Tuesday, April 12, 2022
What now, Smokey?
Like many people, I have a special fondness for Smokey the Bear, the National Forest Service's beloved mascot. Part of that, of course, is based on the toy Smokey a friend had, where the recording wore out a little bit so that he said "Start forest fires!" and "Play with matches!" I guess that is one risk of putting the negative at the start of the sentence. But it totally cracked me up to hear Smokey advocating for... you know, burning down the forest.
But, mostly, he's a bear, and we deal with bears a lot on this blog:
Most of the bears have jobs of one kind or another-- promoting a cereal, guarding a law school, being President, etc.-- but Smokey is the only one with such a singular mission, armed only with a shovel.
Some people think Smokey has made things worse by limiting the positive role that fire can play in forests, and leading to a build-up of fuel for fires in vulnerable places. And, of course, Smokey's message doesn't relate to a lot of the other problems forests have, or issues related to climate change. This article sums it up well and included this deeply troubling depiction of Smokey in the modern day:
