Science is supposed to be a arena where political and religious views do not matter. Yet when global warming gets discussed by the media the science aspects often get overlooked by the horse race of each side fighting their position. Global warming seems simple from a perspective of science. Man harvests fossil fuels that contain a great deal of potential energy. Man burns the fuels to use the energy, and as a result heat and other byproducts are released into the atmosphere.

What happens to excess heat energy and other byproducts of fossil fuels? They don’t simply go away. Due to the law of conservation of energy in a system, it is known that energy does not simply disappear even if it might be more convenient if it did. Science is united on the global warming. Political maneuvering and big business disagree because profits can be generated by looking the other way as the world burns.

Again using simple logic, it would seem that hotter temperatures mean more wild fires. And the data shows that wildfire season has grown longer as spring becomes shorter, and that the number of wildfires has been increasing since the late 1980s. Scientists have found a direct correlation between snow cover and conditions optimal for wildfires. The fires have destroyed millions of dollars in property and caused the loss of valuable timber.

While these interests have their own lobbies, neither stands a chance when compared to the political muscle wielded by big oil. Nearly every aspect of the world economy is dependent on oil. Products need to be shipped and people need to get to their jobs. Even if enacting better laws to prevent air pollution or altering transportation so that oil is no longer the fuel makes sense for future of man, political gridlock prevent much more than the status quo.

While watching wildfires burn homes in California or claim the lives of innocent victims around the world it become apparent that a better fire management plan is necessary. What is not known is if there is a will to enact one.