The ever-growing, the ever-consuming mystery of nature. Nature is seen as an eternal flame, always burning as it grows, endlessly returning to the nothing from which it emerges.

According to Kathleen Raine, William Blake followed the ideas of Paracelsus on nature’s Great Mystery. The forests especially are associated with smoke and fire. Thus, all of nature is essentially but a heap of ashes, and her creatures but fumes and smoke.

There is a strong connection between climate change and wildfires. Wildfire activity is changing dangerously, as conditions become hotter and drier due to climate change.

While fire is a natural and essential part of these ecosystems, warming temperatures and drying soils—both tied to human-caused climate change—have contributed to observed increases in wildfire activity. The earlier snowmelt and higher temperatures—and resulting drier soils from increased evaporation—in addition to greater water loss from vegetation have contributed to lengthening the fire seasons.