Hamish, another thought (many thoughts actually) provoking post. It makes want to be 20-something again to get into all of the connected strands/disciplines of fire ... I'm sure there's at least another 40 years work to got on top of what you've listed & come up with the next list of questions !
The fire 'problem' (as if it is a thing to be 'solved') is mostly social. Fire was on earth long before humans & will be long after we've either moved or evolved on. It is our thinking about it, the thoughtless decisions we make about where & how we live that make it a 'hazard' and cause the ecological impacts we thimk are 'bad'. So any study of fire must have the many human contexts at the beginnning.
The other image I've always clung to is the Fire Management triangle - I'll have to find it & attach later ... fire management has physical, ecological & social dimensions that all need managing to get the outcomes we want (or need ?).
Does the Wildfire Futures Group have a wider involvement ? (beyond FLARE; I guessing it does by the way a few of your post on this blog are calling for discussion & feedback).
As well as human values, our (society) goals/objectives for fire management (as a 'problem' or contributor to other benefits) need to be clarified, to drive discussion & research (I think you raised this in a previous post).
I have been slack over the last 6 months, not thinking much about fire (I have devoured many fiction books & done many many jigsaws !). My journal reading pile has grown ... perhaps its time to pay your posts some serious attention !
Thanks very much Mike. I appreciate your perspective.
I don't know the extent of Wildfire Futures' external engagement, but it's terrifically important. I was lucky enough to present at the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service Fire Management Forum in Wollongong yesterday, and was reminded that even though I feel like I've engaged pretty well with NPWS, I've barely even scratched the surface. Such a big group, such a lot going on, and multiply that by all the other similar agencies around. We need more embedding, for want of a better word.
You are always welcome here, and I will come calling with my IOU for a post from you very soon! Start thinking about what you're going to write.
Thanks Hamish for demonstrating how vast the situation is! Meta-cognition indeed! I'm reminded of the expression, 'if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got'. It seems to me that is apposite in considering future fire. 'What we've always done' has got us to 'this place' where the Pyrocene is reality - so we better think and act differently to find a non-scorched way forward. I think that comes by setting out all of the possible ways of approaching the situation - and then doing the 'heavy thinking' of trying to hold all (or as many as possible) of these ideas/processes/approaches at one time. I'm reminded of Monty Python and 'the Gumbies': 'my brain hurts'! And in terms of action this can't be dumbed down to a sound bite: 'it's about the Pyrocene, dummy'? But all of this work as difficult and challenging as it is is vital so that we can find a way forward - for our species
thanks Patrick. My brain often hurts but I'm ashamed to say it's probably more often in wrangling my to do list rather than pondering a path forward in our coexistence with fire.
Hamish, another thought (many thoughts actually) provoking post. It makes want to be 20-something again to get into all of the connected strands/disciplines of fire ... I'm sure there's at least another 40 years work to got on top of what you've listed & come up with the next list of questions !
The fire 'problem' (as if it is a thing to be 'solved') is mostly social. Fire was on earth long before humans & will be long after we've either moved or evolved on. It is our thinking about it, the thoughtless decisions we make about where & how we live that make it a 'hazard' and cause the ecological impacts we thimk are 'bad'. So any study of fire must have the many human contexts at the beginnning.
The other image I've always clung to is the Fire Management triangle - I'll have to find it & attach later ... fire management has physical, ecological & social dimensions that all need managing to get the outcomes we want (or need ?).
Does the Wildfire Futures Group have a wider involvement ? (beyond FLARE; I guessing it does by the way a few of your post on this blog are calling for discussion & feedback).
As well as human values, our (society) goals/objectives for fire management (as a 'problem' or contributor to other benefits) need to be clarified, to drive discussion & research (I think you raised this in a previous post).
I have been slack over the last 6 months, not thinking much about fire (I have devoured many fiction books & done many many jigsaws !). My journal reading pile has grown ... perhaps its time to pay your posts some serious attention !
Thanks very much Mike. I appreciate your perspective.
I don't know the extent of Wildfire Futures' external engagement, but it's terrifically important. I was lucky enough to present at the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service Fire Management Forum in Wollongong yesterday, and was reminded that even though I feel like I've engaged pretty well with NPWS, I've barely even scratched the surface. Such a big group, such a lot going on, and multiply that by all the other similar agencies around. We need more embedding, for want of a better word.
You are always welcome here, and I will come calling with my IOU for a post from you very soon! Start thinking about what you're going to write.
Thanks Hamish for demonstrating how vast the situation is! Meta-cognition indeed! I'm reminded of the expression, 'if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got'. It seems to me that is apposite in considering future fire. 'What we've always done' has got us to 'this place' where the Pyrocene is reality - so we better think and act differently to find a non-scorched way forward. I think that comes by setting out all of the possible ways of approaching the situation - and then doing the 'heavy thinking' of trying to hold all (or as many as possible) of these ideas/processes/approaches at one time. I'm reminded of Monty Python and 'the Gumbies': 'my brain hurts'! And in terms of action this can't be dumbed down to a sound bite: 'it's about the Pyrocene, dummy'? But all of this work as difficult and challenging as it is is vital so that we can find a way forward - for our species
thanks Patrick. My brain often hurts but I'm ashamed to say it's probably more often in wrangling my to do list rather than pondering a path forward in our coexistence with fire.