Why certain naturally occurring wildfires are necessary – Jim Schulz

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Our early ancestors relied on lightning to cause forest fires, from which they could collect coals and burning sticks to help them cook food and clear land. Yet, it wasn’t just humans who benefited from these natural phenomena. Even as they destroyed trees, fires also helped the forests themselves. Jim Schulz outlines the benefits of wildfire.

Lesson by Jim Schulz, animation by Provincia Studio.

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41 Comments

  1. Is there anyone here that lives in Australia or California that would like to chime in on this one?? Commets section has a disappointing lack of lived experience.

  2. Many, many more small fires needed to help prevent the catastrophic million acre+ ones. There is a huge backlog of wildfire fuel due to decades of fire suppression with overharvesting (logging) and heavy replanting, then very limited logging and continued fire suppression. In the summer, most forests are like giant piles of tinder these days, so great care must be taken with reintroducing fire.

  3. There is a major problem with fires at Amazon rain forest: the soil is poor on nutrients and is basically sand. There were supposed to be an desert, but because of the Andes, the water and nutrients helped the birth of the rain forest, after hundreds of thousands of years of natural building, and also is a delicate balance where the forest itself feeds the soils with it's own fallen leaves and water pumped from groundwater, and that water is what makes the rain that falls in all the southeastern areas in Brasil. In the past few years, the deforestation at Amazon made regions like São Paulo to be with less rain, leading to a lack of water on our dams. You see, the problems goes even further, but it can be summed up on a country with oligarchy and lobbyists ruling the politics with the objective to become richer, leading the population to hunger, hatred, lack of knowledge and political extremists. But I believe that spreading knowledge, tolerance and love, we can overcome these situation to built on earth our own heaven.

  4. "hay World Bring out the truth or else it will be too late "

    In India, Bhutan and Myanmar also have forests as well as scorching heat, in the Himalayas the same kind of trees like Europe, America, Canada, Brazil as well as Danes forest even the public is less expert and poor but no wild fire what does it means ?

    There is never a wild fire there, have you ever heard it?

    The world will have to think again, what is this mystery?

    Why only Europe, Brazil, Australia, Canada?

    No wild fire in South Africa?

    Bring out the truth or else it will be too late, some most developed brains are on way to kill entire earth more early then the expected ….need just few gentleman who can help to bring the truth before the world….

  5. How come the serotinous seeds are not burned by the fire as well?? Wouldn't the seeds that fall out get burned?

  6. Well as hot as Africa we hardly have wildfires ..I don't understand the concept of these temperate regions always having wild fire saga. .Nigeria is so hot .yet no wild fires on large scale ..why ?

  7. amazing aint it? when we see iphone we admire it and it's creator now dont tell me this whole universe, leave it aside, this whole tree process is a coincidence.

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