Wildfires Gone Wild: Blame the Enviro-Wackos!

What is going on with all the wildfires? Every year it seems like there are more and more out of control wildfires. It seems like it has gotten worse in the last decade or two than it ever was before. Maybe that’s not the case though. There are a lot of forest fires that have happened over the years, but for a period of time in the twentieth century it seems like we were able to keep these fires under control a little better. They didn’t seem to be happening as frequently as they have been the last decade or so.

So why is this? Why does it seem like these wildfires are worse than ever (or more frequent than ever?) There are certainly a lot of factors to keep in mind. Population growth, the increasing 24 hour media coverage, and the post 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina sensationalism all play a role. I’m not convinced that these are the only reasons we’re getting the impression that wildfires are increasing. Maybe they are actually increasing in frequency and maybe there is a real reason behind it.

What could it be? Is this man-made carelessness? Yes and no. In some cases, it may in fact be mad-made fires that have started these blazes. However, I’m not so sure that the rapid spread and destructive path of these fires can be linked to man made cause. In fact I believe they’re directly related to a lack of man-made interference.

The earth is a powerful creation, and I really believe that. In fact I think it displays a lot of the characteristics of it’s Creator. A great line from C.S. Lewis in his books the Chronicles of Narnia deals with the subject of God. (Only God is represented by the great lion, Aslan.) A discussion is taking place about God (Aslan) and the question is asked about whether or not He’s safe. The response is a classic quote: “Of course he’s not safe! But he’s good.” I think you see that characteristic in nature sometimes, because the earth is a good place, but it’s certainly not always a very safe place.

While it’s true that the nature isn’t always safe, we can do our part to take care of the earth and make it a better place. One way to do that is to clean up brush in our forests. For years the practice of forest management (which includes cleaning up brush, controlled fires, and even logging) kept wildfires from raging out of control. Unfortunately, as has been the case quite a lot, the environmentalists have come down on the WRONG side of trying to take care of our environment. In an effort to keep the environment “natural” there have been these huge restrictions on the logging industry and basic forest management functions of government. What has this produced? The unbridled fury of nature, which as I mentioned before can be quite dangerous!

It’s a tragedy that enviro-wackos have to come down on the wrong side of the issues. The problem is, they don’t see humans as part of the environment, but only a problem that we need to take out of the environment. It’s that philosophy that keeps us from managing our forrests properly, and it’s that philosophy that has them on their wild loony crusade to rid us all of our automobiles!

So while our thoughts and prayers go out to the individuals affected by these fires throughout southern California, you have to wonder when people are going to take notice that this is all the work of wacky environmentalist groups out of control.

By the way, this isn’t the first time the enviro-wackos have messed with our every day life either. Look at the gas market (we could be drilling in Alaska, off the Pacific Coast, and other places breaking our foreign oil dependence.) Look at the energy crisis in America (we could be building nuclear power plants like France and not only cleaning up our air, but decreasing energy costs tremendously!) What about the automobile industry, which has been thrown all out of whack. These so called do-gooders are screwing up our lives and they are proud of it!