Our World Is on Fire

Dr. Peter Carter, Paul Beckwith and Regina Valdez discuss wildfires and their increasing frequency and severity.

This video was recorded on Aug 27th, 2021, and published on September 14th, 2021.

Topics discussed include the following:

• A number of specific fires that are/were in progress at the time of taping this video such as the Dixie, Caldor, Chickadee Creek, Sneider Springs, and Summit Trail fires.
• The recent damage to the Lake Tahoe area from the Caldor fire.
• The health effects of wildfires due primarily to the air pollution they cause.
• Paradis, CA and how it was destroyed in November of 2018 by the Camp Fire and how a similar fate occurred to the village of Lytton, BC on June 30th, 2021.
• The recent files in Greece, Turkey, Portugal and Spain are mentioned.
• How in addition to the West coast of the USA, the fires are moving Eastward.
• The tremendous numbers of fires in the Amazon and Africa, the fact that they’re often intentionally set in order to clear land for plantations and cattle farming.
• In 2021 as of the the taping of this video there has already been 4.6 Gigatons of CO2 emissions caused by Wildfires representing roughly 13% of all global emissions in 2021.
• The wildfire probability and frequency map from IPCC AR5 is presented.
• The loss of efficiency of the major land and ocean carbon sinks that are predicted in IPCC AR6 WG1.
• A nuclear winter scenario caused by Wildfires is speculated.

Links:

• Northern California Regional Center

• Global wildfires have released a record 4.7 gigatons of CO2 in 2021 so far - more than the entire European Union

• Crown Fires: Government of Canada Fire Behaviour

• Wildfire smoke ‘supports nuclear winter theory’

• Climate Change Indicators: Wildfires

Panelists:

• Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute

• Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

• Regina Valdez - Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate

Video Production:

• Charles Gregoire – Climate Reality Leader, Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum

• Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP26 Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.

Attributions:

Background Music:

• Title: Through the City II
• Author: Crowander
• Source: Free Music Archive
• License: BY-NC 4.0

Image and Video:

• Image and Video Attributions