Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Climate Change Forum Fight Global Warming.....no more campfires!!!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/366025_bonfire06.html?source=mypi


Banning bonfires to fight global warming? Of all the idiotic things.......
If we were really lucky these same nutjobs will attempt to lower atmospheric CO2 levels by collectively holding their breath....permanently

Thanks for the good laugh....

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/366025_bonfire06.html?source=mypi
I'm not sure what that last comment means, but at least someone is begging the question....
Sounds as if they've got a handle on this burning of "illegal materials."

Yes Canuck, there is a lot of over-reaction, ...and under-response.
Thanks for bringing this important topic to our attention.

Hey, at least this whole GW hysteria thing is stimulating the economy; they've "assigned more staff to the two sites." That'd be a nice job duty; hanging out at the beach, checking the bonfires and making sure idiots don't add toxic materials.
It'd be fun filling out a "performance evaluation" for that one: 'I consistently attended beach parties, and engaged the beach patrons in a non-confrontational manner, eliciting the highest possible levels of compliance regarding "bonfires" and the avoidance of introduced illegal materials.' Maybe on that job I could get an "Outstanding," instead of the usual "Satisfactory" or "Commendable" rating.

~Later,

Canuck

maybe its an attemp at public recognition of Global Warming.

But if you ask me , and nobody has , removing public recreational activities that have a obvious link to our ancestors , everyone's ancestors , might be a negative factor
in any attemp.

a bonfire on a beach is a speck of sand on the world.

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I fell like starting a bon fire.

isn't it interesting that when faced with global warming, the government chooses to react by confronting the people who have beach fires instead of corporations that can make a much huger impact on the matter.
I wonder ...

I am beginning to think that Global Warming is not the real problem the people on this planet are facing, because sea temperature gauges are showing that not only are our oceans not getting warmer, but they are getting a bit cooler. Sure, we see obvious evidence that the planet is indeed getting warmer by simply looking at the ices of the polar regions, but I am beginning to suspect that we are really about to enter an Ice Age and the signs we are interpreting as Global Warming are really omens of that Ice Age. This is nothing more than my gut feeling.

Oh maybe the Governments are thinking the same things because if we do enter an Ice Age I think the factories spewing out their gasses might be our best defense at getting the planet back to a descent temperature. Just a thought.

I'm in total agreement with 'paul' on this issue:

"removing public recreational activities that have a obvious link to our ancestors , everyone's ancestors , might be a negative factor in any attemp."

Absolutely! (IMO) a main part of the problem is that people are too far removed from the environment, as it is. What a travesty this would be if it spreads to include small riverside fires and campfires in general {This is already happening here. They justify it by citing particulate and VOC counts.}!

It has long been a type of 'fetish' of mine to make a *good* fire -- one that is as efficient (fast-starting, and clean) as possible. A great pride of mine, over these past years, is to see so many others I have been around emulate my methods; From the collecting of specific fuel to the structure, initiation, and control of the fire -- all determined by location, weather, purpose...many factors. It really does teach management of limited resources (in most cases) and, naturally, minimum expendature of energy in aquiring the 'necessities.'

In the Southeast, anyways, there are often relatively large 'controlled burns' in the forests to help prevent uncontrollable wildfires. Aren't we gatherers and small-fire builders helping the situation by keeping the local ground detritus to a minimum? And wouldn't CH4 increase if it was just allowed to lie around and rot?

Right On!
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Although I know this thread was started as a kinda sarcastic way of pointing out the idiocy of some GW abatement measures, I have to wonder about a "hot, flat, and crowded" world where if even 1% of people were casually burning toxic stuff, there would be something to worry about. As with guns, as long as everyone is educated and responsible, things work smoothly; but in some situations, totally unrestricted or unregulated burning might be problematic.
That being said....

I have to agree.
There is nothing quite as satisfying as building a fire. Well, okay... there are some other things; but a fire really does get right to that primal need for satisfaction.

Short of "learning to drive," there aren't many skills we can teach and pass on to our kids anymore. One of the main 'fire-skills' is minimizing smoke, of course; but along with that goes the whole point about keeping things non-toxic. I encourage them to not even put treated lumber into the fire, much less the kind of things (couches, trash) that were mentioned in the original article on this thread.

You'll only get my fire when you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Bonfires have many hazards. Many people are burning paper, plastic, rubber compounds, etc for bonfires. It produces huge volumes of heat and dense smoke, lasting for hours and causes global warming. Why should we go for bonfires? We should realize the importance of our earth. We are all on the same ship. How can we fire our own ship?
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Fletcher
Email Marketing

By my opinion, the beach bonfires aren't so harmless, because they just oxidize the wood, which would oxidize anyway. The bonfire does such oxidation even more effectively with respect to greenhouse gases production, as it eliminates the formation of methane during rotting, which is much more effective in greenhouse effect, then pure CO2, which is released during camping.

Of course, the rotting of waste wood isn't just the source of methane, but the source of valuate humus layer, which is the life environment for many important organisms and it can serve as an incubator of nun moths and many other borers and wood-destroying beetles as well - so that the global warming isn't the only relevant criterion of harmless here

Bonfires? On beaches? Why?

Camp fires I can understand, and a proper camp fires can be constructed to produce minimal smoke etc, but bonfires are a hazard anywhere, especially on a beach!

Do you light them in the summer as well as the winter?

Here in Oz (a somewhat beachy place) I can't ever remember seeing a fire on a beach! Why would you want such a dirty thing on a beach? The bonfires as described sound horrific and the waste could be disposed of much more sensibly than burning them in a bonfire on the sand!!