If Not Now, When? I Think It Is Time For Some Political Leadership On These Busfires And Their Causes!

This is not a political blog, and anyway this issue seems to have moved way beyond politics. I do really feel the need to say something about these lethal and terrifying bush-fires that are engulfing Qld, NSW and WA.

It is totally clear that we have a major drought in Eastern Australia and very hot weather which is making a huge difference to fire risk.

In the background we have scientifically proven anthropomorphic climate change which is just making an awful time even worse.

I have lived in and around Sydney for 70 years and what is going on now is beyond my experience and is frankly terrifying. The way things look - with long range forecasts - this may go on through to April / May of 2020. Sydney will have suffocated by then, and the health effects really can't be even estimated yet.

With those facts surely it is time to have Parliament be recalled to develop a plan for bush-fire resources, use of the military, extra water bombing aircraft and training of volunteers to replace those who are bearing this load and must be close to collapse, among other things.

Additionally we need a proper plan for national bushfire risk mitigation and response for the country and a much more constructive approach to climate change adaption nation-wide. There is no way what we are seeing now is not going to be repeated and we need to be a competent national player while doing what we can to generate an improved global response.

All this is urgent and imperative to me. Can we afford to just sit on our hands?

Flames >// device/null.

David.

ps. This from The Economist Espresso this morning - the view from the other side of the world!

Fire and fury: Australia’s unprecedented bushfires

Summer has only just arrived and already thousands of fires have been raging in Australia. Their scale is unprecedented and this week will bring no relief. In New South Wales, the worst-affected state, temperatures are set to soar. Fires there have already burnt through over 2m hectares—an area roughly the size of Israel—and fully 10% of the state’s national-park land has been torched. Several fronts have fused on the outskirts of Sydney, shrouding the city in a toxic fog. Many angry locals want their government to acknowledge that global warming is at least partially responsible. Fire seasons, once confined to scorching summer months, are dragging on for longer. Scientists warn that rising temperatures and failing winter rains are a recipe for flames. But the conservative coalition government won this year’s election with unwavering support for the coal industry. It has barely mentioned climate change.

D.