My location is in my profile. I'm about six miles from where the fire with the koala and the fire fighter started. I live in the edge of a city, about 10 houses from a conservation park which marks the edge of the metropolitan area. So whilst I'm not in as much danger as those living in the country, I'm not as safe as those living closer to the CBD, and I have to be vigilant under certain conditions. Yes, basically the whole continent is on fire. Most of those fires are away from populated areas though. The problem is that everything is so dry, the fires just can't be stopped. Embers blow ahead of the fire front, and instantly create new fires that similarly can't be stopped. Some fires are creating their own firenadoes, and other fires are creating their own thunderclouds, that create lightning, that start more fires, and the cycle repeats. The South Island of New Zealand is covered in smoke from Australia, so much so that the glaciers are turning brown. An estimated half a billion animals have died so far, and some species are feared to have been made extinct. Thousands of homes have burned down. Towns have been evacuated by the Australian Navy because all road access has been cut off by the fires. We don't know how many people have died yet because many people are listed as missing, and no-one can get in to those areas to check on them. We're not even half way through bushfire season. Looking for a positive, what has been burned can't be burned again.
That could be a problem because some affected areas are quite steep; however, those areas have also been in drought for the last seven years, so it could turn our either way. My money's on more drought.
How's the smoke situation with regard to where you are? The pictures and videos I've seen are truly horrifying.
Depends on the direction the wind is blowing. Some days it's fine, others I try to stay inside with the doors and windows closed. Today it was smoky earlier in the morning, but now it has cleared up. That could change later. I'm lucky I suppose that the wind direction has been regularly changing here, thus clearing the smoke out. Other places have not had those changes, so are constantly smoky. Both Sydney, and Canberra have had cricket matches called off because of poor air quality. The baseball series between Adelaide and Canberra scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled because Canberra currently has the worst air quality of any city in the world. I've heard it's the equivalent of smoking 34 cigarettes a day.
LaMelo Ball has donated one month of his salary to bushfire relief. Multiple tennis players are donating money for every ace they hit. Multiple cricketers are donating money for every six (home run) they hit.
Trump administration has ended a regulation requiring new infrastructure projects to include an assessment of impact on climate. Good thing global warming is a hoax. G'day.
God is punishing them for bowing to a facist government. The government wasn't satisfied with confiscation of their guns. It has now outlawed the use of water hoses to defend themselves against nature's fury. True story.
Hoses were banned except for two days a week, watering systems and new swimming pools were forbidden and motorists could only wash their cars with buckets. Fines for stealing water jumped from $550 to $2,200, with a penalty of up to $50,000 if a case went to court. Sep 8, 2019 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7421477/Australians-hit-worst-water-restrictions-seen.html
Our conservative federal government is beholden to man made climate change deniers within their own party, so we're not doing ourselves any favours. Australia only produces 1.3% of the worlds carbon emissions, but if you include emissions created by the fossil fuels we export, we produce 3.3%. Just using the 1.3% figure, per capita we produce the second highest carbon emissions in the world. So yeah, we made our own bed. It's also worth noting that the areas hardest hit by bushfires continuously elect conservative politicians whose party gives lip service to preventing climate change. Whilst I'm sure all of the donations from actors, singers, and athletes are much appreciated, and will be well used to recover from these bushfires, unless they're going to donate every year, it's a little pointless. Because this will happen again. It's a bit like putting a bandage on a cut without addressing the reason you keep getting cut.
Well they are riddled with chlamydia. Kangaroo Island is Australia's third largest island, and one third of it has been burned by bushfires started by lightning strikes. It is home to the only koala population that is chlamydia free. It is also home to the only remaining pure Ligurian honey bees in the world (Ligurian bees elsewhere have crossbred with other bees). An estimated one quarter of their hives have been burned, and due to vegetation loss, the others will struggle to gather enough nectar to survive. There has also been a massive loss of livestock which will hurt Australia's economy. An estimated 9% of Australia's cattle, and 13% of Australia's sheep have been destroyed. The loss of tourism dollars will also hurt the economy. Add these losses to the money spent combating the bushfires, property damage, etc; and the line given by certain politicians that ceasing to burn, and export fossil fuels will damage the economy, rings hollow.
For those who care about facts, Australia did not ban guns, only certain types of automatic weapons. The number of gun owners in Australia has not changed since the law was passed. A country with no individual right to bear arms is Russia, but I guess god God is OK with Putin since he hates gays and supports Trump.
And automatic weapons would be better to shoot the fire. Just image how much faster and better Jesus could have been crucified if Pontius Pilate had used a nail gun instead of just nails.
