Southeastern Australia is ablaze with “catastrophic” wildfires after years of parching. The national government denies that global climate change has anything to do with the fires, calling those who think otherwise “raving lunatics.”
Weeks ahead of Australia’s traditional bushfire season, 99 fires were raging out of control across New South Wales (NSW). Already wildfires have burnt 3 times as much land as they did during all of last year’s fire season. NSW rural fire commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons exclaimed, “We have got the worst of our fire season still ahead of us. We’re not even in summer yet.”
Australia is no different than other countries in continuing to pump out more and more climate-changing pollutants. The national governments of Australia and the United States are outstanding only in continuing to deny climate change and blithely doing their best to hasten human self-extinction through business as usual. Other politicians across the rest of the world at least pay lip service that something must be done at some indefinite time in the future, signing fantasy accords to kick the can of responsibility down the road. Democracy at work.
References:
Greg Mullins, “This is not normal: what’s different about the NSW mega fires,” The Sydney Morning Herald (11 November 2019).
Ben Doherty, “Australia fires: nation braces for ‘most dangerous bushfire week ever seen’,” The Guardian (11 November 2019).
Damien Cave, “Australia confronts ‘catastrophic’ fire conditions,” The New York Times (11 November 2019).