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Image: Author. Original hand drawn concept, digitally coloured & text added.

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Image: Author. Original concept, hand drawn and digitally coloured.

The 'Truth' About Fire in Australia

Reeling from images of the catastrophic destruction of bushland and the prospect of species' annihilation I've been struggling to gather my thoughts on 'fire' in Australia. I have been very engaged in the 'fire' debate which, fed by the raging east coast fires, now seems to focus mainly on 'controlled burns' and their efficacy (or not) in reducing risk.  With global warming in the mix the issue of controlled burns is now much more complex. 

Recently I responded to a question by a follower of a friend's blog post in relation to this topic. I gave such a comprehensive answer I thought it might be useful to post it here, if only for my own record. 

Many Australians, who get their info from media grabs and don't engage deeply, don't really understand the issues around fire in a country that was designed to burn. In the current fear and confusion there has been a lot of emotive blaming of environmentalists and other convenient scapegoats. 

Basically - controlled burns (assuming they were useful in the past) are now less useful, maybe even counter-productive, for 3 reasons: 

1. The fire season has now extended out both ends and there is less time to burn safely and efficiently - it's either too wet or too dry. 

2. It has been stated by very experienced fire commissioners that controlled burns don't have much, if any, impact on wildfires, which are now more common due to global warming and the resulting drought in the east of Australia. One commissioner stated that recent wildfires ran right across areas that were control-burned only 2 years ago. 

3. Controlled burns regularly get out of control and destroy properties and lives. Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, stated recently on the ABC that he has had to placate angry residents who have been the victims of these burns. I know from social media exchanges, that many Australians don't trust government environment management authorities.

The reality is: Australia has a hell of a lot of highly inflammable bush and the landscape was designed to burn. Humans have encroached further into the bush and there is simply not enough time or resources to do what needs to be done, and benefits are questionable. We can't cut down the entire bush - we live in an ecosystem and vegetation helps with our now 'excess carbon'. We are caught between a rock and a hard place - in real terms: between the ocean and the desert interior. Thousands of academic papers have been written on this topic alone.

Throw in the discussion around the recently trending current silver bullet - Aboriginal burning practices - and things get even more confusing. An article I read yesterday by Tony Pedro, a local who has been arguing against burns for decades, spoke recently to one of the Aboriginal elders who said, yes, traditionally they did carry out controlled burns BUT they were cool slow burns in very restricted grassland areas to make it easier to grow/catch food. Aboriginal people never carried out hot burns in forests or dense bush like management authorities do now. It has been suggested by Pedro (with supporting historical photographic evidence) that Western burning practices have actually contributed to the current problem because they have changed the type of vegetation in forest understoreys. 

I'm in agreement with Pedro. I used to live on what was locally known as 'fire hill' and when firies tried to burn the western side of the hill, they couldn't get it going because of the thick layer of forest mulch. Unfortunately, with a warming and drying climate, these dense mulched layers are starting to dry out and burn - like the Amazon rainforest did recently for the first time in recorded history.

It's probable humans were never meant to live in some areas of Australia - which is now something authorities are looking at. Good luck with that - I reckon a lot of people will still want to live there and the cities aren't necessarily safe. Fires came very close to the wealthy suburb of South Turramurra in Sydney a few weeks ago. 

We can't all live on the coast and we need to produce food. I see the real problem as climate change, of course, but also population. We conveniently forget that the reason Aboriginal people were so successful at living on this very dry continent is that they maintained a balance between their occupation and their environment - between food gathering practices and their population - because they understood the land and how it worked. 

If we are going to start implementing indigenous practices, we also need to honour their wealth of knowledge - listen to everything they are saying - not just what suits a divisive political narrative.

Article: 'A farmer and volunteer firefighter's personal perspective on fire management practices in south-west Western Australian forests'

Image: Author. Manipulated digital collage.

Extinction Rebellion

Image: Author. Digital drawing.

Let the Cities Burn

I just posted this meme on Facebook. I've finally reached my cutoff point - my line in the sand. I have been operating under the misconception that I need to stay engaged with the doubters so they will eventually come around. I now realise this isn't going to happen. No matter how polite and reasonable I try to be I think they see this as a sign that I am coming around to their way of thinking. The dance stops here.

I was going to comment on one FB post whingeing about the percent for art that: 'great, now we can start piling onto artists instead of environmentalists'. I decided I didn't need the grief from dickhead responses. FFS people just need to grow up but it doesn't look like that's happening anytime soon. 

The latest wonderful news is that there is a worldwide social media campaign, run by the climate denialist right, that the fires in Australia were the fault of arsonists, not climate change. I hope these people remember their denial when they are burning or their house is falling into the ocean, which is happening now but not getting much coverage. Mostly the wealthy have those sorts of properties so it will be a good thing when they are directly affected (instead of: oh dear we'll have to cancel the cricket because of the smoke from burning animal flesh/peoples' homes). I mean, can you imagine living in western Sydney and trying to deal with the heat as a pensioner or someone on the dole? Only the rich can afford to run air conditioners. Why is it always the poor that suffer first, and most? I am exhausted with the inequity on this planet. The human species deserves to self destruct. 

To add insult to injury, I had a phone call from my mum last night about which I am not feeling happy because I got really annoyed with her. She is incredibly shallow and not on my wavelength at all. Most of the time I just listen to her babble on about stuff I have absolutely no interest in, but when she started complaining about the Fremantle waterfront not being open for tourists on the weekend I reached my tipping point. She is one of that generation that has had a great life, created millions of tons of carbon flying all over the world and doesn't give a fuck about what she is leaving behind. I know we didn't know all this stuff when we were younger so nobody is blaming anyone for that, but really? Now? When it's all over the media.....Her comment that 'well none of the politicians are any good anyway' just riled me. I said - 'well of course they aren't but people need to engage and vote accordingly. I suppose you voted Liberal'. Answer: 'I'm a swinging voter' (but I'll bet she voted Liberal). This denial of responsibility on so many fronts is bloody frustrating. My partner said his mum, who really was lovely, used to frustrate the hell out of him too. I said: 'what do you do about it?' He said: 'nothing'. Not very helpful but probably correct. I shut my mother down a couple of times with comments like: 'well I don't actually care mum, tourism is fucking up the world', and 'I don't fucking care what my aunty is doing - I've turned off her FB notifications. She follows and shares posts from people like Peta Credlin, Andrew Bolt and Craig Kelly, who is an idiot'. I don't suppose mum was very impressed with me but I'm over trying to fit into her warped version of reality.

The fire season in our little town hasn't really kicked in yet. I am always a bit on edge this time of year. I hate summer: fire season, fucking tourists and shit surf. It's a miserable time and I look forward to autumn and winter. This town and its surrounds has been ready to burn for decades. Luckily we haven't had the drought like the east has, though it is drier because our rainfall is decreasing. It will be a lottery as to who gets it and who doesn't.

I don't want anyone's house to burn down but I'm hoping the fires get uncomfortably close to the more posh Sydney suburbs and gives them a fright this weekend. Only when the cities burn will people really wake up to what is happening.

Image: Author, meme created in Illustrator. 

The REAL Wizard of Oz (not)

I'm on a roll with these memes! I posted this on Facebook and Instagram but I'm not sure if people got the double entendre.

Initially this was a response to one of my friends commenting that Morrison has a 'tin ear'. From there I went to: well maybe he is the Tin Man because he has no heart either. As I was happily collaging, I made the link from 'Oz' to 'Aus(tralia)'. Hence the Full Monty, Wizard of Oz poster as background. Subtle 'eh?

Image: Author, digital collage.

WTF is that Wet Shit?

We had 20mm of rain overnight. I woke up at 2.30 and it was raining hard for while. I'm very grateful for it. My new regenerating natives were suffering and the whole garden has now had a big drink. Watching the fires on the east coast I feel a bit guilty but hopefully, if the cyclone in the NW of Australia tracks predictably, the SE will get some rain in a few days or a week. That would be awesome, but we'll see.

Apparently SE Oz gets it's summer rain from the cyclones that form off the NW coast. And because the cyclone season has been late, the east coast has been drier than usual. It's very distressing watching what is happening on the east coast - partly because people and animals are suffering, but also because many of us here in the west are wondering if/when we are next.

Image: Author, original character design, hand drawn & digitally coloured.