Week 7 - A Natural Burn, During the summer of 1988

Week 7 BIOL

A Natural Burn

During the summer of 1988, lightning ignited huge forest fires that burned a large portion of Yellowstone National Park. The National Park Service has a natural-burn policy: Fires that start naturally are allowed to burn unless they endanger human settlements. The fires were allowed to spread and burn while firefighters primarily protected people. The public accused the park service of letting a national treasure go up in flames. Park service scientists stuck with natural-burn policy. Do you think this was the best decision? Support your position.

Remembering the 1988 Yellowstone Fires

Discussion- Part of the Solution

As we read this week's readings and look at the news one can feel like everything is going wrong... oil spills, organic wastes, thermal pollution, landfills, and acid rain.

For this week's discussion pick an environmental problem you've found in the online readings, say chlorofluorocarbon damage to the ozone, describe the problem, then describe how we can be part of the solution. What can we do to save our planet and protect our fragile biosphere?