In chapter twenty-nine, we watch Piper offer a survival-of-the-fittest theory regarding forest fires. How did you react to their debate? What are the benefits and challenges of hashtags like #CadenceUnderFire?

In chapter twenty-nine, we watch Piper offer a survival-of-the-fittest theory regarding forest fires; the author tells us, "Cadie wanted to admire the purity of Piper's motives, but her naiveté was dangerous." How did you react to their debate? What are the benefits and challenges of hashtags like #CadenceUnderFire?

Piper felt the fires should just burn and new forests grow in their place. However, if one cleared the old growth, there might not be so many fires and the forests and animals would have more protection. Do we let nature take it's course, or intervene? I could see some of both sides of the argument. Hashtags pull others into the argument and provide a platform for a particular cause.

This section felt particularly disjointed to me. It was hard for me to get into Piper's idea and the hashtag when it felt like an after-thought with the rest of the book.
I don't really know anything about forest fires or how they should be addressed, but I understand the point Piper was making. It's a valid thought, but I'd like to have more of the experts weigh in on the topic to better play the devil's advocate.

I thought the inclusion of Piper's character served to illustrate that even when two people in the same field have the same end goal, they can have very different strategies for how to get there.

I found the theory fascinating and wondered how much truth there is to the pine beetle/thrush theory in reality. I personally do not twitter but I would think that the hashtag would be a curse if you then become known primarily as the woman under fire.

I think eventually Piper's argument opened Cadie up to new ideas. As far as the hashtag is concerned, it gave people something to rally behind, but Cadie didn't really want to be that person. I think it would be difficult to live with all that responsibility.