Environmental crises are no strangers to the people of the 21st century. Starting with the wildfires in California to flooding in numerous parts of the world, Mother Nature has raged incessantly with countless natural disasters during the past years. Especially in 2022 and now in early 2023, there have been many reported cases of both people and the environment struggling against the disastrous effects of wildfires. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) stated that there had been a total of 66,255 wildfires in the U.S. over the course of 2022. In fact, more than 7,534,403 acres of forestland had burned, causing the US nearly $11.2 billion in damage. But what exactly is the main cause of natural disasters like this?

 

       It was initially thought by many that wildfires were the consequence of inevitable global warming. As Earth’s atmosphere naturally grew warmer, scientists believed that it was the excessive heat that was most to blame; even the smallest spark from dry leaves could trigger and light the whole forest ablaze. However, scientists now suggest that the main cause of wildfires is human influence; they found that nearly 85% of all wildfires were triggered by neglected cigars, abandoned campfires, flammable trash, and pollutants.