Welcome to the Pyrocene: How Humans Are Igniting a New Era of Climate Change

Los Angeles is on fire, and it’s not the only city facing this crisis. Recently, wildfires have ravaged areas in Colorado, the southern Appalachians, and even Maui. The list goes on, including Canada, Australia, Portugal, and Greece. Many places that weren’t burned are now covered in smoke.

Does this signal a new and unpredictable future, one that we can barely comprehend or connect to the past?

I’m a historian of fire, and I believe we can find both patterns and parallels in history. We recognize a continuous story of humanity and fire, a relationship that stretches back through time. In recent centuries, however, our relationship with fire has been so profound that it’s comparable to the effects of an ice age.

Since the end of the last glacial period, about 11,500 years ago, humans and fire have transformed the Earth. Our activities have made many landscapes more vulnerable to fire.

For instance, a significant decline in the population in the Americas allowed forests to reclaim land, which might have affected the climate enough to contribute to the Little Ice Age between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Ecological limits have always existed. For 420 million years, fire and life have co-evolved, maintaining a delicate balance on Earth.

However, the rapid burning of fossil fuels has altered everything. This modern combustion knows no boundaries; it can occur anytime and anywhere. Instead of being absorbed by nature, the byproducts contribute to climate change, which makes conditions ripe for wildfires.

This shift to fossil fuels has also changed how we design our cities, manage land, and engage with nature. Our new infrastructure dictates our fire response and how we maintain our landscapes.

When we face wildfires, we often rely on pumps and engines instead of using controlled burns, a method that helps manage underbrush and promote plant growth. This approach was encouraged by federal agencies in the late 20th century yet remains underused today.

In essence, fire management has become a tug-of-war between natural and man-made fires, leading to interactions that can be dangerous. Often, this clash results in devastating wildfires, sparked by infrastructure like power lines.

Long before climate change became a pressing concern, experts recognized the risks of fire suppression. For over 50 years, U.S. land agencies have sought to bring back useful fire practices, yet we still battle harmful wildfires that outrun beneficial burns.

Wildfires arise from various influences: the conditions around us, climate change, and human land use. The climate acts as an amplifier, intensifying fire trends we observe today. However, it’s important to view climate change and land use as interconnected factors stemming from our reliance on fossil fuels. Just as hurricanes draw energy from warm oceans, wildfires thrive in our modern environment.

In the U.S., the consequences of our choices have led to a dramatic increase in wildfire intensity. Fires from land-clearing and logging resulted in massive blazes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This devastation drove the government to take action, viewing wildfire suppression as a key success measure.

By removing natural wildfires from the ecosystem, we inadvertently created the perfect conditions for larger, uncontrollable fires. The accumulation of fuel, increased greenhouse gases, and changes in land use have left us vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires.

Today, we might be entering an era of fire comparable to the ice ages of the past. It’s a time when fire is not merely a part of the landscape; it becomes a fundamental force shaping our world.

Humanity’s interactions with fire have resulted in what can be described as a new epoch known as the Pyrocene. Our influence isn’t just about the immense power we wield through fire; it also reflects our profound impact on the planet’s ecosystems and climate.

Over time, the interplay between natural fires and human activities has continually reshaped the environment, leading to shifts that resemble a slow-motion catastrophe.

As we navigate this new reality, the consequences of our actions become clear: a world transformed by fire, where ecosystems unravel and landscapes morph in response to our choices. If you doubt this transformation, just look at California.