Australia Bushfires | Explained by Sohail Khan

 Hello friends

Think about it: your entire country is up in flames.

A natural disaster on such a massive scale has never happened in your country ever

And during such times, the Prime Minister of your country goes abroad on a holiday.

Something similar recently happened in Australia.

Australia 

Fires in the summer are extremely common in some regions of Australia

This happens every year. You could say that it is the natural weather pattern there

It is called the "Fire season" that peaks in late January and February.

Australia Bushfires | Explained by Sohail Khan 

When it does happen, generally, the firefighters do not try and put out the fire

Rather, they let it burn in a controlled manner.

Because the fire needs to stay alight as it is a part of the ecosystem there.

If the fire is put out, then the ecosystem there will not be able to survive that way

The natural environment and the trees there stay in great shape because of this fire season

But in a controlled manner.

But what happened this time was an extreme weather event.

The bushfire this year was grossly uncontrolled

Australia Bushfires | Explained by Sohail Khan 

The blame for this cannot be put upon the firefighters. Rather, it should be put on climate change.

2019 has been the hottest and driest year in the History of Australia to date

While there's an increase of 0.8 degrees in the temperature of the world due to climate change,

this effect is more intensely visible in Australia.

And the temperature increase in Australia due to climate change is by 1.4 degrees already

The interesting thing is that in 2008,

twelve years before today, a scientific report had predicted exactly what is happening today.

This report of 2008 had stated that due to climate change, Australia's fire season will begin early and end late.

that is, it will stay for a longer duration and be more intense

It had also stated that this effect will be directly observable by 2020.

So its prediction has been greatly accurate

Right now, the average temperature increase is 1.4 degrees in Australia

Scientists have predicted that when this average temperature rise reaches 3 degrees,

then such fire seasons will be seen every summer, every year in Australia

There was destruction on an unprecedented scale due to these fires

Estimates suggest that around 500 million to 1 billion animals have perished

When I am talking about animals, I do not mean insects

I mean mammals, reptiles, and birds

which have been killed in such huge numbers... Think about it- 1 billion!

It is such a huge number.

Koala used to be a very common animal in Australia

But these fires have affected the population of Koalas so much that they could now be listed in the endangered category.

In fact, as a continent, Australia is quite special in matters of biodiversity

The kind of wildlife found there is not seen anywhere else.

If you go outside cities, then you might find kangaroos and emus roaming freely on the roads

The animals that escaped the fires have nothing to eat.

So food was airdropped for them from helicopters.

18 million hectares in the area of the land that has been burnt to ashes in this fire.

Economic damage(due to this) of around 4.4 billion dollars has been estimated

Massive amounts of smoke have been released due to fires that broke out on such a large scale

Not only did this lead to air pollution in Australian cities,

when the air carried this smoke outside the Australian cities,

Then this smoke circulated all around the globe and came back to Australia.

This was shown by the NASA Satellite images

Australia Bushfires | Explained by Sohail Khan 

The glaciers in New Zealand have turned yellow due to the smoke.

And whilst all this was happening, the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison

left the country for a vacation in Hawaii.

Think about it, the entire country is up in flames and he's out on vacation in Hawaii

Although he later apologized for this vacation

But when he returned to his country, then the Australian public openly abused him

The people were so angry at him that when he went out amongst the general public,

then no one even agreed for a handshake with him.Scott Morrison has been criticized several times for ignoring an important issue like climate change

He is not ready to admit that there is a direct link between these fires and climate change

The scientists have been reiterating this for several years again and again

And despite that, their Prime Minister wants to promote coal and coal energy

For example, one time he brought a piece of coal to the Parliament

to show that there is no need to fear coal

The ones getting scared are coal phobic

Therefore we should promote coal energy.

Our economy runs well due to coal, the people get jobs and the businesses do well too.

The carbon dioxide released by coal and petroleum leads to climate change

And today, the reality is that Australia is the world's largest coal exporter.

Australia Bushfires | Explained by Sohail Khan 

And let me tell you another shocking fact.

Australia Bushfires | Explained by Sohail Khan 

Australia has the world's second-largest carbon emission per capita.

That is, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per person.

is the second highest in Australia after the USA

There's no doubt that Australia contributes significantly to climate change

and its government is not taking any action against it

Their government is approving projects like the Adani coal mines

You must have heard about the Adani coal mine project that is being constructed on the Great Barrier Reef.

Not only is it ecologically dangerous for the Great Barrier Reef,

It would also increase carbon emissions and aggravate climate change

Despite such a grave natural disaster, the Australian government did not agree to stop that coal mine

even though people have been protesting to get it stopped for years

There is a German company called Siemens

Siemens has been given the contract to develop rail infrastructure in this coal mine

Siemens is also not taking back its contract despite witnessing such a massive destruction

So now, protests have begun in Germany too, against Siemens, to halt this Adani coal mine.You will also have to understand that this is not the matter of one or two countries- it affects the entire globe.

When fires break out in Amazon and Australia, then its' effects will be visible in Pakistan too.

Don't think that you'd be able to escape all these things by sitting on the other side of the globe.

Natural disasters and climate change won't descend keeping the borders of the countries in mind.

You will also have to understand that like-minded politicians have been elected all across the globe

They take no action against climate change

Either they are immensely stupid.

or they promote these coal and polluting industries deliberately to save their businesses and mint money.

On one hand, there is Scott Morrison who belongs to the center Right-wing party in Australia.

On the other hand, Donald Trump is seen doing the same thing in the USA

The USA is the sole major country to back away from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Donald Trump took a lot of decisions that took back regulations on polluting industries.

to promote the polluting industries and to promote coal

On the other hand, there's a similar story in Brazil, where the right-wing leader, Bolsonaro.

is indirectly responsible for the Amazon forest fires

Ever since he has been elected in 2019, there has been an 85% increase in deforestation in Amazon forests.

All the decisions that the politicians across the world take on the matter of environment,

affects every person as well as a living being on this planet

Hence it is very important to pressurize the leaders to take pro-environment steps

and to take action against climate change.

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