government or corporation will do nothing to fix the problem.

[Drystar]

https://globalnews.ca/news/5746603/eagle-bluff-wildfire-friday/

Does this sort of shit happen every year or something? If people keep having to evacuate, why keep coming back? Why not move elsewhere and build a giant canister of water over the whole damn west coast so we can use the inevitable fire for energy instead of fighting the pointless uphill battle against west coast fires?

Yes, fires happen every year, more so after a winter of heavy rains. There’s simple reasons why that happens, perhaps you should look up the life cycle of vegetation in that part of the country before jumping to conclusions. The only abnormal factor is the amount of humans who want to move out into nature. They think the manzanita is pretty, or the juniper brush smells nice, so they let it grow close to their homes, and you’ve built the conditions for a California weenie roast.

[The New California Republic]

Ineffective land management is to blame.

[The Emerald Legion]

"ClImEt ChAnGe Is NoT reAl"

What does climate change have to do with wildfires that have been happening for... What amounts to basically forever, to the point that trees have evolved to take advantage of them?

[Sufokia]

Dems should not mess with those 666 genders and address this. Reps should not scream "FAKE NEWS" in front of cold hard evidence.

What's that about genders?

[Neko-koku]

Climate Change strikes again. Hot times ahead.

The fire keeps rising.

Exactly.

[Free Arabian Nation]

When is California not on some sort of fire at this point?

[Ifreann]

When is California not on some sort of fire at this point?

The days when it rains, of which there are nine.

[The Serbian Empire]

Climate change. I like in Greece and the amount of fires per year/summer has been increasing steadily for the last 20 years. This year there has been a huge amount of fires worldwide and it's only going to get worse.

As is the frequency of flooding in the Eastern Midwest. The Saginaw and Huron Rivers for example have spent more than 40 days under flood warnings this year.

[USS Monitor]

Yes, wildfires happen every year

And yet the ones I keep hearing about almost always happen on the west coast. Funny how that works out.

Yes, because the West Coast has a dry season when it is easy for fires to catch. They even have trees that rely on forest fires to open their seed pods because the fires have been part of the ecosystem long enough to influence the evolution of the trees.

It does not happen in swampy regions like the Everglades or New England because they are too wet.

[The Serbian Empire]

And yet the ones I keep hearing about almost always happen on the west coast. Funny how that works out.

Yes, because the West Coast has a dry season when it is easy for fires to catch. They even have trees that rely on forest fires to open their seed pods because the fires have been part of the ecosystem long enough to influence the evolution of the trees.

It does not happen in swampy regions like the Everglades or New England because they are too wet.

Michigan also has trees that have a bimodal forest fire/extreme cold reproductive system like jack pines. In places south of Grayling, jack pines reproduce mostly by fire. That is despite precipitation totals similar to New England, but Michigan winter leaves dead vegetation and dry leaves and grass.

[Flarbinia]

And yet the ones I keep hearing about almost always happen on the west coast. Funny how that works out.

Yes, because the West Coast has a dry season when it is easy for fires to catch. They even have trees that rely on forest fires to open their seed pods because the fires have been part of the ecosystem long enough to influence the evolution of the trees.

It does not happen in swampy regions like the Everglades or New England because they are too wet.

Not to mention the California wastes a lot of water, which is ironic for a state full of pro-environmentalist politicians (I am not getting political, I am just pointing out the irony of California's water wastage).

[Jebslund]

"ClImEt ChAnGe Is NoT reAl"

What does climate change have to do with wildfires that have been happening for... What amounts to basically forever, to the point that trees have evolved to take advantage of them?

The fact that they're happening more frequently and the fires are more severe. Kind of like how the Southeast and the East Coast have had hurricanes forever, but they're more severe now than they used to be and we're seeing the bigger ones pop up more frequently.

[The Serbian Empire]

Yes, because the West Coast has a dry season when it is easy for fires to catch. They even have trees that rely on forest fires to open their seed pods because the fires have been part of the ecosystem long enough to influence the evolution of the trees.

It does not happen in swampy regions like the Everglades or New England because they are too wet.

Not to mention the California wastes a lot of water, which is ironic for a state full of pro-environmentalist politicians (I am not getting political, I am just pointing out the irony of California's water wastage).

California water waste is mostly farmers. They also have lobbying power.

[Bears Armed]

Aren't some of the fires are actually triggered directly by human activity -- careless campfires or bonfires, dropped cigarette ends, deliberate arson, or whatever? While climate change is probably involved in the increased frequency of fires, couldn't Increased population -- and thus an increased likelihood of such incidents --itself therefore be a factor?

[The South Falls]

What does climate change have to do with wildfires that have been happening for... What amounts to basically forever, to the point that trees have evolved to take advantage of them?

The fact that they're happening more frequently and the fires are more severe. Kind of like how the Southeast and the East Coast have had hurricanes forever, but they're more severe now than they used to be and we're seeing the bigger ones pop up more frequently.

Everything is more dire than it used to be. But we still have those that opine that no, it was always similar to the present. Fires always burned multiple towns at one time.

[Aurevbush]

*insert overused GTA SA meme here*

[Tornado Queendom]

Climate Change strikes again. Hot times ahead.

The fire keeps rising.

It's not Climate Change, since Climate Change is fake.

It's the Saudi Arabians, who got angry at California for not giving them blood money.

[The South Falls]

Climate Change strikes again. Hot times ahead.

The fire keeps rising.

It's not Climate Change, since Climate Change is fake.

It's the Saudi Arabians, who got angry at California for not giving them blood money.

9/11, forest DLC

[The South Falls]

Aren't some of the fires are actually triggered directly by human activity -- careless campfires or bonfires, dropped cigarette ends, deliberate arson, or whatever? While climate change is probably involved in the increased frequency of fires, couldn't Increased population -- and thus an increased likelihood of such incidents --itself therefore be a factor?

It is entirely possible for this to be a factor, but I don't know if that explains the increased incidence.

[-Ocelot-]

Aren't some of the fires are actually triggered directly by human activity -- careless campfires or bonfires, dropped cigarette ends, deliberate arson, or whatever? While climate change is probably involved in the increased frequency of fires, couldn't Increased population -- and thus an increased likelihood of such incidents --itself therefore be a factor?

Correct, but does this account for the percentile increase in fires annually?

Also, let's say that you drop a cigarette butt in a field. If this field is significantly drier than it would have been 30 years ago (due to climate change), it's going to burn, even though it shouldn't.