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Australia looks apocalyptic
- Thread starter fluffydelusions
- Start date
The footage that news channels have been feeding is beyond terrifying.. oO
How is it that international help is so modest? An entire continent is burning and rich and opulent countries are mobilizing meager resources to come to the aid of Australians...Sigh...
I was told that the fire would not subside for a few more months or so...Is there any truth to it?
How is it that international help is so modest? An entire continent is burning and rich and opulent countries are mobilizing meager resources to come to the aid of Australians...Sigh...
I was told that the fire would not subside for a few more months or so...Is there any truth to it?
When the sky bleeds red you know it's a real crisis
This whole situation is terrible. Hoping for the best Aussies!
This whole situation is terrible. Hoping for the best Aussies!
We're not even half way through Summer so yes we've got months to go before the bushfire season is over.
A good timeline of Morrison's "leadership"
Probably as we have months left of summer, which will continue to set records for hottest days, consecutive days of bad fire/wind conditions and generally lead to a continuation of the current fire climate. Realistically the only two bright sides are the fire fuel being burnt up to save against future conditions and a public outcry to get better processes/investments from the government against future issues.
It's ridiculous our government haven't invested and sustained our emergency services on levels that should match our living standards. Hey let us give more tax breaks to large corporates and fossil fuel industries though. Total joke.
This snippet should ring out alarm bells in our government but it sadly has not.
While i don't always agree with Twiggy, this is great:
$10 million to communities affected by bushfires co-ordinated with the Red Cross fund, $10 million to establish a volunteer service from the mining and agriculture service to deploy fire zones and help rebuild and $50 million on developing a "national blueprint" for fire and disaster resilance and develop new approaches to mitigate bushfires.
$10 million to communities affected by bushfires co-ordinated with the Red Cross fund, $10 million to establish a volunteer service from the mining and agriculture service to deploy fire zones and help rebuild and $50 million on developing a "national blueprint" for fire and disaster resilance and develop new approaches to mitigate bushfires.
I don't want to downplay this fire season in any way; it has directly impacted me and my family and friends in some of the most serious ways. But short of outfitting and mobilising the entire US military as a firefighting force, humans are not going to put these fires out (and even then). The assistance of foreign firefighters, the leasing of equipment unused in the northern hemisphere winter etc... is obviously helpful and appreciated, but is also fairly regular.
The area burnt and still burning is enormous, but it's less than 1% of Australia's landmass (in terms of more populated areas, the percentage increases sharply, but it's not an entire continent that's burning). The number of people forced to evacuate or who have lost home or been without utilities or goods supply is also huge, but primarily rural; Australia's population is over 85% urban, and barring some fires on the fringes the main impact on major cities has been smoke (not to say that smoke isn't a serious health concern).
Many charities and government organisations are requesting that physical donations cease, as they have more than enough blankets, food, water, masks etc... for the impacted communities. Far more important is the ability to actually allocate and distribute these items in a time when transport and communications infrastructure is severely disrupted.
Australia is a very wealthy country. As an Australian directly impacted by these fires, when I see that Pacific Island nations that our state has economically pillaged for decades are offering aid, what I feel is shame. Money doesn't have the problems that physical donations mentioned above do, but it's also less immediately useful at a time our firefighting and resource distribution capacities are stretched to their limit. And once again, whilst the generosity is appreciated and commendable, the long-term solution here is not to make Australia even more wealthy.
International donations will not compel Australia to redouble efforts at co-ordinated international action on climate change. They will most likely not result in the government funding a larger aerial firefighting force or compensating volunteers. They won't restore an ecosystem that is in long term decline as a result of human activity since colonisation. They won't stop the government busing riot police into affected areas to keep protesters out of the PM's media opportunities. They won't stop the police from making evacuation centres unsafe spaces for Indigenous Australians. I could go on.
TLDR: International assistance is generous and commendable, although some of it is more directly/immediately useful than the rest. But these fires are not something that could be stopped at this stage, nor are they a one-off. Australia is not a poor nation that needs international assistance to rebuild (though many Australian individuals are). Many of the major issues are problems within Australian society itself that Australia needs to address, or stem from international capitalism and greenhouse gas emissions, none of which can be solved by giving Australia money.
The fires are too big to actually be put out. The only ways they will go out by themselves is running out of fuel or for conditions to improve. Since fuel loads are at abnormal highs we basically have to wait for cold weather or rain. It's summer and we're in the middle of a drought so unless Janurary or February is abnormally cool we're stuck with them until Autumn.
This is part of the reason the government's response has been pathetic. With more resources we could have more effectively fought the fires when they were much smaller.
It's the Libs. I don't know why I expected them to give needy people money without making them jump through a million hoops.
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The Kangaroo Island fires have once again jumped containment lines.
And something I learned today....KI has the only Chlamydia free population of koalas. They're essentially the backup population for if the rest are wiped out by chlamydia.
And something I learned today....KI has the only Chlamydia free population of koalas. They're essentially the backup population for if the rest are wiped out by chlamydia.
Wife lost it tonight, good hour of crying over this tragic state of affairs in our wonderful country run by a complete lack of leadership.
What some in the international community may not realise is that the Australian ecosystem actually relies on fire season. Fires are naturally ignited by lightning, and a cycle begins wherein bushfires sweep across regions causing certain trees to shed their seeds, into soil that is fertalised be minerals and biomaterials from burned trees. We literally have trees that have evolved to rely on seasonal fires to propagate. Sounds insane, but that's Australia.
The problem is within the cycle itself and how it is impacted by climate change. Before colonisation by Europeans the Aboriginal population conducted burn offs to control intensity and location of fires. We adopted similar policies, and these happen outside of fire season, as cooler, damper seasons reduce risk of sparking bigger fires. Unfortunate climate change has drastically increased our dry season. So not only do we have less time to conduct burn offs, but also significantly more dry fuel for when the season hits.
Leading to this season, which is violent and out of control.
Awful, but cant blame her. The sense of hopelessness and human failure to prepare and respond has been overwhelming.
Australia: you have just experienced the future.
Yeah, this is why the world needs to try to limit the increase of earth's average temperature. Because guarantee if earth gets to 3C, Australia and other spots in the world will be feeling it exponentially worse (like they already are now with our 1.1C earth average rise compared to this shit).
Yeah the footage of animals trapped along fences just to burn to death is something akin to an anti-icon of Australia. It knocked her for six and a range of hopelessness and then anger directed at our so called leaders.
Also great info dump on the nature of Australia and its cycles.
Australia is already facing a crisis when t comes
extinction of various species and I have no doubt that these fires will have led to even more extinctions. It's a sad time.
Whilst this is true there are certain problems. Firstly that these fires have been more intense than the usual ones and there is concern that our bush land may not be able to recover like it normally does. The other problem is that the fires are now reaching areas which typically don't burn or in some cases have never burnt and again won't just recover.
Oh I wasn't contesting any of that, moreso agreeing. Australia's bushfire season is natural. The intensity and expansiveness we're seeing is not. The fire is only one half of the problem as, like your said, its ability to rejuvenate afterwards is the other. Fires are burning so intensely and hot that there's a concern the biomaterial in some areas will be completely destroyed, the soil damaged, and the cycle of regrowth broken. And, of course, the fires like you said reaching areas normally left unscathed.
It's bad times.
It's scary to think of returning fauna not having a supporting or sustainable environment of flora for their natural existence to continue. Communities are scrambling to save as much local fauna as possible but they'll really need to manage their care, required supplies and eventual return to the wild. Certainly the scale that is required now is unprecedented.
A tiny spark of goodness out of the Kangaroo Island fires
If you are able to get to one of the rallies tonight in the capital cities then please attend. The one in Melbourne starts in just over an hour at the state library
Heading to the one in Newcastle. Kinda fitting that it's pushing 40 in the hunter today.
The rallies in Sydney have always had shit timing every one has been in hot as fuck weather haha.
Looking forward to the inevitable bitching and moaning from armchair experts who loathe any form of vocal activity from protesters.
Considering ScoMo has said he wants to ban climate protests because it *effects the economy* Im not surprised if the Murdoch machine goes into overdrive when more protests happen.
Guantanteed. There will be a wonderfully thorough media pass condemning the protests as disrupting response to the fires, in a time when we should operate in solidarity, they're all dole bludgers, criminal histories, where are their parents, the quiet Australians still suffer, etc etc.
The police have already jumped on the opportunity to shame people into not attending. These are the same fuckers that on the day our community were evacuating were giving out tickets to people for having kids bikes blocking their number plates, breathalysing people, operating speed traps and generally making the whole situation a lot fucking worse. This was on the only route out of my area the rest being closed due to fire and the cunts knew people were getting out quick. I'm sure them not being anywhere near the fires will probably make the situation better. Just to add council yellow jackets were blocking water trucks (no town water) going back into the area to resupply the RFS because the roads were closed. This whole Government is a bad fucking joke.
Seems like the protests were well attended and seems to be reported many first time protesters too (i unfortunately could not go but absolutely plan on going if further ones become planned).
I work in a hospital mostly with people you would consider pretty well educated (doctors, physio's, RN's etc) and you would think fairly caring people. The amount of people I see falling for this BS is staggering. The worst was with the climate protests and hearing them saying how the kids should be at school or do their protests on a Sunday. I heard so many people parroting that BS.
I hate hate hate that shit so much. Fucking infuriating.
Money is not the problem here.
...
No actually. It is precisely the problem.
Exactly how I feel. The sheer notion of wanting to ban climate related boycotts is fascism, clear and simple.
I'm with you.
I feel this too. I work for a social service non for profit that specialises in working with the homeless. You'd think people employed would be fairly leftist and empathetic just by virtue of the fucking job, but no. Many colleagues are pro hard welfare reforms and policies, fairly greedy with their money, little empathy for the Indigenous opinion on Australia Day being a farce, etc. It's sad.
It's absolutely infuriating.
NASA has been tracking the smoke as it ascends into the upper atmosphere. It's been making it as far as Chile.
And in other news the pyrocumuluses are making it to New Zealand
And in other news the pyrocumuluses are making it to New Zealand
People have been warning them that climate change will cause massive social, economic and ecological damage for decades. They didn't listen and/or didn't care.
The fire that made it a km away from us is now officially under control! Huge sigh of relief from the residents.
Finally! The largest individual forest fire in Australian history is under control.
The fire that made it a km away from us is now officially under control! Huge sigh of relief from the residents.
The numbers are still hard to believe for that one: burning continuously since October 26 (started by lightning strike), and 512,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) consumed.
I mean it's one of 117 fires still burning, but it's great news nonetheless.
NASA has been tracking the smoke as it ascends into the upper atmosphere. It's been making it as far as Chile.
And in other news the pyrocumuluses are making it to New Zealand
People have been warning them that climate change will cause massive social, economic and ecological damage for decades. They didn't listen and/or didn't care.
That cloud is scary as hell, like the aliens in Independence Day or some shit. Damn.
This is all devastating, not only the human suffering but also the wildlife. This video really broke my heart:
(the woman is Rae Harvey, she runs the Wild 2 Free sanctuary in Australia, the fire devastated the sanctuary and killed at least 60 of the kangaroos there).
they also have a gofundme page:
Perhaps this video should be required viewing for all climate change deniers as well as all politicians, corporations and businessmen who think of nothing but lining their own pockets at the expense of the environment.
(the woman is Rae Harvey, she runs the Wild 2 Free sanctuary in Australia, the fire devastated the sanctuary and killed at least 60 of the kangaroos there).
they also have a gofundme page:
Perhaps this video should be required viewing for all climate change deniers as well as all politicians, corporations and businessmen who think of nothing but lining their own pockets at the expense of the environment.
As an Australian I'm feeling a mix of gratefullness and shame about all these donations coming in from other countries and foreign people.
The truth is we're a super rich country and we made our own bed by voting in a horrible government that are climate change deniers and cut funding from our fire fighting services. We're one of the worst contributors to CO2 emissions per capita. It just feels wrong to me to be using these donations when really our government should be made to pay for everything 10-fold.
The truth is we're a super rich country and we made our own bed by voting in a horrible government that are climate change deniers and cut funding from our fire fighting services. We're one of the worst contributors to CO2 emissions per capita. It just feels wrong to me to be using these donations when really our government should be made to pay for everything 10-fold.
That is some of the craziest footage I have ever seen of anything. Straight from inside a fire storm.
See, that looks crazier than the thing from a movie I thought was from the bushfires. Looks like a bar in hell.
It reminds me of the Dresden firebombing in WW2, where stories of people literally getting lifted up/sucked in by the firestorm were abundant. It was hard to imagine just reading about it, but seeing this really puts it into some perspective. Grateful I don't have to suffer through that.