Climate problems alone were not enough to end periods of ancient Pueblo development in the southwestern United States.

The findings, detailed in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that Pueblo farmers often persevered through droughts, but when social tensions were increasing, even modest droughts could spell the end of an era of development.

“Societies that are cohesive can often find ways to overcome climate challenges,” said Tim Kohler, a Washington State University archeologist and corresponding author on the study. “But societies that are riven by internal social dynamics of any sort—which could be wealth differences, racial disparities or other divisions—are fragile because of those factors. Then climate challenges can easily become very serious.”

Social fragility was not at play, however, at the end of the Pueblo III period in the late 1200s when Pueblo farmers left the Four Corners with most moving far south. This study supports the theory that it was a combination of drought and conflict with outside groups that spurred the Pueblo peoples to leave.

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I’m Deepti Singh. I’m an assistant professor in the School of the Environment at Washington State University. I’ve been studying climate change for about 11 years, and I study extreme weather events and how human activities are influencing them.

And today we’ll be debunking myths about global warming.

 “Carbon dioxide is the problem.”

So, CO2 isn’t the problem. It’s the increase in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere that is resulting in the rapid warming we’re seeing over the last century, which is the problem.

It’s easy for us to say, “Well, it’s too late to do anything about it. Let’s throw our hands up and not do anything about it.” But there is a lot we can do about it, both individually as well as at the international level. It doesn’t have to be a major change, but reducing our consumption of certain meat products that are extremely energy-intensive is one way in which we can affect greenhouse emissions.

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How to dig fire lines, understand fire behavior, and safely work around fire engines in the forest environment are some of the skills Washington State University undergraduate students will learn in Wildland Fire Ecology and Management, a new course beginning this fall.

The course is designed to prepare young forestry professionals to meet the certification requirements to become entry-level wildland firefighters. This will, in turn, enable them to work on projects that involve the use of prescribed fire to accomplish ecological restoration objectives.

“We are doing a good job educating our students about the science of fire, but there is definitely a need for more hands-on training,” said course-designer Mark Swanson, an associate professor of forestry at WSU. “If we can send our students out of here with a basic knowledge of how fire is suppressed under emergency circumstances and how it’s used as a management tool, then they’re going to be a lot more competitive on the job market.

Swanson hopes to round out the class by having students participate in an actual prescribed fire management event after they have become certified as wildland firefighters.

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Western Farmer-Stockman