Catching Fire

Catching Fire

Update: 2024-08-19
Share

Description

We have too much “bad fire.” Not only destructive wildfires, but the combustion that powers our automobiles and provides our electricity has generated a worrying rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. And that is driving climate change which is adding to the frequency of megafires. Now we’re seeing those effects in “fire-clouds,” pyrocumulonimbus events.

But there’s such a thing as “good fire.” Indigenous peoples managed the land with controlled fires, reaped the benefits of doing so, and they’re bringing them back.

So after millions of years of controlling fire, is it time for us to revisit our attitudes and policies, not just with regard to combustion, but how we manage our wildfires?

Guests:

David Peterson - Meteorologist, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Stephen Pyne - Emeritus professor at Arizona State University, fire historian, urban farmer, author of “The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next

Richard Wrangham - Ruth B. Moore Research Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and author of "Catching Fire: How Coooking Made Us Human"

Margo Robbins - Co-founder and president of the Cultural Fire Management Council (CFMC), organizer of the Cultural Burn Training Exchange (TREX) that takes place on the Yurok Reservation twice a year, and an enrolled member of the Yurok Tribe

Originally aired May 9, 2022

Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake

Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.

You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comments 
In Channel
How Hot is Too Hot?*

How Hot is Too Hot?*

2024-10-2854:06

Platypus Crazy*

Platypus Crazy*

2024-10-2153:40

Measure For Measure

Measure For Measure

2024-09-3053:28

Cold Comfort

Cold Comfort

2024-09-1650:43

Shipwrecks

Shipwrecks

2024-09-0954:19

Calling All Aliens*

Calling All Aliens*

2024-09-0252:50

Catching Fire

Catching Fire

2024-08-1952:41

Not Just a Phage

Not Just a Phage

2024-08-1252:00

Animal Alphabets

Animal Alphabets

2024-07-2952:21

Allergy Reason*

Allergy Reason*

2024-07-2252:34

CRISPR Mosquitoes*

CRISPR Mosquitoes*

2024-07-1552:54

Don't Lighten Up

Don't Lighten Up

2024-07-0852:57

Aliens Now

Aliens Now

2024-07-0152:47

loading
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

Catching Fire

Catching Fire

SETI Institute