A melancholy and cataclysmic turn of events marked the incipience of this year. Mourned globally, the Australian bushfires took a toll on countless lives of the humans and the precious, abundant animals that once resided in Australia.
With a death toll of about 28 people, including firefighters and an estimated 10 million hectares (100,000 sq km or 15.6 million acres) of the bush, forest, and parks including 80% of the Blue Mountains, and 50% of the Gondwana world heritage rainforests across Australia have charred. The numbers are ever-increasing.
The domains of catastrophe
According to the latest reports by BBC, New South Wales and Victoria have been subjected to the most abysmal rate of annihilation.
In the worst annihilated state, New South Wales (NSW), the bushfire has afflicted more than five million hectares, destroying more than 2,000 abodes and compelling thousands of masses to seek refuge elsewhere. As fires rapidly spread across all across Australia to become some of the most devastating on record, the Australian government was compelled to issues a nationwide “state of disaster.”
Around 105 fires were burning in the bush, mountain forests, and national parks across New South Wales on January 13th, the Rural Fire Service said, with 38 uncontained.
Right now, Australia is in flames. The nation is being ravaged by the most disastrous bushfire season the country has ever observed.
So far, above 10.7 million hectares of Australian land have been burned. At least 29 people have died and over 2,000 homes lost. The World Wide Fund is greatly inconsolable by the loss of life and homes, as well as all the destruction, pain, and suffering caused by the bushfires.
New South Wales has declared a state of emergency and Victoria a state of disaster, and major fires are raging in South Australia and Western Australia.
The lamenting souls of fauna
“While the trees burn, the wildlife also paid the price with its life.”
It’s been reckoned that around 1.25 billion animals have been massacred across Australia to date. This encompasses thousands of koalas, and other epochal species such as kangaroos, wallabies, kookaburras, cockatoos, and honeyeaters that once were in abundance and were considered as heritages of Australia charred alive, and many countless more wounded and homeless.
The bushfire depredation and wide-scale habitat extermination has been repeated across Australia and is even poor on Kangaroo Island, B
The Bushfires this year have left an estimated 1 billion dead animals in their wake, their carcasses silently dotting the blackened nation.
Some animals are adapted to find shelter in rock crevices or burrows.
Who is to be accused?
The constant rejection and politicization of climate change being an issue in instigating this apocalyptic advent might be the problem!
In a way, it is our ignorance and towards the detrimental circumstances of our ecology.
Although, bushfires are a regular occurrence in Australia’s geographical features, which are often triggered by natural disasters such as lightning strikes – and cannot be blamed on climate change or rising greenhouse gas emissions entirely.
But numerous environmentalists came together and conspired on the same conclusion that in the past decades, the drastic changes in climate globally is key to understanding the ferocity of this year’s bushfires. Hotter, drought-like conditions are making the country’s fire this year-long and much more lethal.
Besides, Australia’s climate is undoubtedly transitioning. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, temperatures have already hiked up by more than one degree Celsius since 1920, with much of the accrual taking place since 1950.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s State of the Climate 2018 report stated that climate change has led to an upsurge in extreme heat occurrences and increased the severity of other natural mishaps, such as drought.
On April, 23 former fire chiefs and emergency leaders issued a letter warning the Australian government about “inflating extreme catastrophic weather events.” It appealed for a meeting, which was surprisingly declined by the government.
Australia’s lethal bushfires have been powered by a conglomeration of extreme heat, prolonged drought, and strong winds. The country is in the grasp of a heatwave, with record-shattering temperatures over the last three months. In mid-December, the country observed the hottest day in history. The average temperature was a staggering 41.9 degrees Celsius.
The World Has Spoken!
The 93-year-old British naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, stated that it is an “utter oxymoron” to advocate that Australia’s bushfire crisis has nothing to do with climate changes he forewarned “the moment of crisis” has finally arrived.
The British naturalist and countless others made the direct association between the current bushfires and climate change.
Also, in the light of concurrent events, during the Golden Globe Awards on January 5th, infamous celebrities, including Joaquin Phoenix, Ellen DeGeneres, Patricia Arquette, and Cate Blanchett, shared their concern and about the Australian bushfires.
The economic desecration from the fires ravaging Australia’s eastern seaboard is likely to surpass the record $4.4bn set by 2009’s Black Saturday blazes, Moody’s Analytics stated.
The Moody’s infamous economist Katrina Ell reported that the fires would further immobilize Australia’s already anemic clientele confidence, increasing the chances of a rate cut the following month, as well as culminating damage to the economy through increased air pollution and direct harm to industries such as farming and tourism.
She also stated that the risk of damage to the extensive economy, outside zones burnt by fire, was increased because the bushfire season still had months to continue.
The battle strategy – The rescue mission continues
Celebrities and other well-known personalities globally have been urging the masses worldwide to join them in helping Australians, and flora and fauna. Celeste Barber’s Facebook bushfire fundraiser is officially the largest in the platform’s history, raising funds over $28.5 million in just four days.
The family of infamous late wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin announced that their animal hospital in Queensland had doctored more than 90,000 animal patients.
WWF-Australia has announced for immediate global aid to establish an AUD$30 million Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund.