Smokescreen

Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate

Chad T. Hanson, 2021, 634.9618 HAN Beaverton Library

Oh well, I wanted to like it, it was recommended by another forest advocate.

Dr. Hanson's focus is on the ecological complexity of forests, which includes fires, sometimes very large wildfires. His Bete Noir is tree harvesting masquerading as fire control.

The puzzle is how to preserve wild nature and also feed and house 8 billion people. And how cities can breath when forests become smoke.

Hanson claims "managed" forests burn more wildly and make more smoke. Maybe so, but I would like to see the numbers. The book is remarkably devoid of graphs, charts, and tables.

I only made it 60 pages into this 234 page book, reading over and over again about the wickedness of the lying Forest Service, and the message that nature should not be tamed. The last chapter seemed like the first three. Yes, of course government agencies frequently tell lies - that is what taxpayers pay them to do, though sometimes the agencies fail and deliver truth and wisdom instead.

But where do we farm, and where do we live? Perhaps Hanson discusses this, after a dozen more diatribes. Personally, I think we can get by with a lot less food and a lot less segregated space, but people eat and hoard because they are frightened. Frightening them more won't make them into wise and thrifty stewards of nature. Offering constructive options might.

I don't have a good answer. If Dr. Hanson has a good answer, I did not find it reading 60 pages and sampling the rest. I'll look elsewhere for good answers. Perhaps someone else who read the book cover-to-cover can tell me which paragraphs have good answers. Until then, back to the library, I have other problems to solve, and other books to read that will help.