Fire, precursor to desertification.  The feedback loops of GHG released by fire and less carbon capture due to the loss of greenery and increased solar heat absorption by blackened landscape; all point in that direction, deserification.

But the article hits on a much more immediate bottomline consideration: namely, the sheer cost of not only fighting fires, but the loss of all those homes and comminuities.  It devestates the local economy.

The cost of renewable energy re-evolution pays for itself many times over in economic growth and the cancellation of energy cost related inflation to our standard of living and financial security.  Business cycles manipluated by oil producing nations and corporations are extremely destructive to our financial well being, as we all now well know.

But just the cost of fire fighting and insurance losses ought to give a bottomline conclusion to the climate change debate.  Fix it or go broke from the disasters alone, it's really just that simple.  Can even the simpletons in boardrooms and government halls realize this and act in time?  Maybe not.  We are evidently talking about people who are dumber than duuhbya, palin, and "joe the plumber".  Yow!