The Universe as We Think We Know It
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The Universe As We Think We Know It AbstractAfter spending the last fifteen years as a professional firefighter I have pondered our relationship with nature many times. As much as we attempt to control nature it cannot not be controlled, nature consumes and rebuilds as it was designed from the beginning. The more we as humans try to interfere with the cycles of life as they were designed the greater our negative impact. Part of this cycle falls back to basic physics and the fact that energy cannot be created or destroyed; just transferred.THE UNIVERSE AS WE THINK WE KNOW IT As a firefighter for so many years I was trained to be focused on suppression of the perceived threat, that being fire. It wasn’t until many years into my career I was managing a large fire in the Malibu area where I ended up sitting down with who I would retrospectively refer to the smarted fire ecologist I have ever had the honor of consulting. My multi hour conversation with her revealed facts of nature that opened my eyes in ways I had never imagined.
I had no idea that the Angeles national forest which is propagated with overgrown brush, Juniper and Manzanita was once a towering pine forest of immense beauty as I saw in many historical pictures she shared. This area included the Malibu region which we were in, as I looked around there was not a native tree to be seen on the landscape. How did this come to be I asked? The reply was not what expected; logging or urban sprawl was my expectation. She stated the region was “type converted” from overly aggressive fire suppression over the years. As it turn out fire is an essential part of the natural ecology, but fire that burns regularly and frequently. As we suppress fires it causes unhealthy trees that should fall die and have their seeds released through fire to rot and never release their offspring. Then as the energy of growth is multiplied over the years when it is released all at once at very high BTU’s (British Thermal Units) incinerating the seed instead of releasing them. After a large unnaturally hot fire nothing grows but ground covering species and by default the smother other growth. One of my favorite places in the world has found a formula proving the success of Gods plan for rejuvenation of the earth. Yosemite national park only “suppresses” fires that are started by humans. Is a fire is started by an act of God (Lightning) it is allowed to run its course and the public is kept a safe distance. This method of fire management has helped to maintain one of the healthiest ecosystems in any forest in the United States. PAIN VS’ GAIN In my experience there is typically some pain associated with gain. I cannot believe that this is unique to our generations as it is frequently referenced in the Bible. I think the only difference for us is perception of “pain”. A more direct example of this mantra is the physical act of running; I hate running, in fact the only time you will find me running is if there is someone or something chasing me. Running is painful for me; I have friends (my wife included) that physically enjoy running which I cannot understand. I often feel that pain is infrequent and the term is commonly used to describe any act that does not provide pleasure.