Climate Dominoes in California and East Australia

Used with permission of Extinction Rebellion.

Julian Cribb wrote an excellent update November 29, 2019 at The Guardian on global bushfires.

Here is a November 14, 2019, update on former Australian fire chiefs' request, and a November 13, 2019, update on koala bears and other wildlife losing habitat.

Related to the Mullins quotes below, the above Extinction Rebellion video notes "It's obviously the case that some tasks are too big for one person [ . . . ] This is the last chance we have to solve this without serious serious consequences [ . . . ] All areas of life, certainly that includes our education culture, need to start focusing on this subject [ . . . . ] Coastal communities all over the world are threatened."

California fires the past three years and fires today in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia show results of increased climate vulnerability according to climate scientists. The link above notes these parts of east Australia are having "the worst bushfire conditions in four decades." In this ABC News (Australia) video former New South Wales Fire and Rescue Commissioner Greg Mullins, meeting with California firefighters, says his warnings to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison were ignored. It was reported on November 6, 2019, Mullins said "We're coming into what I think is the [ . . . ] the most dangerous build up to a fire season I've seen since 1994 when New South Wales was devastated and there's not even platitudes [from politicians]. There's just closed doors and closed minds [ . . . ] That's atrocious that our national government doesn't recognize that there's a disaster heading their way so [ . . . ] again, please listen Prime Minister." Unfortunately, the Australian government's response was too late as this series of fires, which began the morning of November 8, now includes more than 60 fires, and the overall situation may get much worse, according to several news sources.

Regarding the global situation and specifically California, Mullins said "The most fire prone parts of the planet are burning more and more. Here in California 18,000 homes [or structures] last year. 9,000 the year before. Previously, 3,000 was the biggest they'd think of. They're just shaking their heads saying 'What the hell is around the corner?'"

Scott Roars, another speaker in the video said "When I started in this business with the forestry [ . . . ] our [fire] seasons, especially in this [California] region, would maybe run four good months [ . . . ] Now, we start in April and we go almost to Christmas."

In addition to the human cost of Prime Minister Scott Morrison ignoring Mullins' warnings, CNN reported "Hundreds of koalas [are] feared dead." The article has a great photo of a fire-injured koala.

Guardian News posted a video "A volunteer firefighter Dan Boswood has captured just how difficult the fire conditions have been in mid-north Queensland."

All these ignored warnings in Australia and the United States, and noted "catastrophic" results, are grounds for Extinction Rebellion's third demand: "Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice [not bound and gagged by fossil fuel companies]." I recall Antigone said about King Creon in that Greek tragedy "There is no gag like terror, is there, gentlemen?" and in his Day of Affirmation Address against injustice of apartheid in 1966, Robert F. Kennedy said, "Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change. [ . . . . ]  I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world." This is a good reminder of the work Extinction Rebellion has been, and is, doing.

In a bbc.com article "Is climate change to blame for Australia's bushfires?" University of Sydney Professor Glenda Wardle said "It's not every weather event that is the direct result of climate change. But when you see trends... it becomes undeniably linked to global climate change."