Why Only Earth Has Fire

To get fire, which exists only on Earth, it took billions of years of photosynthesis – which means fire can’t exist without life. And fire and life have been shaping each other ever since.

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Produced by Complexly for PBS Digital Studios

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[Uhshawdude]

The fact that water, fire and life are so interconnected and reliant upon each other to exist on this planet feels poetic in a way. Water creates life, life creates fire, fire consumes life, water douses fire, life is reborn from the ashes of the old.

[kyrerymmukk]

Uncle Iroh was right, fire really is the breath of life.

[Artful_Synthesis]

I don't give PBS enough credit for the knowledge, inspiration and entertainment they have provided to me my entire life. The countless people who have and continued to work to build PBS into the most reliable source of educational entertainment have my thanks.

[jaiclary]

The older I get, the less common it is to come across something that truly teaches me something new. This video accomplished it. Thank you.

[KoneSkirata]

Life is older than fire. That's going on the "obscure perspective-changing facts" list.

[mst]

I think the societal misconceptions with what fire actually is is very overlooked, and what it and plasma and glowing-hot liquid metals are should be more clearly covered in school

[chriskirby]

As a degreed and professional forester. Thank you for this! I wish more people would fully understand this!

[jkatttt]

This is something we are missing in modern forest management that has been a contributing factor to the intense wildfire burns we are seeing!!! It's just one piece of the puzzle of course, but the importance of regenerative burning cannot be overstated!

[Hi_Im_Akward]

I've always wondered how grasslands could be the dominant biome for an area without it getting taken over by trees. This makes so much sense. I already kind of knew this, I live in an area where land burning is a seasonal phenomenon land owners do (its in a controlled setting) but I really didn't know why. And I had no clue this was an evolved adaptation to benefit the grass. Evolution is crazy and I feel like we as laymen humans forget about the plants but they do some cool stuff.

[timhogan]

I haven't thought about this before. Goes to show you you never stop learning

[GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

It makes so much more sense now why classical elements consider fire an element. I wonder what kind of such "elements" exist out in the universe that we don't even know exist.

[tylerwheeling]

This is lowkey an anthropologist answer to religious fire and early religions too. Fire made humanity and culture as it is today from the very start. Its importance is woven into most mythologies, for better and for worse.

[willmendoza]

Sometimes a video tells me stuff I already knew, but recontextualizes it in a way that makes it feel brand new. This is one such video.

[AceofHearth]

I don't know why but watching this video makes me long to see the days before I ever existed. Not to experience or go through it, but just to observe it and just wonder and wander more.

[megan]

I live in Kansas, and this is exactly why we do controlled burns of our fields and grasslands every year. The Flint Hills are my favorite. In winter all the grasses die, in the spring, we do controlled burns, and by later spring, early summer, they are the most beautiful green hills. Kansas doesn't have a lot going for it, but driving through the Flint Hills in late spring/early summer is definitely something to see. You can truly imagine native peoples living alongside the massive herds of buffalo, or imagine people traversing the seemingly neverending prarie in covered wagons.

[SavannahBurris]

Pretty neat! I hadn’t ever really thought about this even though in hindsight, it seems very logical and obvious. Reminds me a lot of Avatar: The Last Airbender and how Firebending is actually the element of life - not destruction. Without controlled burnings of grasslands and the death of old, decaying plants, new life would never have the chance to flourish.

[paradox]

Those fire storms of the Carboniferous would have been a terrifying sight to behold.

[hypocriticalcritic]

"Damn, this planet is fire"

[AtomizerX]

We already had earth & wind, we just needed to add fire to complete the band!

[jaimequinones]

This is one of y'all's best videos of all time imo. Wow