
Bushfires in Australia “Don’t you dare talk about climate change!”

It feels like not a week goes by without a new fire catastrophe on our planet. In recent weeks, a huge bushfire has already destroyed huge areas of forest on the east coast of Australia, and this week it reached such great proportions that numerous residential areas had to be evacuated.
a frequent topic at Mimikama this year . Now it's fires that are in the media again: forest fires have the two states of New South Wales and Queensland on the east coast of Australia firmly in their grip. Although both regions have already declared a state of emergency, allowing authorities to mobilize all government resources to fight the fire and carry out evacuations, over 1.1 million hectares of land have already been destroyed.
In the east of the country, three people have already been killed and over 100 others injured in the fires, including 20 firefighters. In Queensland, the severe bush fire even led to a helicopter crash, which the pilot fortunately survived. In addition, over 300 houses have already been damaged or completely destroyed, including villas belonging to prominent actors such as Russel Crowe.
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It is striking that the forest fires began in October in the spring, although fires of this magnitude actually only break out in the summer.
Climate change?
Climate researchers assume that climate change is the main cause of the fires, but above all that the fires broke out in spring.
In addition to the extensive damage to nature and houses, the way Australia's politicians are dealing with the issue is particularly worrying.
Australia is considered a serious “climate sinner” among western industrialized countries; climate protection and the recognition of climate change in connection with real measures are largely ignored in Australia.
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Even in the current crisis, the Prime Minister appeals that discussions about climate change and rethinking are “unhelpful” and do not help the population in the current situation.
Australia has always had forest fires.
In addition, a conference is now scheduled to take place in New South Wales where the consequences of climate change will be discussed.
According to the Guardian, employees of the New South Wales State Department of Planning and Environment were told by email by the government press office not to discuss the connection between the bushfires and climate change at the conference.
Also criticized by Australia's leadership was a 2018 Meteorological Agency report that predicted exactly this scenario, telling the two states that climate change would significantly lengthen the bushfire season and that it would increase in intensity.
In addition to the acute danger of fires to lives and houses, the longer-term consequences of the fires cannot yet be fully estimated.
The heavy smoke development, which is causing the smog to spread beyond the two states and even as far as New Zealand, is already causing increased pollutant levels in the air in affected areas and cities and could lead to significant health problems for the population in the near future .
Conclusion
In summary, in addition to the extent of the forest fires, it is above all the politicians' reaction to the fire disaster that is frightening and shows what fatal effects simple ignorance of climate change can have.
One can only hope that Australians, and the politicians they elect, recognize the increasing seriousness of the situation and take swift action to mitigate the impacts of climate change, as the day may soon come when the fires will no longer continue human hands will have to be brought under control.
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Author Alexander Herberstein, article preview image by John Crux / Shutterstock.com
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication
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The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual articles (not fact checks) were created using machine help and
were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )
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