1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. This summer, severe consequences of 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:16,920 Speaker 1: climate change were felt around the world tornadoes, hurricanes, flash floods, 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: and wildfires. In Russia, for example, has been one of 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 1: the country's worst wildfire seasons ever. At one point, more 6 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: than three hundred wildfires burned simultaneously. Those burning in Siberia 7 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: altogether were bigger than all other fires in the world combined. 8 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: So what's going on? Russia and Siberia in particular is 9 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: known as one of the coldest places in the world, 10 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: yet each year it experiences more wildfires of increasing severity. 11 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: This year was the worst after with more than forty 12 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: three million acres that's seventeen and a half million hectors burned. 13 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: The biggest fires were in the northeastern part of Siberia, 14 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: they certainly weren't contained to that region. Thousands of firefighters, 15 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: along with soldiers, emergency responders, and even agricultural workers have 16 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: been mobilized to fight the blazes. In many places, However, 17 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: officials need even more volunteers and financial resources, and some 18 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: fires aren't being fought at all. In areas without a 19 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: lot of infrastructure and few people in settlements. Authorities are 20 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: just letting the massive fires burn. For the article this 21 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,040 Speaker 1: episode is based on House to Fork spoke with Zenya Namova, 22 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: green Peace Rush's Fire Responds project manager, whose name I 23 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 1: hope I just said correctly, as she said, the problem 24 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: is that if the fires start in these zones and 25 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: they don't send any emergency firefighters there when it's much 26 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: easier to stop it, then the fire becomes bigger and bigger, 27 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: and the scale becomes so high that you cannot actually 28 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: stop the fire. According to Greenpeace, these wildfires should all 29 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: be fought when they are small so that they don't 30 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: get out of control and spread. Unfortunately, right now there 31 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: is inadequate funding to fight all the fires. Nine out 32 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: of every ten of these wildfires are caused by human activities. 33 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: Namova says. That includes things like camp fires that aren't 34 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,959 Speaker 1: put out, sparks from passing coal trains, or old electrical 35 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: lines breaking. The tenth common cause of the fires is lightning. 36 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: While human accidents and faulty infrastructure don't necessarily have much 37 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: to do with climate change, the conditions caused by climate 38 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: change make the fires easier to start and make them 39 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: more severe once they do. Siberia is one of the 40 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: fastest warming places on Earth, with average monthly temperatures in 41 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: averaging more than eighteen degrees fahrenheit that's ten degrees celsius 42 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: above the average for the period between n and Nomova said, 43 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: it's drier, it's hotter, and there's more lightning in some areas. 44 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: When all these conditions are put together, the possibilities for 45 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: fires is higher and possible scale for fire is getting higher, 46 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: increasing potential harm that the fire is bringing. In addition, 47 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: helping the fires grow so large and so fast as 48 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: an infestation of silkworms which kill the trees, leaving forests 49 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: full of dry wood ready to go up in flames. 50 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: So should the world be worried? Yes, According to scientists 51 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: and activists, nearby villages in Siberia end up blanketed with 52 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: toxic smoke, meaning the residents end up breathing on healthy 53 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: air and living in apocalyptic looking landscapes. NASA's Moderate Resolution 54 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: Imaging Spectra Radiometer Earth monitoring tool showed smoke from the 55 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: fires reaching all the way to the North Pole for 56 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: possibly the first time in history on August six. Along 57 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: with the damage these fires can do to the environment, people, 58 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: and wildlife. The fires also released stored carbon and methane 59 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: into the atmosphere, contributing to the very global warming that's 60 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: increasing their frequency and severity in the first place. Roughly 61 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: six of Russia is also covered by permafrost. As this 62 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: permafrost thaws due to fires and warming temperatures, soil microbes 63 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: begin to decompose and release even more carbon dioxide into 64 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: the atmosphere along with methane, a greenhouse gas around thirty 65 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: times more potent than carbon. According to Naumova, not nearly 66 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: enough as being done to mitigate these fires, she said, 67 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 1: on the state level, there's still no clear plan to 68 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: act against fires because of climate change, and no clear 69 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: plan to act against climate change at all. Actually, a 70 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has questioned the science of human 71 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: caused climate change before and even emphasized the positive impacts 72 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: warming temperatures could have. For example, he suggested that melting 73 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: ice means more access to shipping roots and less difficulties 74 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 1: searching for minerals, oil and gas. More recently, however, Putin 75 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: has acknowledged the connection between the climate change and the 76 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: growing natural disasters. Given the catastrophic fire season of Putin 77 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: announced the funding for firefighting will go up threefold. There 78 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: are also plans to plant trees and scorched areas, which 79 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: Naumova says is an unnecessary waste of time and money 80 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: because the forests recovered quite well on their own when 81 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: people don't get in the way. What Green Peace Russia 82 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: would like to see happen is a further increase to 83 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:35,039 Speaker 1: spending on firefighting. In addition, Namova said they would like 84 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,359 Speaker 1: to see every fire fought from early stages, as opposed 85 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: to leaving some to burn. They also want to forbid 86 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: using fire to clear the land for agriculture and industry, 87 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: and most of all, they want to end risky activities 88 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,599 Speaker 1: like leaving burning camp fires and smoking in the forest, 89 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: and to improve infrastructure that could accidentally start fires to 90 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: begin with. Now, Amova said, we know that nine out 91 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: of ten fires happened because of human activities, and this 92 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: means that if we are changing the mindsets and becoming 93 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,599 Speaker 1: more careful with fires in our normal life and in 94 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: industrial activities, then we actually can minimize this amount of 95 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: fires happening. Today's episode is based on the article Siberia's 96 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 1: Wildfires dwarf all others on the globe combine on how 97 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com. Written by Stephanie Parker. Brain Stuff is 98 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff 99 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 1: works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klain. For 100 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, 101 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,799 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.