Though often viewed as a problem for western states, the growing frequency of wildfires is a national concern because of its impact on federal tax dollars, says Professor Max Moritz, a specialist in fire ecology and management.

    In 2015, the US Forest Service for the first time spent more than half of its $5.5 billion annual budget fighting fires—nearly double the percentage it spent on such efforts 20 years ago. In effect, fewer federal funds today are going toward the agency’s other work—such as forest conservation, watershed and cultural resources management, and infrastructure upkeep—that affects the lives of all Americans.

    Another nationwide concern is whether public funds from other agencies are going into construction in fire-prone districts. As Moritz puts it, how often are federal dollars building homes that are likely to be lost to a wildfire?

    “It’s already a huge problem from a public expenditure perspective for the whole country,” he says. “We need to take a magnifying glass to that. Like, ‘Wait a minute, is this OK?’ Do we want instead to redirect those funds to concentrate on lower-hazard parts of the landscape?”

    Such a view would require a corresponding shift in the way US society today views fire, researchers say.

    For one thing, conversations about wildfires need to be more inclusive. Over the past decade, the focus has been on climate change—how the warming of the Earth from greenhouse gases is leading to conditions that worsen fires.

    While climate is a key element, Moritz says, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the rest of the equation.

    “The human systems and the landscapes we live on are linked, and the interactions go both ways,” he says. Failing to recognize that, he notes, leads to “an overly simplified view of what the solutions might be. Our perception of the problem and of what the solution is becomes very limited.”

    At the same time, people continue to treat fire as an event that needs to be wholly controlled and unleashed only out of necessity, says Professor Balch at the University of Colorado. But acknowledging fire’s inevitable presence in human life is an attitude crucial to developing the laws, policies, and practices that make it as safe as possible, she says.

    “We’ve disconnected ourselves from living with fire,” Balch says. “It is really important to understand and try and tease out what is the human connection with fire today.”

答案精析：根据题干中的a key element和Moritz notes可定位至第七段。根据第七段可知，莫里兹认为尽管气候确实是一个关键因素，但不应忽视其他因素的影响。at the expense of sth.意为“以损失某物为代价”，the rest of the equation指“其余影响因素”，不应该以牺牲其他因素为代价，也就是说不能忽视其他因素，比如第八段提到的人与环境，因此C项正确。

错项排除：文章未提及大众是否对此话题进行了讨论，因此排除A项。第六段第一句指出温室气体导致火灾更易发生，并未说明扑灭火灾的条件正在改善，因此排除B项。第五段提出人们应该改变观念，换一种方式看待火灾，而不是已经改变，因此D项错误。