4 ms·

Australia Burns Again, and Now Its Biggest City Is Choking

18 points by vo2maxer 7y ago

viraptor 7y ago
Smaller scale effects are visible way further than mentioned in the article. With the wind blowing just the right direction, my town 600km away from Sydney (and over 700km from the fires at the time) experienced a haze over two days. Not a dense/coloured one, but the sky still disappeared and there was the "it's bright from every direction" feeling during the day.
- bamboozled 7y ago
  See this article, New Zealand's Glaciers have turned red from the fires: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/05/australia/australia-bushfires-new-zealand-glaciers-scn-scli-intl/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/05/australia/australia-bushf...
axolttl88 7y ago
It’s bad. I’ve lived in Sydney 21 years and there’s been nothing like this before. We were on the harbour this summer afternoon staring directly at the sun at 5pm - it was a barely visible red dot in the smoke haze - and ash was raining down on us. The current drought is so tough on December 10 Sydney starts Level 2 water restrictions for all residents and businesses. There’s an increasing sense among my friends of all political persuasions that we’re heading into this future faster than anyone anticipated - and that our government is asleep at the wheel.
- L_226 7y ago
  > and that our government is asleep at the wheel No, they are deliberately misleading the public while attempting to shore up as much capital as possible for themselves, before the real crisis actually happens. It just so happens that more people are starting to catch on to their bullshit. Don't make the mistake of thinking Morrison et al are incompetent. They are highly accomplished politicians who know exactly what to say and do to keep their jobs, and so far it is working.
  - ganeshkrishnan 7y ago
    Morrison won the election in a direct democracy with mandatory voting. Recently they increased their approval in the latest poll. Countries get the leaders they deserve.
    - Razengan 7y ago
      Maybe the people get what they deserve, but the poor animals get screwed without having any say in anything.
    - cyphar 7y ago
      Australia is not a direct democracy, it's a representative democracy. The only element of direct democracy we have are constitutional referendums.
      - ganeshkrishnan 7y ago
        Semi-direct, yes. But at some point majority of the people have elected him? And still approve of him. Anything else are excuses. fwiw, I didn't vote for him and am equally disappointed
legostormtroopr 7y ago
Stop replanting eucalyptus trees. They are highly flammable and don’t biodegrade, and instead litter the ground with kindling in the form of oil-rich non-roting leaves. People have to find a balance between climate solutions and retaining biodiversity. Looking at Australia, and California, where Eucalyptus trees were introduced a common thread behind these massive bush fires is these highly flammable trees. It’s unknown why eucalypts thrive and promote bush fires, but the evidence is there. We should be planting high growth European deciduous trees that have strong roots and give back to the soil. Instead, environmentalists take a hardline “only native plants” view. In the coming years, if Australia is going to combat this we’re going to have to rethink our love of Eucalypts and start looking at less bushfire promoting plants.
- satori99 7y ago
  > Stop replanting eucalyptus trees. Eucalypt forests are not planted en-mass in Australia. They are more or less the default native vegetation, and part of an ancient ecology. The only place they are not found is Lord Howe Island, which was separated from the mainland back when Gondwana was still a continent. Some sub-species actually depend on fires as part of their life-cycle -- They have evolved rock hard seed pods that can survive a firestorm and are only dropped after a fire. Much of Australia's unique fauna depends on these forests for their existence. Introduced species, both plants and animals, are a significant problem in the Australian environment -- What you are suggesting is frankly a terrible idea.
  - ganeshkrishnan 7y ago
    This is not entirely correct. Eucalyptus is getting more inflammable as it their seeds are fire resistant and fires help them get rid of competition. When modern humans started artificial fires to clear land, eucalyptus trees started getting unfair advantage due to their fire resistance
    - satori99 7y ago
      What do you mean by modern humans? It is well-known that indigenous people have been using wild fire as a land management technique on the Australian continent for tens of thousands of years. Also, many of these tree species have very specific evolutionary adaptations due to regular bush-fires. This is not something that occurs on human timescales. http://www.forest-education.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/eucalypt_adaptations.pdf http://www.forest-education.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/e...

18 points by vo2maxer 7y ago

Smaller scale effects are visible way further than mentioned in the article. With the wind blowing just the right direction, my town 600km away from Sydney (and over 700km from the fires at the time) experienced a haze over two days. Not a dense/coloured one, but the sky still disappeared and there was the "it's bright from every direction" feeling during the day.

bamboozled 7y ago
See this article, New Zealand's Glaciers have turned red from the fires: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/05/australia/australia-bushfires-new-zealand-glaciers-scn-scli-intl/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/05/australia/australia-bushf...

axolttl88 7y ago

It’s bad. I’ve lived in Sydney 21 years and there’s been nothing like this before. We were on the harbour this summer afternoon staring directly at the sun at 5pm - it was a barely visible red dot in the smoke haze - and ash was raining down on us. The current drought is so tough on December 10 Sydney starts Level 2 water restrictions for all residents and businesses. There’s an increasing sense among my friends of all political persuasions that we’re heading into this future faster than anyone anticipated - and that our government is asleep at the wheel.

L_226 7y ago
> and that our government is asleep at the wheel No, they are deliberately misleading the public while attempting to shore up as much capital as possible for themselves, before the real crisis actually happens. It just so happens that more people are starting to catch on to their bullshit. Don't make the mistake of thinking Morrison et al are incompetent. They are highly accomplished politicians who know exactly what to say and do to keep their jobs, and so far it is working.
- ganeshkrishnan 7y ago
  Morrison won the election in a direct democracy with mandatory voting. Recently they increased their approval in the latest poll. Countries get the leaders they deserve.
  - Razengan 7y ago
    Maybe the people get what they deserve, but the poor animals get screwed without having any say in anything.
  - cyphar 7y ago
    Australia is not a direct democracy, it's a representative democracy. The only element of direct democracy we have are constitutional referendums.
    - ganeshkrishnan 7y ago
      Semi-direct, yes. But at some point majority of the people have elected him? And still approve of him. Anything else are excuses. fwiw, I didn't vote for him and am equally disappointed

legostormtroopr 7y ago

Stop replanting eucalyptus trees. They are highly flammable and don’t biodegrade, and instead litter the ground with kindling in the form of oil-rich non-roting leaves. People have to find a balance between climate solutions and retaining biodiversity. Looking at Australia, and California, where Eucalyptus trees were introduced a common thread behind these massive bush fires is these highly flammable trees. It’s unknown why eucalypts thrive and promote bush fires, but the evidence is there. We should be planting high growth European deciduous trees that have strong roots and give back to the soil. Instead, environmentalists take a hardline “only native plants” view. In the coming years, if Australia is going to combat this we’re going to have to rethink our love of Eucalypts and start looking at less bushfire promoting plants.

satori99 7y ago
> Stop replanting eucalyptus trees. Eucalypt forests are not planted en-mass in Australia. They are more or less the default native vegetation, and part of an ancient ecology. The only place they are not found is Lord Howe Island, which was separated from the mainland back when Gondwana was still a continent. Some sub-species actually depend on fires as part of their life-cycle -- They have evolved rock hard seed pods that can survive a firestorm and are only dropped after a fire. Much of Australia's unique fauna depends on these forests for their existence. Introduced species, both plants and animals, are a significant problem in the Australian environment -- What you are suggesting is frankly a terrible idea.
- ganeshkrishnan 7y ago
  This is not entirely correct. Eucalyptus is getting more inflammable as it their seeds are fire resistant and fires help them get rid of competition. When modern humans started artificial fires to clear land, eucalyptus trees started getting unfair advantage due to their fire resistance
  - satori99 7y ago
    What do you mean by modern humans? It is well-known that indigenous people have been using wild fire as a land management technique on the Australian continent for tens of thousands of years. Also, many of these tree species have very specific evolutionary adaptations due to regular bush-fires. This is not something that occurs on human timescales. http://www.forest-education.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/eucalypt_adaptations.pdf http://www.forest-education.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/e...