Currently, some 123 separate fires rage throughout Australia. A little under half still
remained uncontained. Despite firefighters’ best efforts, fires are still expected to burn
for several months, and many have already lost their lives to the fire. The Australian
Prime Minister has been harrased and condemned for his lack of action. Although the
Prime Minister has conceded and apologized, unpopularity is at an all time high; This
is especially true after the Prime Minister went on vacation during the fires. The reason
this bush fire is so important is due to the amount of destruction this has caused to
Australia's environment and wildlife. Roughly 17.9 million acres of land have been
ravaged by this wild fire, and this number will most likely grow, making this the largest
fire Australia has seen.
remained uncontained. Despite firefighters’ best efforts, fires are still expected to burn
for several months, and many have already lost their lives to the fire. The Australian
Prime Minister has been harrased and condemned for his lack of action. Although the
Prime Minister has conceded and apologized, unpopularity is at an all time high; This
is especially true after the Prime Minister went on vacation during the fires. The reason
this bush fire is so important is due to the amount of destruction this has caused to
Australia's environment and wildlife. Roughly 17.9 million acres of land have been
ravaged by this wild fire, and this number will most likely grow, making this the largest
fire Australia has seen.
Opinion: This anger towards the prime minister’s attitude can be understood as he has made very little effort into protecting civilian populations. The Prime Minister clearly does not understand the severity and urgency of the situation with his country literally on fire. Not only that, but his inability to stay in his own country in a time of crisis clearly demonstrates his inability to lead. We guess he just couldn’t stand the heat- both politically and literally.
Discussion questions
- What variables could have allowed such a large fire to occur? Lack of action? Global warming?
- Should the Prime Minister’s lack of investment in Australian fire protection be to blame? Are the citizens rightfully angry?
- Should Australia reinvest into regrowing the bush lost? Is it worth the risk of another forest fire?
Sources:
I published because Pascal's link was having errors. However, we encountered a bunch of text-related bugs where it wouldn't wrap the text properly.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that the Prime Minister is at fault for not having better fire protection as Australia is dry and hot. This is like the Amazon fires, the President of Brazil was also denying the burning forests and said it was apart of daily life. I do think that this fire started from humans, a fire was started maybe as a campfire and then blazed out of control.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the prime minister's attitude can be seen as he made minimal effort to take care of the situation. I do not think the prime minister is handling the fire situation very well, as seen when he took a vacation while the wildfires were still going. I think the people have every right to be mad and upset with the prime minister and want him to take more action of the situation.
ReplyDelete-Brianne Martin
DeleteGlobal Warming has made a significant impact on the Australian bushfires. Hotter conditions result in the fire season being longer. This expansion in the fire season results in less time for hazard reduction and planning ways to prevent fires. Also, lightning (which causes lots of wildfires ) becomes more frequent when the climate is warmer.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that the Prime Minister deserves every bit of backlash he has recently been given. His lack of attention definitely cost Australia environmental and financial burdens. His excuse of being on vacation was not valid because it is his duty to lead the country no matter what circumstances. The citizens have every right to be upset with the prime minister for his lack of actions and poor judgement.
ReplyDeleteI believe that after Australia recovers from this season's wildfires that it should begin to rebuild and replant. Yes, this will take a lot of money, time, and work but it will pay off not only for Australia, but also for our planet's future. Wildfires will always be a threat in many parts of the world, but that does not mean that we should stop planting trees. Instead, we should put more resources and time on removing dead and decaying trees in order to prevent future fires. Dead trees are much more likely to catch on fire than the healthy, growing trees that would be planted after this season.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn response to question #2, I personally believe that the citizens have every right to be angry with their Prime Minister. Although he has apologized, the number of lives that have been ruined or lost due to the bushfires just goes to show how little care and attention he has placed towards the situation. Thousands of homes have been destroyed, many people have lost their lives, and the wildlife has been destroyed. He could have handled the situation far better, and it also extremely angering knowing that he took the time to go on a vacation during the crisis.
ReplyDeletequestion #1: I believe that Global Warming has a big impact in this situation due to Australia already being a dry and hot place. Even after Australia's recovery, the main cause of fires in Australia is bushfires caused my lightning, and lightning from thunderstorms don't really produce rain.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIn response to question 1, I believe that the Australian Bush Fires has been fuelled by the many different factors of global warming, such as extreme heat waves in australia and the intense drought australia has been in for many years because of its dry weather. In addition, I believe there was also some human wrongdoing such as arson and lightning from mother nature, but the substantial reason was obviously due to the severe heat australia has been facing.
ReplyDeleteReplying to question 1, I believe that both climate and human actions have caused such a fire to occur. At events such as the fire at Yellowstone's North Entrance fire, which burned four acres, the cause of the fire was due to human error(which in this case, the cause of the fire was a lit cigarette that dropped to the floor). Global warming is also another factor as it turns the climate of Australia much drier than it should be, increasing heat and therefore causing dry grass to burn with the fire.
ReplyDeleteI believe global warming caused such a large fire to occur. However, I also believe that the naturally hot and dry weather in Australia is to blame. Natural causes, like dry wood, may have started the fire. I do believe the citizens are rightfully angry. Their prime minister should be doing more than what he is doing right now, and he seems worse because he thought it was right to take a vacation during this incident. This fire should be of importance to the government and the prime minister is not conveying it to the people that way. I do believe that they should regrow the bush lost, it contributes to the greenery and beauty of the country. However, it is worth the money to put in place infrastructure to prevent these types of fires from occurring again.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do believe that global warming has a large role in the fire, I also believe that the lack of action by the government are what allowed the fire to grow to the scale it is at this moment. Citizens are rightfully angry about the Prime Minister's lack of commitment to protecting his own country as he should be doing more to improve the situation. I think that Australia should invest in regrowing the plant life that has been lost because reviving the lost ecosystems is important as an estimated 1 billion animals have been killed in these fires. Since the climate of Australia is so hot and dry, it may be important to put more effort into preventing and protecting the country against future fires.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that Australia should invest in regrowing their forest. Even though the process will take a lot of money and effort, and would take a lot of time for the process to make a significant impact, it would pay off in the future. We shouldn't just stop planting trees at the risk of fires as many other things could cause fires, such as arson. Trees are a fundamental part of the Earth's environmental health and we should work on fixing other problems that might contribute to fires other than just trying to remove the whole situation altogether, as that would not solve any problem and would most likely make things worse.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Prime Minister should be blamed, and the citizens are rightfully angry. Being that he was on vacation, whether knowing about the fires or not, defeats the purpose of his authority when the Australian people need him the most. This lack of action could have contributed to the fires burning more because he hadn't thought out plans or investments during this time. The amount of destruction caused by this is devastating for the Australian citizens, they need as much help as they can get.
ReplyDeleteTO answer the first question, a lack of knowledge on the part of the citizens of Australia may have led to this large-scale wildfire. A way to fix that may be to raise awareness by letting the people know to put out their fires after they have used them, or to never leave fires unattended. Another reason why Australia may have experienced such a large wildfire like this can be attributed to the lack of scheduled controlled burns, which serve to get rid of the dead-standing foliage, and clear the way for new plants to grow. The reason the government is reluctant to prescribe controlled burns is that they fear the loss of exotic plant as well as animal species. To this point, their fear is well founded, however this way of thinking is what I believe contributed in part to these wildfires.
ReplyDeleteAlex Errington, as it seems by name did not show up.
DeleteThe Prime Minister's negligence of his own country during such a large disaster is disheartening. Although it is probably not what caused the fire, his choice to ignore the fire has contributed to its severity. Australia is a beautiful country, but it's landscape will likely be forever changed because of the fires. Environmentally, this is devastating. I think that Australia should invest in regrowing the forest and other vegetation lost in an effort to combat the threat posed by this enormous loss. Additionally, the lack of upkeep of the areas damaged in the crisis (controlled burns, etc.) most likely contributed to the severity of the fire as well. Although global warming has contributed to the minimal rain in Australia and lengthened the amount of time it has been able to burn for, it is probably not the main cause of the fire. It was most likely caused by other issues such as a neglected campfire or power line fall. Overall, the anger of the Australian population is understandable and hopefully Australia will be able to recover from this crisis.
ReplyDeleteThe fire was obviously able to spread very quickly, with lack of protection. While I believe global warming to be a problem in the fires, the probability of it being the main cause is low. It most likely came from some human error that caused the fire to start. Since the Prime Minister did not care to invest in the protection against wildfires, over a billion animals died and a large part has been burned by the flames. The citizens should have a right to be upset with the lack of care with wildfires and animal deaths. I believe Australia should restore what used to one be their. It would benefit the wildlife and help rebuild their habitat. If us humans care to protect our environment, the chances of wildfires would go down significantly. It is a tragedy that many animals have been lost due to our mistakes.
ReplyDeleteIt is evident that the fires have been caused by years of neglect throughout the international community. While fires are to be expected and are an important part of nature, recent decades have seen balance lost in nature. Humans have used greenhouse gases that have completely thrown off multiple natural cycles, forcing our environment to adapt quicker than ever before to a new threat. I believe that politicians throughout the world should be held accountable for the significant changes taking place in our environment and more should be done by the international community to contain and potentially fix this severe threat. It is evident to me that Australia should replant the bushes from the fire no matter its potential effect on future fires. If we are to repair the destruction which we have caused it is crucial to attempt to maintain a balance on Earth and plants are our only hope of fulfilling this objective. How does one expect to reduce the threat of wildfires to a natural level without facing the issue of climate change, which has been caused by the destruction of ecosystems and burning of fossil fuels. They are one and the same.
ReplyDeleteI think that the citizens are rightfully angry at the Prime Minister; despite the immense destruction being caused by wildfires, he went on vacation, which appears irresponsible and neglectful--very bad traits for a leader to display. He could have instead started working on solutions and methods of recovery, such as pushing for bedrock environmental laws, encouraging citizens to engage in work to plant bush wildlife, and putting in place programs to remove vegetation that is a fire-risk (that can in turn be economically beneficial, as they could be used for renewable energy and various products). He could have also funded research to predict future wildfires with better accuracy, pushed for the installation of better fire warning systems in houses, pressed harder fines on people that start fires through carelessness, and reworked the budget to put out and prevent wildfires. However, despite all the courses of action he could have taken, he decided to back down when his country needed him. It’s no wonder his popularity has fallen to an all-time low. Overall, world leaders that ignore the issue of fires are a major problem in the international community; there needs to be more pressure from the UN to safeguard against further environmental damage.
ReplyDeleteI think that the prime minister deserves to be blamed and that the citizens deserve to be blamed because he was on vacation when it happened and he was completely unaware of the situation and he was useless
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