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As far as I know there were far larger fires in the 1974–1975 fire season but in those days there was no talk of climate change being a driving factor. In that

As far as I know there were far larger fires in the 1974–1975 fire season but in those days there was no talk of climate change being a driving factor. In that season 45,000,000 hectares burned in Northern Territory, 29,000,000 in Western Australia, 17,000,000 in Southern Australia and 7,500,000 in Queensland. Going even further back to the 'Black Thursday bushfires' in 1851 saw 5,000,000 ha. burn which caused the death of 1 million sheep - there are no numbers on the death toll among wild animals. The source for these data is a report titled 'National Inquiry on Bushfire Mitigation and Management', Appendix D 'Fire history in Australia' on page 339-344 [1]. The current fire season has seen about 6,300,000 ha. burn. A difference between the current season and previous seasons is that these latest fires have affected densely populated areas, including holiday destinations. Another important difference - at least in the amount of attention these fires get - is that there were no celebrities driving the cause in 1974-1975, let alone in 1851. Your statement that The coal industry is a driving force behind climate change which was the primary cause of the bush fires is not supported by the previously mentioned report which abstract goes as follows: Bushfires are an inherent part of the Australian environment. We cannot prevent them, but we can minimise the risks they pose to life, property and infrastructure, production systems, and the environment. Australia has a large and very capable force of volunteer and career firefighters, advanced firefighting technologies, and significant firefighting resources. But the geographical scale of our country, the large and expanding rural–urban interface, and the potential for rapid bushfire development and spread under adverse weather conditions mean that individual Australians cannot rely solely on fire agencies to protect their lives and property from bushfires. Bushfires have a fundamental and irreplaceable role in sustaining many of Australia’s natural ecosystems and ecological processes and are a valuable tool for achieving land management objectives.However, if they are too frequent or too infrequent, too severe or too mild, or mistimed, they can erode ecosystem health and biodiversity and compromise other land management goals. We have been learning to live with fire since the first Australians arrived on our continent. We need to continue, and enrich, that learning process in contemporary circumstances and be able to adapt our planning and responses to change.This report seeks to help all Australians meet these challenges. [1] https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=scipapers https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&conte...

everdev 7y ago
Climate change is almost certainly making some disasters more intense and more frequent but you're right to point out that it's not like all devastating natural disasters will stop if we reverse climate change. We also have more people on this Earth and better measurements now so it's not surprising that more people are recorded as being affected. So, climate change didn't start the brush fires but it probably did make them X% more intense, but we don't know what X is.
- chrisco255 7y ago
  You can't stop climate change. It has been happening for billions of years. Records of floods and droughts (and subsequent wildfires) exist in Australia since it was colonized. There are naturally occurring dynamics that influence the patterns of rain across the world. At one point the Sahara was able to support vegetation, but whatever rain was falling on the Sahara at that time probably caused a prolonged drought in some other part of the world. You need several ingredients to get wildfires: 1) lack of H2O 2) wind 3) either lightning or human-caused flames to reach the 500F+ necessary to trigger combustion 4) an abundance of dry vegetation in close proximity Notice CO2 has no effect on any of the above, except indirectly. CO2 acts as plant fertilizer, so it causes photosynthesis to work more efficiently, and therefore more plant growth occurs overall in the entire planet. While more plant growth is a good thing, it also provides more fuel for wildfires when droughts inevitably occur. EDIT: I know alarmists are sensitive to facts, but your assertion that humans cause rain to either fall or not fall over given areas is rooted in superstition, not science. It's one you share with your pre-Renaissance ancestors who were prone to witch burning and human sacrifice to try to combat drought.
  - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
    I know the general internet advice is to not feed the trolls but I'll bite this time. We know a few things: * Based on historical temperature readings we know that the climate is now changing at a massively faster rate than the normal rate of change over billions of years. * A hotter climate increases the risk of bushfires * More co2 in the atmosphere creates a greenhouse effect that creates a warmer climate * A warmer climate can store more moisture in the air leading to longer periods of no rain followed by massive downpours (https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/moisture-holding-capacity-air-d_281.html https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/moisture-holding-capacity...) * The Australian firefighters have reported that this fire season they have had much less time for reduction burns because the land spends more time being too wet to burn or far too dry to safely burn compared to previous years. These facts have been confirmed repeatedly over the decades by actual experts. Either you have fallen victim to corporate propaganda or you have something to lose from the changes that will be required to prevent climate change. Like all good lies, this one starts with a piece of truth. There have always been fires in Australia, where the truth stops is forgetting to mention that there have not always been fires of this scale, with fire seasons running this long.

everdev 7y ago

Climate change is almost certainly making some disasters more intense and more frequent but you're right to point out that it's not like all devastating natural disasters will stop if we reverse climate change. We also have more people on this Earth and better measurements now so it's not surprising that more people are recorded as being affected. So, climate change didn't start the brush fires but it probably did make them X% more intense, but we don't know what X is.

chrisco255 7y ago
You can't stop climate change. It has been happening for billions of years. Records of floods and droughts (and subsequent wildfires) exist in Australia since it was colonized. There are naturally occurring dynamics that influence the patterns of rain across the world. At one point the Sahara was able to support vegetation, but whatever rain was falling on the Sahara at that time probably caused a prolonged drought in some other part of the world. You need several ingredients to get wildfires: 1) lack of H2O 2) wind 3) either lightning or human-caused flames to reach the 500F+ necessary to trigger combustion 4) an abundance of dry vegetation in close proximity Notice CO2 has no effect on any of the above, except indirectly. CO2 acts as plant fertilizer, so it causes photosynthesis to work more efficiently, and therefore more plant growth occurs overall in the entire planet. While more plant growth is a good thing, it also provides more fuel for wildfires when droughts inevitably occur. EDIT: I know alarmists are sensitive to facts, but your assertion that humans cause rain to either fall or not fall over given areas is rooted in superstition, not science. It's one you share with your pre-Renaissance ancestors who were prone to witch burning and human sacrifice to try to combat drought.
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  I know the general internet advice is to not feed the trolls but I'll bite this time. We know a few things: * Based on historical temperature readings we know that the climate is now changing at a massively faster rate than the normal rate of change over billions of years. * A hotter climate increases the risk of bushfires * More co2 in the atmosphere creates a greenhouse effect that creates a warmer climate * A warmer climate can store more moisture in the air leading to longer periods of no rain followed by massive downpours (https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/moisture-holding-capacity-air-d_281.html https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/moisture-holding-capacity...) * The Australian firefighters have reported that this fire season they have had much less time for reduction burns because the land spends more time being too wet to burn or far too dry to safely burn compared to previous years. These facts have been confirmed repeatedly over the decades by actual experts. Either you have fallen victim to corporate propaganda or you have something to lose from the changes that will be required to prevent climate change. Like all good lies, this one starts with a piece of truth. There have always been fires in Australia, where the truth stops is forgetting to mention that there have not always been fires of this scale, with fire seasons running this long.