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Wildfires, Arizona, Utah, Colorado Wildfires

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Wildfires have always been a part of our lives on this rock we call Earth. Over the years we have developed tried and true ways to battle and extinguish them, but in the recent past it has become more and more of a problem considering their increase in size and weather patterns. These factors have been termed with a phase every American knows all too well, “Global Warming!” The western half of the United States has had to deal with these fires more than any other area of the country. Of the western half, the state of Colorado has seen its share of some of the worst wildfires. Since the 1970 's the normal number of flames in excess of 1,000 sections of land every year has almost quadrupled in Arizona and Idaho, and has multiplied in…show more content…
In order to understand global warming one must know exactly what it means. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, global warming is defined as “the recent and ongoing rise in global average temperature near Earth 's surface” (EPA.gov, 2014). Humans are considered to be a big reason for this rise in temperatures over the last forty years. This is due to our extensive use of using fuels for energy that release carbon dioxide, also called the greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. Every car driven on the road releases this substance as well as fuels used to heat homes and provide power to our everyday lives. There are also other factors that play a role into this explosion of rising temperatures. The EPA website states, “The majority of greenhouse gases come from burning fossil fuels to produce energy, although deforestation, industrial processes, and some agricultural practices also emit gases into the atmosphere” (EPA.gov, 2014). Trees are the atmospheres filter for carbon dioxide but when we continually dump more and more of this gas into the air and cut down more and more of the forests the balance of the Earth becomes skewed and the temperatures increase. There are other factors to consider that can create fire. These other factors have people questioning whether global warming is real. One of these people happens to be Sean Paige, a former city councilman for Colorado Springs and deputy director of Americans
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