Climate change is proving to be one of the most horrendous situations to befall humanity and animals. It’s resulting in hundreds of millions in lives being lost amongst diverse ecosystems, with humans now struggling to cope with certain conditions and dying as well. This was proven clear with the prolonged bushfires throughout Australia, which began in September and killed twenty-four individuals.
Plums of smoke have become thicker with each passing day, prompting the air quality in New South Wales and Canberra to be the worst worldwide. With all these occurrences piling up, individuals weren’t anticipating for the Prime Minister to state that these bushfires will rage onwards for three to five months. Subsequently, this means the bushfires of Australia potentially could last ten of twelve months. If these prolonged wildfire seasons continue, the country will ultimately be abandoned.
The Firefighters
The passing weekend before New Year’s Eve saw the worst of these events unfold, with upwards of 500 properties being consumed by the flames. Canberra, Sydney and Rural Towns across Australia experienced glowing red skies from the ever-increasing bushfires. Ash began falling from the sky, and the air-quality became toxic. There was a brief moment of relief in New South Wales and Victoria when wind speeds drastically dropped, and temperatures lowered. This prompted light rainfall, allowing for on-scene firefighters to battle the onslaught of flames better.
The individuals that are battling these flames have come worldwide, with British and American firefighters being called out throughout the last five months. When these bushfires became stronger, the Australian Prime Minister called onto the three thousand reserve citizens of Australia. Subsequently, there are now 3k reservists that are battling these flames with no previous training. This decision caused significant backlash towards the Prime Minister; he didn’t inform the Rural Fire Service of the called-on reserve troops until hearing it from media outlets. This gave those little on-scene time to react towards the influx of volunteers.
The Relief Program
Morrison has done some good in this time of national emergency. He implemented a recovery program that allows for victims that lost their homes or property to receive government assistance. The program will operate for two years and require the Australian tax-payer potentially hundreds of millions of dollars. It should be noted that since these bushfires began, more than $100 million has been donated to relief efforts. Unfortunately, it seems these efforts are becoming somewhat pointless and that Australia has been lost to climate change.
