Agreed. People have done, and continue to do foolish things.
The catastrophes (natural phenomena) that you mention are being greatly exacerbated by climate change though. Everyone recalls the record-breaking fires in California of 2020, which burned approximately 4.2M acres. Also widely reported were the devastating brushfires across an estimated 46M acres in western Australia that burned perhaps 20% of their woodlands and killed an estimated 1B animals. Less reported were the wildfires in Siberia during the 2019-2020 wildfire season that burned another 47M acres. The combined areas of those fires would be like burning all of Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (and I didn't even include the fires in the Amazon, other western US states, and elsewhere).
The fires of 2016 near Gatlinburg, which were rather small in size, comparatively speaking, were unusual for the Appalachian region in that they made their way to the crowns. Typically, fires in the Appalachians rarely burn more than the litter layer. However, I fear that crown fires may become much more commonplace in the coming years and decades across the southeastern US, including Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, as well as Tennessee.
Sea level rise is a natural phenomenon, but human actions have greatly increased the rate of sea level rise due climate change, which is now being driven from past and current human actions. Sea level rise is causing issues in areas that have been inhabited by humans for untold millennia. Fires are a natural occurrence in many ecosystems, but they're becoming much more devastating where they naturally occur and they're occurring in places where they would not naturally occur or would be extremely infrequent. We know that the burning of fossil fuels is the root cause of these phenomena. Knowing this, wouldn't it be foolish to not transition away from fossil fuels and mitigate the problems as we're able?
Kindest regards,
Kantuck
Fire is a big topic.
Sign exists of old growth forest where natives burned of understory.
Of course following fire comes fertilization from ash. An area can be vulnerable to erosion until second growth, or what was in the soils seed bank, or seed brought in by other means to get established , but controlled burns were done in many areas to encourage fresh browse/grass/forbs.
I've considered it when ticks are abundant. L.o.l..
California fires during periods of annual wind events can be an example of humans not guarding against providing fuel.
When folks want brush to flourish , and it is a highly combustible type and is dry during dry season (coincidentally during annual wind periods) the stage is set.
We've seen controlled burns get out of hand.. That should not mean no controlled burns.
Here in the midwest fires followed logging era. All that dried slash was prime fuel.
Fire towers were erected and manned.
Fire lanes were cut. Some faintly visible today still.
Kinda circling back to solar power , but an indication of man minding his environment.
An abode structure can tolerate a clime with considerable temp swings. And combined with a tile roof , can tolerate some hot ash.
Materials sourced locally factored in the popularity , but there's more to it.
Located on a site chosen to avoid extremes or obvious hazards , and maintained with the threat of fire , it's different than living in a home constructed of materials suited to being fuel.
Asphalt shingles in an area subject to fires? Exposed wood? A yard growing fuel, with more fuel beyond?
Blame climate change , but the native species fueling the fire remain just fine.
They evolved for longer than we have records.
Though if glacial ice cores are presented as evidence , then the evidence of great temp swings over time need to be presented with them.
We don't control volcanic activity.
It affects climate. And our efforts can be feeble in comparison.
Here's an event worth noting.
Solar power might have been reduced drastically.
https://www.history.com/news/what-was-the-year-without-a-summer
