Jan 8: Climate Change Arrival
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I wrote that in 2013. Now it is 2020 and the climate has really turned against us.
Bushfires in every state and territory of Australia. Devastating mega-fires in Queensland, NSW and Victoria - burning for months and still going strong. Homes lost, lives lost, businesses lost, forests lost, wildlife lost.
The State emergency services swung into action but the Commonwealth Government was asleep at the wheel. The Prime Minister went on holiday to Hawaii. The Defence Minister went to Bali. When Prime Minister Morrison came back, he was business as usual with a nonchalant "We've done all we've been asked to do" he said. He was "entitled to a family holiday", he said. Nothing to see here, move along....
The public outcry was deafening and a couple of weeks later Scott Morrison finally woke up, suddenly committing ships, planes, boats, boots, temporary accommodation and two billion dollars. All necessary, all supported, all well received.
Just a few months too late.
Suddenly, everyone is an expert on bushfires, the loudest of them calling for more hazard burning and blaming arsonists and the drought.
Yes, we have a drought, no, we can never do enough hazard reduction and there have always been arsonists.
It is a simple fact that Climate Change has arrived. It's been predicted by scientists for over a hundred years and it's pretty simple to understand the basics.
Greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane) in the atmosphere are responsible for blocking heat from radiating back into space. The gas amounts are small (about 0.1%) but human emissions increase the concentration and more heat is blocked from radiating out, making the planet warmer. It's a process that has been well known for over a hundred years.
This additional heating has underpinned the drought and a catastrophic bushfire season.
The Prime Minister said recently that "Climate Change is real. Hard to believe he actually admitted that - but the next day he confirmed that his government's weak Climate Change policies (derided internationally) will not be changed. Without recognising the implications of Climate Change nothing is going to change - except for the worse.
He is happier to fund short-term disaster repair than he is to invest in long-term disaster avoidance.
I've noticed a petition for a Royal Commission into the bushfires - as if it it is a one-off event. Such a commissions would take years to tell us what we already know, including:
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