As wildfires of an extent and intensity unimaginable until just a few years ago occur on a daily basis and all over the world, seeming to announce an imminent apocalypse, as volcanic eruptions, as spectacular as they are destructive, threaten to engulf inhabited centres and devastate the activities of entire regions and the lives of many people – to propose a different approach to fire, as this volume does, might seem oddly provocative. It certainly represents a challenge, because fire is a constant presence in the environment in which we live and it cannot be excluded, or worse still, demonised: one only needs to think of all the aspects of life on Earth that depend on fire, of the profound bond that ties us to this element from which derives much if not all of what we know and of our civilisation; think too, of course, of the role fire has always played in governing and caring for landscapes.
However, against a backdrop in which human behaviour is once again questionable, this book is an invitation to engage with the element of fire as it relates to the Earth and all its inhabitants, taking account of its ecology, reviving traditional forms of expertise and practice in an inventive, creative way, and doing so with the use of energy sources other than combustible fuels.
Our aim is to nurture a new (or perhaps old) approach founded on a principle of coexistence, not on forms of opposition, with a view to developing landscape planning and stewardship perspectives that are relevant and applicable to the present.