- Australia is accustomed to some of the cleanest air in the world, and yet in December and January, Canberra and Sydney have seen some of the worst. In December, being outside in Sydney was the equivalent to smoking 37 cigarettes in one day.
Australia’s being ravaged by bush fires right now. At least 18 million acres have already burned, roughly equivalent to the size of the country of Ireland. At least 2,000 homes have been destroyed, and 29 people have already lost their lives.
Australia is the most fire prone continent on earth, and people living in Australia have been used to bush fires as an annual event for over 60,000 years. This time is different because we’re really starting to see the effects of climate change take place.
Australia’s been in drought for over three years, and it’s temperature has risen by more than one degree Celsius over the course of the last century. We have to remember that climate change doesn’t cause bush fires, but it does make them more intense, and more likely to occur.
The smoke from Australia’s wild fires has been so large and so intense, that it’s already circumnavigated the globe. Smoke from Eastern Australia reached the country of New Zealand across the Tasman Sea, a distance equivalent to that between New York City and Haiti.
In 2018 alone, we saw 21 climate related events, including the wild fires in California, drought in China, flooding in China. We also saw two hurricanes across the East Coast of the U.S. as well as the summer heat wave in Europe and more bush fires in Australia.
This is just a smattering of the events that we’ve seen, and in 2019, we saw even more, including flooding in Indonesia and the floods in the Midwest of the United States. Australia is the world’s second largest exporter of coal.
Makes it the world’s third largest exporter of carbon emissions. There are a number of options where Australia can combine economic growth with climate change action. It doesn’t necessarily need to choose between the two.
One example is Australia is already a world leader in renewable energy, and there are a number of other paths forward where Australia can step up and provide an example for other countries around the world.
Australia is accustomed to some of the cleanest air in the world and yet in December and January Canberra and Sydney have seen some of the worst in December being outside in Sydney was the equivalent to smoking 37 cigarettes in one day [Music] Australia’s being ravaged by bushfires right now at least 18 million acres have already burnt roughly equivalent to the size of the country of Ireland at least 2,000 homes have been destroyed and 29 people have already lost their lives Australia is the most fire-prone continent on earth and people living in Australia have been used to bush fires as an annual event for over 60,000 years this time is different because we’re really starting to see the effects of climate change take place Australia’s been in drought for over three years and his temperature has risen by more than one degree Celsius over the course of the last century we have to remember that climate change doesn’t cause bush fires but it does make them more intense and more likely to occur the smoke from Australia’s wildfires has been so large and so intense that it’s already circumnavigated the globe smoke from eastern Australia reached to the country of New Zealand across the Tasman Sea a distance equivalent to that between New York City and Haiti in 2018 alone we saw 21 climate related events including the wildfires in California drought in China flooding in China we also saw two hurricanes across the east coast of the US as well as the summer heat wave in Europe and more bush fires in Australia this is just a smattering of the events that we’ve seen and in 2019 we saw even more including flooding in Indonesia and the floods in the Midwest of the United States Australia is the world’s second largest exporter of coal makes it the world’s third largest exporter of carbon emissions there are a number of options where Australia can combine economic growth with climate change action it doesn’t necessarily need to choose between the two one example is Australia is already a world leader in renewable energy and there are a number of other paths forward where Australia can step up and provide an example for other countries around the world.
Source: https://youtu.be/0ClH3jEhpP0