Last year, an area around twice the size of Luxembourg was burnt in the EU.
It was the fourth worst year since 2000 regarding areas affected by wildfires. This is also due to the single largest fire to occur in Europe since the 1980s.
We call for greater prevention and preparedness via:
🔹 nature-based solutions like vegetation management
🔸 wildfire early warning systems
🔹 the efficient firefighting means that the #EUCivilProtection Mechanism offers.
It is high time to think out of the box and to adopt new practices to prevent forest fires.
Apart from exchanging existing #tree species with more heat and #drought resistent types, as some countries like #Germany are doing, active forest management with preventive #fires to destroy the accumulated undergrowth that tends to become a tinder box is of the essence. Many countries could learn a lot from indigenous...
Did you know which #tree is most frequently struck by lightning? #Oaks have a knack for attracting bolts during thunderstorms, perhaps not coincidentally linked to their association with the god(s) of #thunder. But #Norse mythology is just a piece of a larger puzzle.
Perkūnas, the #Baltic thunder god, and his #Slavic counterpart, Perun, shared ties to the same venerable tree. Even #Roman Jupiter and #Greek Zeus joined the thunder god ranks. Across #Europe, cultures under similar latitudes shared grand bonfires on specific occasions:
Spring's arrival
Summer and Winter Solstices
All Hallows’ Eve
Each region had unique customs, but they all symbolized the sun's power, dispelling negativity and blessing crops and livestock. Interestingly, fire also served as a defense against #witches. In many traditions, the last sheaf of corn, often referred to as "the Old Woman", met its demise in the flames.
Despite differences, these bonfires shared common threads. They all symbolized the sun's power, dispelling negativity and blessing crops and livestock. #Fire also served as a defense against witches.
Fertility could have been another great mutual peculiarity: the #sun had the power to make the vegetation grow, so the fire could have resembled the star’s fertilizing strength. This could explain why even the farm animals were driven through the flames, sometimes hurting themselves.
🌲🌲The U.S. Forest Service measures #tree growth in plots nationwide. Their finding? Eastern forests are growing faster with increased CO2 while Western #forests are slowing down due to increasing heat.
It was a cold morning (-10 degrees Celsius / 14 degrees Fahrenheit) but finally I could realize my picture of a lonely tree. Next time, please add some clouds as a counterweight!
The tallest tree in #Wales had been damaged by a storm and was supposed to be cut down ... but chainsaw #artist Simon O'Rourke found a better solution to symbolise the tree's last attempt to reach the sky
It’s so cute how my Christian friend Jane always scurries to get her #Christian#Holiday#Tree all ready in time for #Chanukkah so she doesn’t feel left out when EVERYONE else is celebrating!