(no subject)
Hi,
I am worked up right now. Worked up and shaking. I was cooly dispassionate yesterday when my mother informed me that half of Victoria was on fire. Why? Because we've dealt with this before. Bushfires? Yeah, they are scary and devastating and so many other adjectives like that but Australia has dealt with this before.
So we should be able to deal with it now, right?
Yeah, I am not dealing. Not because someone I know has been affected by it (and I hope that no one I know has been affected. So very sincerely) but because I cannot believe my attitude yesterday and yet I would do anything to have it back and not have my equilibrium shaken.
For those of you, fortunate enough not to know what I'm talking about:
Bushfires aka Wild Fires have been burning in much of Victoria, which is a smallish state taking up the the south eastern corner of Australia. Over the past couple of weeks Victoria and South Australia has been in the midist of a heatwave with temperatures around 40-45'C (104-113'F). For those of you who have never lived in these parts, a 40'C day in the middle of summer is not particular unusual, BUT several 40'C days in a row over several weeks is beyond the pale and is unusual*. Houses down there are built for a temperate climate and they usually do the job.
Days that are hot (even ~32'C/89'F), windy and dry = total fire ban days, ie. days when you have no business lighting a fire for whatever reason because you are not silly and should have enough common sense in your little finger to figure out that a hot windy day + flame = disaster.
Apparently there are people out there who are missing their little fingers because fires were lit (some of them may have been spontaneous fires caused by natural events-- I don't put my faith totally in the hands of the media because I know they like sensationalism and also they can't spell) and so there are bushfires raging throughout a great deal of Victoria. 126 people are dead. They expect it to reach 200. In the scheme of things these are little numbers, although not any less tragic. Over 500 homes have been destroyed. This is the human loss which will extend throughout Victoria and the rest of the country.
To further depress you all as I've depressed myself so well, I want you to think about the ecological effects. Urban areas have been destroyed, but so has farmland and bushland. Plants, birds, and animals. The environment.
So we have human loss and environmental loss, which is why my equilibirum has been shaken. Human loss, we can deal with. It's hard, and difficult and people will be hurting for a very long time, but we can deal with it. We know how to do that, we've done it before and we can do it again. Environmental loss though? Do we even understand what has happened here? Do we even care?
I know probably sound callous or something along those lines and I'm, well, I'm not okay with it, but I'll deal with it it, but the reason why I think the environmental side of this is important is because it's the environment that provides.
It provides the fuel for the fires. It provides somewhere for us to live. Somewhere, someone will claim that the environment was badly managed and hence we had fires which should have been avoided (it already happened in my house). This is why I think it's important to think about the environmental loss.
Here are some links:
Information/Updates
The Age- Melbourne's newspaper
The Sydney Morning Herald- Sydney's newspaper
Donations/Support
Victorian Bushfires Appeal 2009-- Red Cross Appeal
Wildlife Victoria Bushfire Appeal-- Wildlife Victoria (you don't have to be a member to donate)
Victorian Farmers Federation Bushfire Diaster Relief Fund
*This is becoming less so over the years and having experienced it, I do not think climate change is a hoax.
I am worked up right now. Worked up and shaking. I was cooly dispassionate yesterday when my mother informed me that half of Victoria was on fire. Why? Because we've dealt with this before. Bushfires? Yeah, they are scary and devastating and so many other adjectives like that but Australia has dealt with this before.
So we should be able to deal with it now, right?
Yeah, I am not dealing. Not because someone I know has been affected by it (and I hope that no one I know has been affected. So very sincerely) but because I cannot believe my attitude yesterday and yet I would do anything to have it back and not have my equilibrium shaken.
For those of you, fortunate enough not to know what I'm talking about:
Bushfires aka Wild Fires have been burning in much of Victoria, which is a smallish state taking up the the south eastern corner of Australia. Over the past couple of weeks Victoria and South Australia has been in the midist of a heatwave with temperatures around 40-45'C (104-113'F). For those of you who have never lived in these parts, a 40'C day in the middle of summer is not particular unusual, BUT several 40'C days in a row over several weeks is beyond the pale and is unusual*. Houses down there are built for a temperate climate and they usually do the job.
Days that are hot (even ~32'C/89'F), windy and dry = total fire ban days, ie. days when you have no business lighting a fire for whatever reason because you are not silly and should have enough common sense in your little finger to figure out that a hot windy day + flame = disaster.
Apparently there are people out there who are missing their little fingers because fires were lit (some of them may have been spontaneous fires caused by natural events-- I don't put my faith totally in the hands of the media because I know they like sensationalism and also they can't spell) and so there are bushfires raging throughout a great deal of Victoria. 126 people are dead. They expect it to reach 200. In the scheme of things these are little numbers, although not any less tragic. Over 500 homes have been destroyed. This is the human loss which will extend throughout Victoria and the rest of the country.
To further depress you all as I've depressed myself so well, I want you to think about the ecological effects. Urban areas have been destroyed, but so has farmland and bushland. Plants, birds, and animals. The environment.
So we have human loss and environmental loss, which is why my equilibirum has been shaken. Human loss, we can deal with. It's hard, and difficult and people will be hurting for a very long time, but we can deal with it. We know how to do that, we've done it before and we can do it again. Environmental loss though? Do we even understand what has happened here? Do we even care?
I know probably sound callous or something along those lines and I'm, well, I'm not okay with it, but I'll deal with it it, but the reason why I think the environmental side of this is important is because it's the environment that provides.
It provides the fuel for the fires. It provides somewhere for us to live. Somewhere, someone will claim that the environment was badly managed and hence we had fires which should have been avoided (it already happened in my house). This is why I think it's important to think about the environmental loss.
Here are some links:
Information/Updates
The Age- Melbourne's newspaper
The Sydney Morning Herald- Sydney's newspaper
Donations/Support
Victorian Bushfires Appeal 2009-- Red Cross Appeal
Wildlife Victoria Bushfire Appeal-- Wildlife Victoria (you don't have to be a member to donate)
Victorian Farmers Federation Bushfire Diaster Relief Fund
*This is becoming less so over the years and having experienced it, I do not think climate change is a hoax.