|
By: Michelle Kim Summary. or the first time in history, it was recorded that Siberian wildfires have reached the North Pole. The Sakha Republic in Siberia is known to be one of the coldest areas in the world. This year in Siberia, it has been recorded to have higher temperatures, droughts, and various amounts of forest fires covering larger areas (3.4m hectares (8.4m acres) being burned in the region). There are Smoke blankets that spread across the sky for about 2,000 miles from east to west and 2,500 miles north to south, covering most of Russia. The smoke has been recorded to have traveled more than 1,864 miles to reach the North Pole. The fire has burned at least 14m hectares of land which has been recorded as the second-worst fire in the century. Wildfires are known to be common in Siberia, but since early spring, these fires have increased and started to spread faster across larger areas of forests. Firefighters and paratroopers from the Russian military are doing their best trying to calm the fires, but only around half has been covered since the fires are too strong and dangerous. Throughout several articles, it mentions how the cause of how these wildfires got so bad was from our mistakes such as greenhouse gas emissions. Not only are these greenhouse gas emission are at fault, but according to Agence France-Pressethe, Russian authorizes are also to blame. They are aware that these fires are constant, but nothing is done about it since there is a law prevents them from intervening if the cost of intervention is greater than the cost of the damage they cause, or if they do not affect inhabited areas. These fires are terrifying news to climate experts because it reports that global heating temperatures are getting higher more quickly than imagined. Why we should care? We should care about what is happening because it ties into global warming and climate change. More than 1,200 towns and villages have been impacted by the fires and the smoke puts our health at risk.  Photo Credit: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/09/smoke-siberia-wildfires-reaches-north-pole-historic-first Example Article. https://www.thecut.com/2021/08/smoke-from-siberian-wildfires-reaches-north-pole.html I found this article interesting to read about because it shows an inside perspective of the fire from various sources. The article talks about how badly the fire has impacted Russia along with pictures and videos. They described the fire to be covering the skies with black smoke and orange tints from the fire. You can see from the photos and videos exactly what they are talking about. It was crazy to see the fire through a POV (point of view) of a news reporter or a civilian because you can see first hand on how big the fires are and how much it has covered the skies. Seeing live videos made me realize that it is very real and scary to experience if I was in that position. Science in Action.
Dr. Jessica McCarty is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at Miami University in Ohio. Dr. Jessica McCarty is an expert in geology. She studies interests regarding Geospatial technologies, methodologies including Earth observations, GIS, and data mining, Agriculture & food security, Land-use/land-cover change, Wildland, prescribed fire, Air quality, Black carbon emissions, Climate change, adaptation, Natural resources, and forestry. She has been in several publications including research about the Siberian forest fires. She has studied the patterns of forest fires in Russia along with other ecologists and how it has affected the world around it, which ties into the relevancy of my blog topic. It ties in because in my blog, it talks about how the fire affects climate change and the impacts it has created. Ecologists such as Jessica McCarty are important because they help us find the problems that affect our environment and can guide us to help preventing them from being incredibly damaging.
12 Comments
courtney catherine mcintosh
10/13/2021 14:10:22
Well this is incredibly alarming, especially given the typical climate of this part of Siberia. (being one of the coldest places in the world) Their law with intervening feels so contradictory and alarming. How can one place a "price tag" on cost to intervene vs. potential damages. Sometimes we can see instant damage from large fires and sometimes its the long-term, more threatening to life, damage that is harder to see but incredibly important. I truly did not realize how much forest Siberia contains until I did more research. Currently this fire is bigger than any other wildfires combined.... 10/13/2021 18:34:30
The wildfires in Russia are are just another warning sign that global warming is real. Not only is is Spring coming earlier tropical conditions are are coming with it. The wildfires happening in Russia are similar to what happens South America and in Africa Africa. During their summer months they experience wildfires in the southern hemisphere. This cannot be good for the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It seems like we have a very serious problem with a positive reinforcement loop of global warming in a is a epic proportion. If we don't fix our Greenhouse gas emissions out put there will be wildfires wildfires in Antarctica next.
Briana C
10/13/2021 21:28:30
Although it seems that wildfires have been ripping through Siberia with increasing regularity over the last few years, this article makes an association between the growing area of Russia's wildfires with the effects of climate change as well as the "continuing decline of state forest management". Because of climate change, fires are burning larger areas, affecting places farther to the north, and consuming fuels that would have been more fire resistant in the past. Better containment efforts along with effective forest management practices will require adequate funding if we want to see a reduction in these harmful wildfires.
Amanda Turner
10/14/2021 09:37:02
This article was super interesting! It gave an example of how human actions are causing greater catastrophic events in terms of the climate. Climate change and global warming are only getting worse, and it is sad to know humans had so much to do with it. More people are going to lose their homes, or their lives because of our mistakes. 10/15/2021 18:48:43
Wow, did the title of this article catch my eye. Wildfires near the North Pole would not be something to cross my mind. This is so disturbing that I have not heard of anything about this and I am sure the average person would have no idea either. I wonder if any countries have considered sending more firefighters or volunteers to help, because clearly the Russian military is not enough. The law that Russia passed to not have anybody intervene and do anything about the wildfires is something I strongly disagree with. I hope more awareness can be brought to Siberian wildfires, because this is a growing issue that can affect more than just that area and the North Pole in the future if this problem is ignored.
Jackson Vosburg
10/17/2021 18:37:26
I think it is incredibly scary and notable that forest fires are reaching parts of Northern Siberia. It is a clear indication that something is not right and our planet is suffering. It is also important to note that the Russian authorities are not doing anything about it. I think that level of inaction is super discouraging and disappointing to see. There are thousands of people being affected by these fires yet the government of Russia has done nothing to prevent the spread. Siberia is a beautiful place and it is sad to see it burning the way it currently is.
Grace
10/18/2021 19:14:04
I thought that it was very interesting to see them talk about how one of the known coldest areas on earth is now burning forest fires and expieriencing droughts for the first time. The reason it is all more is concerning is because they have laws in SIneria that do not them to fix environmental damages if it’s damage cost is more than than the cost of intervention.
Ximena Mazariegos
10/18/2021 21:51:53
It's super weird when you hear that one of the coldest places on Earth has various amounts of wildfires. It may be common in Siberia but our actions (ghg) are making it worse. It is also upsetting to see that the Russian authorities can't really do anything about it because of the laws that are in place.
Thomas Cisney
10/18/2021 22:31:06
It makes me wonder what they consider the cost of damage to be, since you stated they have laws stopping them from intervening if the cost of intervention is greater than the cost of the damage. I wonder if they take into account animal lives, and air quality, or if its as simple as, they don't want to use resources.
Joshua
10/19/2021 22:24:03
Its interesting that the authorities are not allowed to intervene unless the damage the fire would cause would be more than the cost of intervening. I genuinely wonder if those costs include environmental services and the price of losing endemic species. Is it possible the UN will intervene or aid in some way because the smoke could travel across borders and become an international problem? There is probably a large amount of air pollution in neighboring countries that can be traced back to these wild fires.
Madalynn Matson
11/7/2021 14:56:32
Wildfires in Russia reaching the North Pole is really concerning to think about. Fires all around the world have been getting more and more extreme but I didn’t even consider them reaching the North Pole. I really hope we can figure out how to prevent or control the fires before even more harm is done.
Keara McLaughlinq
12/21/2021 23:02:37
I had not heard about this happening. I was very surprised to see that wildfires were impacting Northern Russia. Usually when I think of wildfires I think of the United States or Australia. It is particularly concerning that there is concrete evidence that human activity and the Russian authorities are to blame. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorStudents of ESG 1500 Archives
December 2021
Categories |
RSS Feed