Jan 1, 2020 11:24 PM
In Australia Wildfires, Scenes Of Smoke, Sparks And Chaos
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/01/792853342...-and-chaos
INTRO: Wildfires are a regular occurrence in Australia, but on New Year's Eve, residents of the state of New South Wales experienced blazes stronger and more destructive than they had in years. In several of the southeastern towns, smoke blocked out the sky, houses were destroyed, and thousands of tourists and locals were forced to flee to nearby beaches. Seven people have died so far, and several others are unaccounted for.
It's still unclear how long the fires will last or what the extent of the damage will be. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service, made up of 74,000 volunteers, predicts that conditions will remain unsafe through the weekend. But that doesn't mean things will clear up anytime soon; fire season in Australia's southeast, where it's currently summer, lasts for months. The most recent fires are coming after weeks of strong winds, record-breaking heat and years of drought in parts of the country.
Images from the fires capture sparks flying, ravaged buildings, smoke and glowing red as far as the eye can see. Here are some of the most striking scenes of the destruction so far... (MORE - images)
Australia, your country is burning – dangerous climate change is here with you now
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...th-you-now
EXCERPT (Michael E. Mann): After years studying the climate, my work has brought me to Sydney where I’m studying the linkages between climate change and extreme weather events. [...] In Australia, beds are burning. So are entire towns, irreplaceable forests and endangered and precious animal species such as the koala (arguably the world’s only living plush toy) are perishing in massive numbers due to the unprecedented bushfires.
The continent of Australia is figuratively – and in some sense literally – on fire. Yet the prime minister, Scott Morrison, appears remarkably indifferent to the climate emergency Australia is suffering through, having chosen to vacation in Hawaii as Australians are left to contend with unprecedented heat and bushfires. Morrison has shown himself to be beholden to coal interests and his administration is considered to have conspired with a small number of petrostates to sabotage the recent UN climate conference in Madrid (“COP25”), seen as a last ditch effort to keep planetary warming below a level (1.5C) considered by many to constitute “dangerous” planetary warming.
But Australians need only wake up in the morning, turn on the television, read the newspaper or look out the window to see what is increasingly obvious to many – for Australia, dangerous climate change is already here. It’s simply a matter of how much worse we’re willing to allow it to get. Australia is experiencing a climate emergency. It is literally burning. It needs leadership that is able to recognise that and act. And it needs voters to hold politicians accountable at the ballot box. Australians must vote out fossil-fuelled politicians who have chosen to be part of the problem and vote in climate champions who are willing to solve it. (MORE - details)
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Remarkable how a country with only 25+ million people can be so policy influential on the rest of the world and so responsible for global climate change effects that its own crisis will be remedied by immediate purge of its administration and industry. In the course of this particular trashing of the Anglo sphere, China's runaway coal plants (and the rest of the globe) contributing to Australia's problems goes unmentioned, and in fact what China is doing is blamed in a September video on Trump: 'China is doing far more than we are' on climate change ... ("We have seen carbon emissions now go up in China. They're starting to build coal-fired power plants again. That's the damage that was done by Trump's inaction.")
So could there even be a contest situation being submitted here concerning which master puppeteer [sarcasm] gets the most blame -- Scott Morrison or that intellectual heavyweight Donald Trump -- in deviously robbing those glorious champions of social justice in China of either their free will or good sense when it to comes accelerating their carbon footprint? ("Chinese Documents Leaks Provide New Evidence of China’s Persecution of Muslim Uyghurs").
Perhaps the righteously indignant and ideologically evangelical stripe of scientist should try to spread the blame around more equally among nations (i.e., cut the school of thought dogma biases and favorites) so that they truly appear concerned about a genuine threat of climate change rather than opportunistically seizing upon such as veiled, double propaganda for political coups and cultural engineering they desire.
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/01/792853342...-and-chaos
INTRO: Wildfires are a regular occurrence in Australia, but on New Year's Eve, residents of the state of New South Wales experienced blazes stronger and more destructive than they had in years. In several of the southeastern towns, smoke blocked out the sky, houses were destroyed, and thousands of tourists and locals were forced to flee to nearby beaches. Seven people have died so far, and several others are unaccounted for.
It's still unclear how long the fires will last or what the extent of the damage will be. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service, made up of 74,000 volunteers, predicts that conditions will remain unsafe through the weekend. But that doesn't mean things will clear up anytime soon; fire season in Australia's southeast, where it's currently summer, lasts for months. The most recent fires are coming after weeks of strong winds, record-breaking heat and years of drought in parts of the country.
Images from the fires capture sparks flying, ravaged buildings, smoke and glowing red as far as the eye can see. Here are some of the most striking scenes of the destruction so far... (MORE - images)
Australia, your country is burning – dangerous climate change is here with you now
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...th-you-now
EXCERPT (Michael E. Mann): After years studying the climate, my work has brought me to Sydney where I’m studying the linkages between climate change and extreme weather events. [...] In Australia, beds are burning. So are entire towns, irreplaceable forests and endangered and precious animal species such as the koala (arguably the world’s only living plush toy) are perishing in massive numbers due to the unprecedented bushfires.
The continent of Australia is figuratively – and in some sense literally – on fire. Yet the prime minister, Scott Morrison, appears remarkably indifferent to the climate emergency Australia is suffering through, having chosen to vacation in Hawaii as Australians are left to contend with unprecedented heat and bushfires. Morrison has shown himself to be beholden to coal interests and his administration is considered to have conspired with a small number of petrostates to sabotage the recent UN climate conference in Madrid (“COP25”), seen as a last ditch effort to keep planetary warming below a level (1.5C) considered by many to constitute “dangerous” planetary warming.
But Australians need only wake up in the morning, turn on the television, read the newspaper or look out the window to see what is increasingly obvious to many – for Australia, dangerous climate change is already here. It’s simply a matter of how much worse we’re willing to allow it to get. Australia is experiencing a climate emergency. It is literally burning. It needs leadership that is able to recognise that and act. And it needs voters to hold politicians accountable at the ballot box. Australians must vote out fossil-fuelled politicians who have chosen to be part of the problem and vote in climate champions who are willing to solve it. (MORE - details)
- - -
Remarkable how a country with only 25+ million people can be so policy influential on the rest of the world and so responsible for global climate change effects that its own crisis will be remedied by immediate purge of its administration and industry. In the course of this particular trashing of the Anglo sphere, China's runaway coal plants (and the rest of the globe) contributing to Australia's problems goes unmentioned, and in fact what China is doing is blamed in a September video on Trump: 'China is doing far more than we are' on climate change ... ("We have seen carbon emissions now go up in China. They're starting to build coal-fired power plants again. That's the damage that was done by Trump's inaction.")
So could there even be a contest situation being submitted here concerning which master puppeteer [sarcasm] gets the most blame -- Scott Morrison or that intellectual heavyweight Donald Trump -- in deviously robbing those glorious champions of social justice in China of either their free will or good sense when it to comes accelerating their carbon footprint? ("Chinese Documents Leaks Provide New Evidence of China’s Persecution of Muslim Uyghurs").
Perhaps the righteously indignant and ideologically evangelical stripe of scientist should try to spread the blame around more equally among nations (i.e., cut the school of thought dogma biases and favorites) so that they truly appear concerned about a genuine threat of climate change rather than opportunistically seizing upon such as veiled, double propaganda for political coups and cultural engineering they desire.