The real reason Australia is ablaze!

It is good to share the news Callistemon. My little lot have just driven up to the Sunshine Coast and, from what I could gather, their biggest worry was that the fires would cut across the roads affecting them on the way back. The air quality is a real worry too as my DGS has asthma. All in all, when the temperature dropped a bit, they have been okay so far. Just closed schools and bad air.

It is noticeable that there are changes in the climate all around the world and I do so agree that it is our grandchildren who will suffer, possibly with their lives, if we do nothing or not enough.

It is also the case that before that happens we are likely to see huge swathes of climate migration. That could affect us and will affect our children. We may think this is "our" country but if it's the only habitable land available for some they will think they have a right to take it - just as we would and have in the past.

GGMK3 I hope your family stays safe and well, whatever disagreements/misunderstandings happen on GN, family is foremost in our minds at this worrying time.

Much of the comment on this thread is based on ill informed ^and incorrect fake news spread by right wing media, the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry and climate change deniers.^
Apricity For the sake of a balanced discussion, don't forget to mention that all those media outlets etc. are constantly being accused of being run by "Lefties"!
OoRoo

Thank you GrannyGravy. I really appreciate that.

He's not very popular (probably an under statement)
*Callistemon" Having recently sorted out your own new popular PM, and given your intimate in-depth knowledge of the OZ political scene, who will you vote for as our next PM?

Hetty wrote:

"Why oh why are people so willing to believe the odd idiot who makes a video to express his scientifically illiterate views? I believe a politician was spreading a similar pack of lies."

There is a gran writing to this forum who believes what Breitbart tells her and her husband! People like to read what confirms their bias.

It seems Australians elected a conservative government that aims to dig a huge huge coal mine in Australia apparently with no reference to what science tells us all. Conservatives are willing to put making money over every other consideration and will do the very human thing of ignoring scientific facts to justify their desire.

That's rather like blaming people flooded over here for buying houses that have been built, with planning permission, on the flood-plains.

I think one can say that building houses on flood plains is idiotic without wanting to "blame" the people living in them.

Among the many reasons discussed for the devastating fire extent, the latest news issued is that the Australian Mining Magnate, Andrew Forrest, who rejects Climate Change, blames arson for the deadly bush fires and is donating s $70 Million to recovery!

A police note of the arrests:.....

24 people have been charged over alleged deliberately-lit bush-fires

53 people have had legal actions for allegedly failing to comply with a total fire ban

47 people have had legal actions for allegedly discarding a lighted cigarette or match on land.

Similarly one can say that not regularly clearing brushwood to make fire breaks in a country that is prone to wildfires is idiotic without blaming the common people but rather whoever makes the rules.

Rufus
Your new found sarcasm is entertaining.

On our visits to Australia, politics, the environment, the potential for fires were, especially last time, the main topics of conversation.
And continue to be so daily.

The malice of arsonists and the carelessness of some smokers is shameful but Australia has had a hot, dry climate for millennia. Trees and brush don't just spontaneously combust in hot weather, even very hot weather. There has to be a catalyst, such as lightning or carelessly tossed cigarette ends. If the Australian government has disallowed clearance of brush in the interests of wildlife, then a rethink is clearly required — wildlife has suffered more from the hugeness of the current fires than it would have from controlled burns or clearances using other methods of brush — as well as rigorous law enforcement about starting fires in dry areas either deliberately or carelessly.

Gracesgran I hope the air at Sunshine Coast is clearer. Another Gransnetter posted that the air in Brisbane itself was smoky and my DD who lives there tends to get asthma so she went to buy some face masks.
We're all hoping for rain, a deluge not a shower.

There are so many conflicting views and opinions and I think that the reasons for these recent devastating fires are not simple.

The one fact is that the fires have caused much more CO2 to enter the atmosphere, apparently about half as much as the normal annual emissions.
So that could end up as a Catch 22 situation, although an optimist has posted on FB that the re-generation of the forests will absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere than established trees would do.

I don't know if that is established scientific fact or wishful thinking.

Your new found sarcasm is entertaining
Thank you! We aim to please! But it's not new, developed over many years and you can add "cynical" to your lexicon!
We're not discussing the potential of bush fires, but their. reality. Nearly 2,000 homes destroyed!
But being eternal optimists it's fair to say that the media will also be discussing the imminent Aussie Open tennis, the imminent Footy season and the recent thrashing of NZ Test teams.
I've copied this thread to show at our next OBE class to show how much you care at the grass-roots level as distinct from "poli-speak"
OoRoo

Rufus
I didn't sort out our own popular new PM
I doubt anyone could

how much you care
Rufus
I hope that wasn't sarcastic!
You can see how much many of us care by reading our posts.

Alexa, the 'aims to dig a huge huge coal mine' really set alarm bells ringing. I can't help being reminded of the Centralia disaster. It's been burning since 1962!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire

Rufus I hope your OBE class will appreciate how much we care, how worried we all are when we see your news on our TV and how we are constantly in touch with our Australian friends and relatives and worried for their welfare.

Having been in Queensland recently and been ready to start packing up ready to leave as the fires were just over the hills behind us, having seen a burnt out neighbouring property, yes, we can appreciate just how devastated you must be feeling.
I was never more thankful to see helicopters overhead and to know that both the Rural volunteers and the Q and NSW Fire Services were working non-stop to put out the fires.
I've also written to our MP asking what practical aid we are sending.
I hope that helps you to understand how we are feeling for you at this time.

And many of my relatives and friends are not at all happy with your PM.

You can see how much many of us care by reading our posts
Callistemon For goodness sake! Of course I can, that's why I've copied this thread.
Contrary to what you might think, we are a relatively small group (c20), (OBEs tend to be that way by their very nature), and multinational , but with a common care; not movers or shakers!
My family in England, or what remains, also care and we are constantly on the phone, so remember it's a 2-way street as they say.
Please stop fossicking for "sarcasm" in everything I write; it all comes straight from the heart.
It's now 1.00am Friday, still very warm with yet another scorcher forecast later, so I really must try and get some very necessary beauty sleep.
OoRoo

Oh, I thought you were getting indignant about any criticism of Australian politicians!

Yes, we are worried about you all.
Hace a peaceful night.

Hafe!

Further to what I was saying earlier:
It doesn’t matter how dry the vegetation, how fierce the winds or how high the temperature; if there is no ignition, there is no wildfire.

From Los Angeles Times.

The trees will not self-ignite although that was a theory.

It is shocking to think that people will deliberately light fires or even be so careless as to abandon a cigarette butt or ignore the 'no camp fire' rules at such a time.

Most of the fires are caused by lightning strikes, not arsonists or careless campers.

if there is no ignition, there is no wildfire
Baggs True, but if there is wildfire then there must have been ignition!
We'd like to think that no humans are involved, but unfortunately that's rarely the case. I believe that volunteer fire brigades used to be plagued by arsonists joining to start fires for the thrill of "helping" to put them out, but authorities are now very good at weeding them out through body-language techniques.
As Monica says, most are started by lightning strikes, particularly after such a long period of drought; they now call it dry lightning
Cheers.

I was lucky enough to visit Australia last September and I have found the recent reports coming from Australia so incredibly sad. I was really quite surprised on our visit to find that Australians seemed not as environmentally aware as I had assumed such a beautiful country with such a young population would be. Although we did arrive in Sydney to the first Extinction Rebellion march, which we hadn’t heard about because we were travelling!

Regarding the actual fires, Peter Woollhbern in his book The Hidden Life of Trees has some interesting thoughts. When talking about the wildfires in California, he says they have been so devastating in recent years because any and all fires are so vigorously put down.

He says that nature permits small fires to develop and burn away brush as a way of regenerating new growth. These fires only burn up to certain height, do not damage the flora permanently and are slow burning so wildlife can escape. They cleanse the forest of brush and debris.

By not allowing these small fires to burn, the dead detritus builds up to several feet deep and when a fire does eventually break out, it has so much fuel available that it reaches great heights, setting the canopy on fire and burning so fast and fiercely that wildlife cannot escape.

That does seem a logical process, to me, that nature knows best.