Future firefighters have their work cut out for them. Perhaps nowhere does this hit home harder than in Australia, where in early 2009 a persistent drought, high winds, and record high temperatures set the stage for the worst wildfire in the country’s history. On February 9th, now known as “Black Saturday,” the mercury in Melbourne topped 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.4 degrees Celsius) as fires burned over 1 million acres in the state of Victoria—destroying more than 2,000 homes and killing more than 170 people, tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, and 1 million native animals.

Even as more people move into fire-prone wildlands around the world, the intense droughts and higher temperatures that come with global warming are likely to make fires more frequent and severe in many areas. (See table of regional observations and predictions) For southeastern Australia, home to much of the country’s population, climate change could triple the number of extreme fire risk days by 2050.

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The nostalgic bear that educates the public on the dangers of wildfires turns 65, today! Smokey Bear’s first public poster release was August 9, 1944. In case you don’t know, Smokey Bear is one of the most recognized symbolic images of the United States Forest Service.

According to Wikipedia, Smokey Bear is often unofficially referred to as ”Smokey the Bear” after two songwriters added the word “the” for rhythm purposes. Smokey Bear vigilantly reminded us with his popular slogan “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires”. It wasn’t until April of 2001 that his message was updated to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” which included all unwanted, unplanned fires in natural areas.

When I think of campfires, I envision the fictional character, Smokey Bear. Growing up, there were posters of “Smokey the Bear” plastered on every classroom wall. I can even remember the commercials. A recent study proved 95% of those surveyed could finish the sentence when given the first words of his famous slogan.

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View of Blüemlisalp and Oeschinen lake, Bernese Alps

As climate scientists scour the Earth’s surface looking for indications of climate change impacts, freshwater lakes and reservoirs are becoming the sentinels of choice for many investigations. Although they make up a small percentage of the planet’s surface area, such bodies of water–small to large–are providing clues to past climate fluctuations, as their sediments and “catchments” (the total chemical and biological material that results from the presence of the body of water) often record ancient climate shifts and impacts and offer indicators of current climate change.

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We’ve all heard the legend of Johnny Appleseed, the legendary apple tree planter of the United States. He walked across the country with his walking stick, and a bucket of seeds, just walking and planting as he went. Everywhere he went, apple trees sprouted up. And he was a hero. It is such a hero that Yosemite is looking for now.

The number of large trees is falling in Yosemite National Park, but no Johnny can be found. And the decrease is bad news for many species, including spotted owls, mosses, orchids and fishers (a carnivore related to weasels). These species, as well as others, are losing their habitat with the loss of the trees.

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The beetle infestation has been growing “exponentially” since 2006-07, according to the Forest Service management team in Laramie, Wyoming, and has so far claimed millions of acres of pine forest in Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming. North of the border, British Columbia has already lost over 33 million acres of lodgepole pine forest due to the ravages of this type of bark beetle. And more recently (in 2008), Alberta province is come under threat due to an aberrant wind storm that apparently lofted the beetles across the continental divide.

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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.1

Like the people and even their God, then, the farmlands were given time to rest from their productive toil, to rebuild their strength in order to be fruitful again after the period of rest so that they might yield bountiful harvests for years to come. As the ancient Hebrews restrained from working their fields, they honored their God and the land itself.

I mention this practice of a “sabbath of the land,” almost entirely forgotten in modern farming (and especially in agribusiness), because it provides a potentially useful paradigm for more than just agriculture. It also provides a good model for us today, for how we might live sensibly and sustainably in a time when natural resources are threatened and the Earth is endangered, at least to some degree, by human actions.

One recent example of honoring/acknowledging the (imperiled) state of nature is in California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s call to Californians not to use, heck not even to buy, fireworks this Fourth of July. Gov. Schwarzenegger made this plea for sensibility with wildfires numbering in the hundreds throughout the state and with state resources to fight those fires as threatened as the homes, lives, and habitats themselves.

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