IIRC it was (is?) an agricultural method to help crops grow better. They would burn fields in addition to crop rotation.

Actually I might have found something on the matter: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/backyard/privatelandhabitat/benefits_prescribed_burning.pdf%C2%A0

"In two brief hours, most of the planet was reduced to cinders."

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_2_intro

"Continents were swallowed in flames and fell beneath the boiling oceans."

Also, there is plenty of plant life in D.C., grass is fairly abundant, as are bushes, sickly, but abundant.

I don't think there was nuclear waste dumps in Shady Sands.

Zion wasn't hit though, its totally different from basically everywhere else.

http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/105836-fallout-new-vegas-and-dlc-post-mortem-interview-part-one-v15-105836/page-2.html

If so, then why did Chris A feel the need to explain where the plants did come from?

Your argument would be correct if Fallout used real world radiation, but it doesn't, never did. It was always based off of the 50's view of radiation, as well as that of 1950's scifi B-movies, which always depicted the world as basically being largely screwed forever.

Hell, even in NV its brought up at the sharecropper farms that the radiation from the nearby leaking Vault is preventing the crops from growing.

Yes I am aware and it still doesn't matter. What part of 200 years later do you not understand? Life would have and should have returned. No matter how bad the fire storms were. Life returns, simple as that.

We see horrible fire storms all the time yet the very next year life returns. Why? Because seeds and roots and such under the soil and other areas protected from the fire come back. Life outside of the area would have made it's way into the area over the 200 year period.

The Water in the area if fine the people are talking about other areas.

The point is radiation doesn't kill plants, you agree with that.

I have no idea why he felt the need to explain it. Other than people not knowing about the originals wondering.

Plants return in Fallout just like they would in real life after a nuclear war regardless of radiation or not.

The same part that people dont understand of this

Source?

Radiation does inhibit plant growth though, as shown in NV.

The vast nuclear firestorms killed everything, and the radiation prevented it from growing back.

Plutonium 239, a waste product of nuclear bombs, has a half-life of 24,000 years..... Carbon 14, has a half-life of almost 6 thousand years. Typically, these concentrate near ground zero..... 200 years wouldn't even appreciably reduce the amount of radiation they emit.

As for plants, after 200 years, the DC wasteland should have been lush forest. The radiation has dropped to the point that humans can walk around unprotected, To think it is still lethal to plants doesn't quite follow.

Life will return. Just look at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Cities rebuilt in the same place they were nuked with an abundance of plant and animal life, besides us humans.

No sorry you can't have it both ways. You agreed radiation doesn't stop plants from growing so you can't fall back on that argument now.

Fire Storms consumed the earth according to that intro, which means plant life pretty much all over America was destroyed the same way as it was in DC. Yet plant life came back all over the place, even in Point Lookout.

Radiation in real life and in Fallout does not stop plant life and global fire storms wouldn't have wiped out plant life either.

Again seeds and roots would have survived the storm, we know they did in many locations. Radiation doesn't stop them from coming back. If the DC area was hit so bad it killed everything then why are the buildings still standing? Could it be because the developers said that a "destroyed city wouldn't be fun to play in" which suggests they didn't put thought into their game world. Which means you are tying to find reason where reason doesn't exist.

If DC was hit so freaking bad plant life in the area, even under the soil was destroyed, life that did survive outside of the area would have moved back in over the 200 year period.

-I'm not having it both ways, its only one way

--Firestorms destroyed everything currently alive.

--Radiation prevented stuff from growing back.

-Point Lookout's plant life was never destroyed, because no nukes hit it, thus it was never burnt. And besides that, Point Lookout only has

--The same half-dread grass as the C.W.

--The same half-dead shrubs as the C.W.

--The same dead trees as the C.W.

The only thing really alive in PL is punga, which is a mutated fruit which has developed radiation cancelling properties. The only thing growing in abundance, and doing well, is the thing that developed the ability to negate radiation. Everything else is the same as the C.W.

-Then explain how irradiated water was hindering crop growth in the Sharecropper Farms in NV?

-See above, we have clear evidence in both Fo3 and NV that irradiated water DOES inhibit plant growth.

-Read the Fallout 1 manual. Nukes in Fallout's universe had exchanged explosive force for far greater radiation output.

-That would be true if plantlife around the C.W. survived, yet it doesn't. Even as far as The Pitt things are still screwed.

The crux of the argument is does radiation kill plants? We know the answer is No, it doesn't kill plants. How do we know this? We see plant life is abundant in the Fallout Universe, including Fallout 3's Point Lookout.

So what killed the plant life in DC? As you pointed out Fire Storms and there is evidence of that yes. That same fire storm would have killed most of the plant life all across America. Yet we see plant life all over the place that we have been to, including on the East Coast.

So you say Point Lookout, the Mojave and where Randell Clark was wasn't hit that hard if at all.. So what? We know thanks to Randell Clark that the Radiation did reach lethal levels where he was and the Mojave was still hit. So Point Lookout would have faced lethal levels as well and would have faced fire storms as well.

So in the end... Your argument is Fire Storms killed everything and Radiation prevented life from coming back. But we know plant life survives in Fallout. We know fire storms don't kill off all plant life. And even if it did plant life would have moved into the DC area from areas in which plant life did survive unhindered by radiation.

So you see you are tying to have it both ways. You say fire storms kill plants and radiation keeps them from coming back. But we know for a fact that Fallout radiation doesn't kill plant life because if it did there would be no plant life anywhere in Fallout therefore it can't stop plant life from coming back into the DC area. Simple as that.

You are saying Radiation kills plants but for when it doesn't kill plants.

There's a difference between verisimilitude and realism, I understand that it's science fiction and not meant to, nor should be considered as a depiction of reality.

That some truths are stretched and manipulated to the writers will, but when a society lives off of nothing but 200 year old perishable food as well as thriving wildlife with no source of vegetation and therefor nutrition it destroys my verisimilitude (my ability to believe in this world) when there isn't even an explanation (a substantive one) as to how life is so abundant.

As I've said before, in this wasteland there's more plastic surgeons than farmers .Why wouldn't someone question this?

You do realize the argument you're making?

You're arguing that D.C (according to the methods/reasons you suggest) has no plant life or that it's largely screwed?

That's even more fatuous than the arguments for the CW being bereft of plant life.

You can not have a circle of life without any vegetation.

It's reductionist but here - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=circle+of+life+lyrics&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAmoVChMIiPPDi-mPxgIVKpfbCh3n1ACq&biw=1517&bih=741&dpr=0.9#tbm=isch&q=circle+of+life+lyrics+diagram&imgrc=hH9bQQ0CSZ6aoM%253A%3B1MkBb4Wlpnr3eM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffloridahillbilly.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2013%252F01%252FCircle-of-Life.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fhdimagelib.com%252Fsimple%252Becosystem%252Bdiagram%3B986%3B654

Because all the grass covered hills like this one in D.C. just vanished?

http://i.imgur.com/UIXuYxL.jpg

Except there would be plantlife all over the U.S because, even in D.C., the radiation levels have gone back down to normal background radiation levels.

As said already, plans in D.C. dont grow because the water is complained, just like the irradiated water in NV was inhibiting plantgrowth in the sharecropper farms in N.V.

That is why D.C. has grass all over the place, sickly grass, but grass none the less.

Got me there, all that dead grass (on one hill) is just bursting with nutrition in which to support the life of the CW.

Contaminated with what? Radiation?

Simple question. Does radiation kill plants? Yes or No.

And no it isn't radiation at the Sharecroppers Farm. The NCR is rationing water.

Think you need to play NV a bit more m8.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Hard_Luck_Blues

Also, the NCR isn't rationing water, its being stolen by Freeside as per the "The White Wash" quest

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_White_Wash

Except its not dead. If it was, it would have gone away a long time ago.

Again does Radiation kill plants? Yes or No.

Inhibiting doesn't equal killing. Not having enough water itself is the problem.

If the Water in DC is so screwed then why does Point Lookout with the same level of irradiated water have plant life? Why does Vault City and Gecko have plant life? Why did plant life come back where Randell Clark lived?

If the radiation was so deadly that it keeps plants from growing in the DC area then how does anything survive?

It's visibly yellowed and yes it should have gone away, but clearly Bethesda added it for aesthetic reasons.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=dead+grass&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMI_53lju2PxgIV4xfbCh2x7ANl&biw=1517&bih=741&dpr=0.9

Because, again, Point Lookout doesn't. Point Lookout has

-The same half-dead grass as the C.W.

-The same half-dead bushes as the C.W.

-The same dead trees as the C.W.

The only thing really alive in PL is punga, which is a mutated fruit which has developed radiation cancelling properties. The only thing growing in abundance, and doing well, is the thing that developed the ability to negate radiation. Everything else is the same as the C.W.

Because Vault City had a GECK, and GECKO and Zion don't have an irradiated water source to inhibit plant life like the C.W. does.

Because it doesn't prevent all plants from growing, it just make its very hard to grow, which is why the grass and bushes still grow in D.C., they just look like crap. Just like even with the radiation contamination in the sharecropper farms, stuff still grew, just not the extent it should have.

Funny, because the cows out here in Texas seem to do fine munching on it all day. Grass has looked that way for over 5 years due ot the drought, and yet our ecosystem didn't collapse.

Radiation doesn't kill plants. Which means plants would have come back to the DC area just like plants have come back in many places. Vault City and Gecko radiation in their ground water and yet plants live there. We see trees and plants in many of the Fallout games.

We could go into the side argument of why there would even be radiation in the DC water after 200 years.

We also could look at how Megaton has clean water and yet no farming. If radiation is indeed the problem then way was it a problem in Megaton?

Can we at least agree to disagree on this AwesomePossum because I don't believe you and I will see eye to eye on this subject.

Same reason the water towers in the Vegas area are still irradiated after 200 years..... Fallout radiation was based on the 50's perception of science, which included mutant animals, radiation lasting for ages, the water being screwed for overly long periods of time, etc. etc, it was never based on real world radiation workings.

That was sort of the whole crux of Fo3's plot. That they can make clean water, but not enough for farming. The people in Megaton even tell you they only give it to residents, which doesn't include the people who live in the common house, aka, all the generic "megaton settler" guys, because they can't make that much of it. Only the named people in Megaton have access to the clean water due to the limited nature of it.

Sure.

The firestorms didn't cover the entire us either. There simply aren't enough bombs to do that. (and had there been, there wouldn't be ANY humans left....) Firestorms are just like wildfires, they burn off everything on the surface, and down a few inches, and only in their area of effect. (which is basically the heavy damage radius of a nuclear weapon.) Outside that area, blast effects may wipe out plant life ON THE SURFACE, but, roots are still there. Also, plants propagate in many fashions, one of which is, the wind...... seeds would be blown in, and take root, shortly after the fires were out. Regardless of radiation. (look at chernobyl, are the plants THERE dead? Hardly) Now, you wouldn't want to EAT any of those plants, or anything that ate them... as they would absorb radioactive particles in the course of their growth. How long that lasts would depend on how far you were from ground zero.

DC should be a lush, swamp. Exactly what it was before man came along.

Of course, I do believe that Beth even stated that it was somewhat of writers prerogative that it wasn't.... as a nice, lush, swap, isn't exactly in keeping with the term "Nuclear Wasteland".

Ehm...

Firestorms or not, it aint gonna stop plants from growing. I'd like to ask you guys how you think people still breathe oxygen if all the foliage in the world is dead.

No, but a global nuclear war would keep plants from growing for many, many years. Not to mention damage the ozone layer.

I know we're talking about the game world, but I got curious after reading through the discussion and seems the after effects could actually be much worse. It's all theory. Calculated, but still theory. Heck, meteorologists can't even predict the weather a week in advance with 100% accuracy. Now throw in a nuclear winter lasting many years and a damaged ozone layer. If it ever did happen, we're all pretty much screwed.

http://www.nucleardarkness.org/warconsequences/

Okay, but we know that plants have grown either way. So obviously if there was some kind of nuclear winter, it didn't stop them.

We know for a fact there was a nuclear winter, its mentioned in the computer terminals in HH.

Cool. It still didn't kill everything.