Reflections on the Fires in Australia

Submitted by Lindsay
Melbourne Australia!

(1/2020) Australia is the driest continent on earth, (apart from Antarctica, which is not yet a continent, although that won’t be long before we see its actual size), with just 6% of it being arable. 80% of the continent gets less than 24 inches of rain a year, 50 % less than 12 inches, and the average is 16 inches. The east coast, on the west side of the southern Pacific Ocean, is the most heavily populated, forested, and productive. It has, until now, received the greatest percentage of rainfall, 15 to 48 inches a year. The north is tropical, but largely undeveloped due to the climate and terrain.

Agriculture has always been one of the main sources of exports – wheat, sugar, fruit, with sheep, wool and cattle traditionally being the main exports. This changed when coal, oil and gas became more important, and these now dominate exports, China being our biggest customer.

The eastern states, Queensland, New south Wales and Victoria have about 70% of the 25 million people, and we have mostly had an agreeable climate and wonderful resources, although droughts and floods have always caused great hardship for farmers.

But as the level of greenhouse gasses have increased the systems that drive climate have altered, with the patterns of rainfall changing. Beginning about ten years ago, the eastern states have seen a decline in rainfall, which has accelerated over the past three years.. This means that the extensive forests that are found mostly in the south east corner of the continent had dried out, and coupled with a mountainous terrain and many small towns, the danger of catastrophic losses became severe.

Lightning strikes have been one of the commonest causes of fires; in the past they were fairly easily controlled, spotting and reporting posts having been established over the years. New South Wales has had catastrophic fires in the past, but this year they have been impossible to deal with.

Victoria south of the border with NSW but part of the same mountain range, saw uncontrollable fires start and grow. Areas that had never had fires began to burn and now the many fronts are joining so that fire storms are continuing. They could join with those to the North. No state has escaped. Tasmania, the island to the south, Queensland to the North, Western Australia, South Australia - all have lost so much.

Many deaths have occurred, the numbers impossible to say due to inaccessibility. Stock losses are in the hundred’s of thousands, property loss incalculable; the defense forces have been called in to evacuate people, including tourists, from popular coastal resort towns.

The world has seen nothing like it, and waves of fear are flowing through areas once thought safe. Political indifference has been sickening: ‘Be Brave’ our PM’s advice.

The real horror is that it is real. Not a prediction, not fake news, but the actuality of climate change and its power. The rest of the world is watching. Could it happen to them? Not fires like this, but things equally devastating.

Let us hope the politicians can put the squabbles, the petty rants away and prepare for the greatest challenge ever faced by humans. It may be nature’s revenge, but we made it happen. It’s up to us to deal with it.

Lindsay,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia