They fuel global warming, parks department says
By KERY MURAKAMI, Seattle PI
Even with the skies overcast and threatening rain, Khang Nguyen, 18, and Joel Juan, 19, kicked back after school at Alki Beach.
“It’s just a relaxing way to hang out with friends,” Nguyen said of the bonfire crackling in front of them one evening earlier this week.
But Seattle Parks and Recreation might do what even this week’s chilly weather couldn’t — douse the long tradition of beach bonfires at Alki and at Golden Gardens.
Park department staff is recommending reducing bonfires at the two beaches this summer and possibly banning them altogether next year.
The park board will hear the recommendation Thursday, and the city plans to run public-service announcements and hand out brochures later this month about the effects of bonfires on global warming.
According to a memo to the park board from the staff released Thursday, “The overall policy question for the Board is whether it is good policy for Seattle Parks to continue public beach fires when the carbon … emissions produced by thousands of beach fires per year contributes to global warming.” … [more]
June 7, 2008 | Topic: Latest Climate News
June 7th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
By my calculations the 750,000 acres of forest fires in Oregon in 2007 produced 60 million metric tonnes of GHGs, as much as all anthropogenic sources in the state put together. Some reduction in forest fire acreage would go a long ways toward meeting the erstwhile goal of reducing GHG production, without any impact on transportation, industry, heating, etc. Plus averting environmental degradations of water, air, habitat, scenery, recreation, etc. generated by forest fires.
In contrast, banning beach bonfires would have an absurdly minuscule effect. Moreover, beach bonfires in the Pac NW are a tradition that goes back at least 13,500 years, one that pre-dates all other traditions known or conjectured.