Australian tragedy unfolding

Written January 2020

Australia revisited, the tragedy continues

Fires have been followed by downpours bringing much needed torrential rain but included in this change of weather are hailstorms that have inflicted billions of dollars of damage, including to scientific research in Canberra, more fires and dead fish and walls of mud and increasing fire risks with a return of hot weather. More animals continue to die and yesterday a water-bombing aircraft crashed with the death of 3 US airmen taking the death toll to 33. Some areas have had massive dust storms so the choking smoke haze has become the dust haze. Throughout this crisis our cars have been covered in dust and water restrictions have forbidden the washing of cars and driveways. Indeed a large dust storm and strong winds blowing outside at present has been reducing vision.
See https://tinyurl.com/vpsfrnp   Then there’s the news from the World Economic Forum in Davos

The weather has gone berserk with unprecedented events.

Now is a time to pause and reflect on this international tragedy, first with a simple geography lesson. Australia is a large landmass and the 6^th largest country on Earth variously referred to as the largest Island or smallest continent in the world. Any glance at an atlas will show that it’s much larger than Western Europe. But Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world with 86% of its population living in mainly coastal cities. Much of the rest of Australia is desert.

Some experts have said that Australia could become a global superpower of renewable solar energy. In normal times it has an abundance of sunshine, a natural resource it has yet to exploit to its full potential.  Australia’s exotic wildlife is not part of city life other than trips to the zoo.

It’s like a death in the family

As has been reported widely an estimated recently over a billion animals have perished in the fires, and many more have lost their homes and natural habitats: birds their nests, wombats their burrows etc. It’s like a death in the family. When the final bill has been calculated for the loss of property and human life will these native creatures be missing from our accounts? Large amounts of money have been donated and are being spent to salvage what is left of their lives after the fires. Their loss is priceless and beyond economics. We value our biodiversity across this vast continent we share with our flora and fauna. Food for many stricken animals is being dropped by aircraft in a rescue effort but it’s sad that it’s come to this.

However not all animals are equal. As part of recovery there is talk about culling animals such as feral cats and foxes that threaten much of this wildlife. Australia also has feral horses, camels, and pigs that are regularly hunted and removed. Farmers particularly hate rabbits, rural pests that are also poisoned and shot regularly. Another unique animal is a bilby that some here want to replace the traditional chocolate Easter bunny.

An inconvenient truth

When history is written about this infamous period what will emerge from the ashes? 

• Warnings ignored and opportunities missed
• Calls for climate action amid climate change denial
• Adaptation or mitigation efforts to respond to crisis

Adani: Australia as a major coal exporter

With the promise of jobs both sides of politics, have endorsed a giant coal mining project, Carmichael in Queensland led by a large multinational Indian company Adani.  The Australian Greens have fiercely opposed this mine and many politicians have voted reluctantly along party lines. Major Australian and international banks have been withdrawn support for this project, and figures for the number of job outcome have also been questioned. Most alarming of all is that this giant project was granted an unlimited water licence for 50 years and that in an arid continent where water is precious especially in agriculture. The Adani mine is very controversial and is costing Australian taxpayers a mountain of money.

There has been massive opposition to the export of coal. Polls show that a large majority of Australians believe that climate change is real and after this summer of deadly fires that number is most likely to have increased, but jobs is the drawcard. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded world economic growth due to climate change and have even called for action to buy back coal burning assets. Across Europe there have been many protests against Australia’s coal policy.

Large financial organisations such as Blackrock have signalled they will be phasing out support for investments in coal, and most universities and many large businesses and churches have also stopped investments in coal mining. Tech giant Microsoft has taken a strong stand on reducing emissions from its operations planning to remove all historical emissions by 2050.

Sustainable business and climate change have been key topics at the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering of world and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland. It’s fair to say that the Australian fires have shaken the world with many, particularly the young, calling for strong climate action such as the end to power from coal and reforestation of our land. Prince Charles said at the forum that climate change and the loss of biodiversity are the biggest dangers facing the planet and we owe it to future generations to deal with it. Countries like Italy and New Zealand, so far, have made climate change a compulsory part of the school curriculum. Fires in the meantime are increasingly a part of our daily news reports and public education.

Living as if there’s no tomorrow

Yet the climate sceptics continue on our airways and newspapers, particularly in the Murdoch press. James Murdoch, son of Rupert, has criticised this recently but News Corp columnists and conservative radio shock jocks continue their rants, amongst other things falsely blaming the fires on arson and denying any link to climate change. Murdoch owns Fox News and is a major supporter of Donald Trump, the world’s leading climate change denier, so this bias is expected.

Former PM, Tony Abbott, a leading climate sceptic who lost his seat to an independent environmental candidate formerly from his side of politics, has declared the opposition to global warming a cult. One could argue that his steadfast clinging to coal as the great saviour is the major cult particularly as many countries are phasing out the use of coal. Science has continually outlined the dangers of climate change, as has the Australian Bureau of Meteorology with statistics from 1910 showing the changes in warming weather. See this warming increase at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/history/temperature/poster-tmean-anom.pdf

Yet speak to a climate change denier and they will come out with all manner of conspiracy theories: NASA is lying; greedy scientists are misleading us as they want grants for their research, Alan Jones said so on 2GB radio or was that Andrew Bolt on TV etc. Mindless, like lambs to the slaughter they deny science and we may pay for the consequences of this short-sightedness.  

Soon we will be in the winter of our discontent with the climate debate still raging. Climate action rallies will continue, the Murdoch media will endlessly criticise climate change reports, but hopefully some green shoots and leaves will return to our burnt trees. Eucalyptus trees are ideal for our environment and will bud again in time, at least until the next fire season when we go through it all again. 

The lessons of Davos

Prince Charles has eloquently warned in Davos that we must invest wisely in renewable and sustainable energy if the future of our children and grandchildren is to be assured. Climate change must be the centre of our agenda. David Attenborough has warned the world likewise of the dangers of climate change as have all the scientific bodies on the planet. As Greta Thunberg has said, follow the science

.

Meanwhile, it’s back to the Australian Open tennis and international cricket, important sideshows and distractions, and to praying that the local economy will also sprout some green shoots bringing tourists back to our World Heritage National Park in the Blue Mountains, our home. 

I still grieve deeply for the animals who will never return to their homes in our midst.

PS1  The current Australian dust storms remind me of Grapes of Wrath and the Oklahoma dustbowl so powerfully depicted by John Steinbeck in his seminal work. The dustbowl in Grapes of Wrath was a climate event and the Joad family fleeing to California were a sort of refugee, both unwelcome and scorned. So, from foodbowl to dustbowl, therein lies the question facing Australian agriculture.

PS2 Another development is the Australian climate change is the crisis. Australia has been singled out for climate 'denial' at Doomsday Clock event which is set for 100 seconds before midnight and a man-made catastrophe, the closest in its 73-year history. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has warned that Australia's "utter and absolute" denial of the threat of climate change is a danger to the world.  
24/01/2020