What you need to know about the Australia bushfires
Hello friends Think about it: your entire country is up in flames A natural disaster on such a massive scale has never happened in your country ever And during such times, the Prime Minister of your country goes abroad on a holiday Something similar recently happened in Australia Fires.
In the summer are extremely common in some regions in Australia This happens every year. You could say that it is the natural weather pattern there It is called the "Fire season" that peaks in late January and February When it does happen, generally, the firefighters do not try and put out the fire Rather, they let it burn in a controlled manner Because it is extremely important for the fire to stay alight as it is a part of the ecosystem there If the fire is put out, then the ecosystem there will not be able to survive that way The natural environment and the trees there stay in great shape because of this fire season But in a controlled manner.
"We can't control the weather But we can manage the accumulation of flammable vegetation And we can do this by prescribed burning Pretty much the same way as aboriginal people managed the bushland for thousands of years Prescribed burning programme is not harmful to plants and animals And in fact, is beneficial to plants and animals""He's just drinking water" 🨗 BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 18, 2020
A thirsty koala licks rainwater off a road in New South Wales after heavy rain and thunderstorms lashed Australia’s east coast, dousing some bushfires 🌧ï¸https://t.co/WTmiGLoTAo pic.twitter.com/Wv3J20pDZU
But what happened this time was an extreme weather event The bushfire this year was grossly uncontrolled The blame for this cannot be put upon the firefighters. Rather, it should be put on climate change 2019 has been the hottest and driest year in the History of Australia till date While there's an increase of 0.8 degrees in the temperature of the world due to climate change, this effect is more intensely visible in Australia And the temperature increase in Australia due to climate change is by 1.4 degrees already The interesting thing is that in 2008, twelve years prior to today, a scientific report had predicted exactly what is happening today This report of 2008 had stated that due to climate change, Australia's fire season will begin early and end late that is, it will stay for a longer duration and be more intense It had also stated that this effect will be directly observable by 2020 It is 2020 now and it is visible to all So its prediction has been greatly accurate Right now, the average temperature increase is 1.4 degrees in Australia Scientists have predicted that when this average temperature rise reaches 3 degrees, then such fire seasons will be seen every summer, every year in Australia There was destruction on an unprecedented scale due to these fires Estimates suggest that around 500 million to 1 billion animals have perished When I am talking about animals, I do not mean insects I mean mammals, reptiles and birds which have been killed in such huge numbers...
Think about it- 1 billion! It is such a huge number Koala used to be a very common animal in Australia But these fires have affected the population of Koalas so much that they could now be listed in the endangered category Infact, as a continent, Australia is quite special in matters of biodiversity The kind of wildlife found there is not seen anywhere else If you go outside cities, then you might find kangaroos and emus roaming freely in the roads.
The animals that escaped the fires have nothing to eat So food was air dropped for them from helicopters 18 million hectares is the area of the land that has been burnt to ashes in this fire For comparison, let me tell you that when a fire broke out in Amazon last year, around 7 million hectares worth jungle burned down in it For another comparison, the state area of Bihar is around 10 million hectares So double the area of the state of Bihar that is the area that has been burned to ashes in Australia due to these fires An economic damage(due to this) of around 4.4 billion dollars has been estimated Massive amounts of smoke has been released due to fires that broke out on such a large scale Not only did this lead to air pollution in Australian cities, when the air carried this smoke outside the Australian cities, Then this smoke circulated all around the globe and came back to Australia This was shown by the NASA Satellite images The glaciers in New Zealand have turned yellow due to the smoke And whilst all this was happening, the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison left the country for a vacation on Hawaii Think about it, the entire country is up in flames and he's out on vacation in Hawaii Although he later apologized for this vacation But when he returned to his country, then the Australian public openly abused him The people were so angry at him that when he went out amongst the general public, then no one even agreed for a handshake with him Have a look
"I'm only shaking your hand if you give more money to our Rural Fire Service"— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 13, 2020
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison faces criticism over his response to the bushfireshttps://t.co/QEG9M12UCF pic.twitter.com/lWuHYPLAQi
Scott Morrison has been criticized several times for ignoring an important issue like climate change He is not ready to admit that there is a direct link between these fires and climate change The scientists have been reiterating this for several years again and again And despite that, their Prime Minister wants to promote coal and coal energy For example, one time he brought a piece of coal to the Parliament to show that there is no need to fear coal The ones getting scared are coal phobic Therefore we should promote coal energy. Our economy runs well due to coal, the people get jobs and the businesses do well too.
Scott Morrison Words About Coal In Parliament:-
"This is coal Don't be afraid, don't be scared ...the treasurer knows the rule on props... Its coal It is dug up by men and women who work and live in the electorates of those who sit opposite It is coal that has ensured for over 100 years that Australia has enjoyed an energy competitive advantage that has delivered prosperity to Australian businesses and ensured that the Australian industry has been able to remain competitive on a global market."
The carbon dioxide released by coal and petroleum leads to climate change And today, the reality is that Australia is world's largest coal exporter And let me tell you another shocking fact Australia has the world's second largest carbon emission per capita That is, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per person is the second highest in Australia after USA There's no doubt that Australia contributes significantly to climate change and its government is not taking any action against it In fact, their government is approving projects like the Adani coal mines You must have heard about the Adani coal mine project that is being constructed on the Great Barrier Reef Not only is it ecologically dangerous for the Great Barrier Reef, It would also increase carbon emissions and aggravate climate change Despite such a grave natural disaster, the Australian government did not agree to stop that coal mine even though people have been protesting to get it stopped since years There is a German company called Siemens Siemens has been given the contract to develop rail infrastructure in this coal mine Siemens is also not taking back its contract despite witnessing such a massive destruction So now, protests have begun in Germany too, against Siemens , to halt this Adani coal mine You will also have to understand that this is not the matter of one or two countries- it affects the entire globe When fires break out in Amazon and Australia, then its' effects will be visible in India too Don't think that you'd be able to escape all these things by sitting on the other side of the globe The natural disasters and climate change won't descend keeping the borders of the countries in mind You will also have to understand that like minded politicians have been elected all across the globe.
A large fire-whirl during a grass fire burning near the city of Tumbarumba, New South Wales on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/ZC6u08EhSm— BBC Weather (@bbcweather) January 17, 2020
They take no action against climate change Either they are immensely stupid or they promote these coal and polluting industries deliberately to save their businesses and mint money On one hand there is Scott Morrison who belongs to the centre Right wing party in Australia On the other hand, Donald Trump is seen doing the same thing in USA USA is the sole major country to back away from the Paris Climate Agreement In fact Donald Trump took a lot of decisions that took back regulations on polluting industries to promote the polluting industries and to promote coal On the other hand, there's a similar story in Brazil, where the right wing leader, Bolsonaro is indirectly responsible for the Amazon forest fires Ever since he has been elected in 2019, there has been an 85% increase in the deforestation in Amazon forests All the decisions that the politicians across the world take on the matter of environment, affects every person as well as living being on this planet Hence it is very important to pressurize the leaders to take pro environment steps and to take action against climate change.
I am Pratham Sharma, Founder of Mobibaz, Tesla Labs, and Pratham Sharma. I am a Blogger, Affiliate Marketer and a Digital Marketer from India. I write about Current Affairs, Technology, Entertainment and many interesting topics.If you want to check my Website... 
0 Comments
Please Comment Down Below