Gee, who would have thought that a warming climate would lead to longer bushfire seasons, less chance for hazard reduction burns and fires now burning in places where we haven't seen fires for millenia?
Well, the CSIRO for one.
In 2009, yes folks, that's 10 years ago, the CSIRO wrote, in a report to government:
What do we find happening 10 years after the idiots in Canberra were warned:
As Ken Thompson, former Deputy Commissioner of NSW Fire and Rescue has recently written:
It ain't the greenies who are the reason for less backburning, it is the climate.
We should have started dealing with this decades ago, to quote Ken Thompson agian:
And yet we are now told by the morons in government that now is not the time to be talking about climate change and bushfires. Well, April wasn't the time, the past 3 or 4 decades apparently wasn't the time. It is clear that they simply don't want to talk about it at all. Might hurt the interests of those who fund their parties.
It's a disgrace.
Even worse, we live in one of the best locations on the planet to generate renewable energy. We could be creating a booming economy and helping to solve the problem of carbon emissions. Instead, we remain tied to yesterday's energy sources.
DS
Well, the CSIRO for one.
In 2009, yes folks, that's 10 years ago, the CSIRO wrote, in a report to government:
While the impact of climate change is likely to be an increase in the frequency of ‘Extreme’ fire danger days, the impact of climate change on the structure of the forest, fuel availability and thus the behaviour of bushfires is not known. The severity of fire conditions or fire danger is calculated through combining measures of temperature, wind speed, humidity and drought into the Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI), which has been used for many decades. With the likely onset of climate change effects, modifications to aspects of the FFDI, particularly the assumptions regarding the rate of fuel drying, should be considered to better reflect the change in drying conditions in future. Under climate change it is expected that current 'windows' for hazard reduction burning will change and possibly narrow, meaning less opportunity to conduct safe and effective hazard reduction burns.
What do we find happening 10 years after the idiots in Canberra were warned:
- lengthened fire seasons.
- an increase in extreme fire danger days.
- less opportunity to perform hazard reduction burns as the bush is simply too dry to risk these getting out of control.
As Ken Thompson, former Deputy Commissioner of NSW Fire and Rescue has recently written:
For obvious reasons, you can only do prescribed burnings when temperatures are low, humidity is high and winds aren’t too strong. But since it’s hot, dry and windy for more and more months of the year, leading to elevated fire danger, the window for safe burning is shrinking dramatically.
It ain't the greenies who are the reason for less backburning, it is the climate.
We should have started dealing with this decades ago, to quote Ken Thompson agian:
The best time to have taken these steps was decades ago when climate scientists first started issuing warnings that burning coal, oil and gas was producing greenhouse gas emissions and fuelling dangerous climate change.
The second best time would have been April, when senior emergency leaders from every Australian state and territory came together to warn the federal government that climate change was worsening bushfire danger in our country and that we were not prepared.
Unfortunately, successive governments have largely dismissed or ignored these warnings. Even today, we have people disputing the evidence or spreading deliberate misinformation.
And yet we are now told by the morons in government that now is not the time to be talking about climate change and bushfires. Well, April wasn't the time, the past 3 or 4 decades apparently wasn't the time. It is clear that they simply don't want to talk about it at all. Might hurt the interests of those who fund their parties.
It's a disgrace.
Even worse, we live in one of the best locations on the planet to generate renewable energy. We could be creating a booming economy and helping to solve the problem of carbon emissions. Instead, we remain tied to yesterday's energy sources.
DS