SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
As 'Unparalleled' Bushfires Ravage Australia, Calls to 'Connect the Dots'
Oct 20, 2013
The Associated Press reports that there are "68 fires still burning -- 22 of them out of control," and hot, dry and windy conditions in the days ahead pose ongoing threats.
"We are talking wind strengths starting at 25 to 30 kilometers [over 15 to over 18 mph] and gusting up to 50, 60 and right up to - as the days roll on - wind strengths of 70 to 100 kilometers per hour [43 to 62 mph] across these fireground areas," said NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.
"We've got what would be unparalleled in terms of risk and exposure for the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury communities throughout this week," he told reporters.
"If you are to draw a parallel, and it's always dangerous to draw a parallel, at best you'd be going back to time periods in the late 60s."
"We are not in a catastrophic [weather] ratings scale [but] we are talking about fire danger ratings that will be in the severe category and you overlay that with the fires that are already burning and it's a whole new ball game," he added.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
Changes in the Forest Fire Danger Index have already shown that many regions have had an increase in extreme fire weather, partly due to the increasing intensity and duration of hot days - January this year was the hottest month on record.
Meanwhile, some Australian politicians are "connecting the dots" between the raging bushfires and global warming.
At a walk to "put climate back on the agenda" on Saturday, Tasmanian Climate Change Minister Cassy O'Connor, who joined the Australian Youth Climate Coalition on the walk, said that the blazing bushfires are one of the signs pointing to the need for urgent action on climate change, and slammed Australia's "climate-denying government" that is "taking us backwards on climate change at a time when the world needs leadership and committing to bringing down emissions."
"Australians are very aware that this is part of the future we are moving towards," she continued, "a time where we will see more intense and increased frequency of bushfires, more flooding, sea level rise, extreme weather events.
"We have a collective moral responsibility to do something about it," said O'Connor.
Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt has also said, "This is what global warming in Australia looks like. And unless we get dangerous global warming under control we may be experiencing these kind of awful terrifying fires on a much more regular basis."
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot, who axed the nation's climate watchdog hours after being sworn in, and other climate change denying politicians should be charged with "criminal negligence" for their "willful blindness," charged Canadian environmental activist David Suzuki while speaking in Australia last month.
__________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The Associated Press reports that there are "68 fires still burning -- 22 of them out of control," and hot, dry and windy conditions in the days ahead pose ongoing threats.
"We are talking wind strengths starting at 25 to 30 kilometers [over 15 to over 18 mph] and gusting up to 50, 60 and right up to - as the days roll on - wind strengths of 70 to 100 kilometers per hour [43 to 62 mph] across these fireground areas," said NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.
"We've got what would be unparalleled in terms of risk and exposure for the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury communities throughout this week," he told reporters.
"If you are to draw a parallel, and it's always dangerous to draw a parallel, at best you'd be going back to time periods in the late 60s."
"We are not in a catastrophic [weather] ratings scale [but] we are talking about fire danger ratings that will be in the severe category and you overlay that with the fires that are already burning and it's a whole new ball game," he added.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
Changes in the Forest Fire Danger Index have already shown that many regions have had an increase in extreme fire weather, partly due to the increasing intensity and duration of hot days - January this year was the hottest month on record.
Meanwhile, some Australian politicians are "connecting the dots" between the raging bushfires and global warming.
At a walk to "put climate back on the agenda" on Saturday, Tasmanian Climate Change Minister Cassy O'Connor, who joined the Australian Youth Climate Coalition on the walk, said that the blazing bushfires are one of the signs pointing to the need for urgent action on climate change, and slammed Australia's "climate-denying government" that is "taking us backwards on climate change at a time when the world needs leadership and committing to bringing down emissions."
"Australians are very aware that this is part of the future we are moving towards," she continued, "a time where we will see more intense and increased frequency of bushfires, more flooding, sea level rise, extreme weather events.
"We have a collective moral responsibility to do something about it," said O'Connor.
Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt has also said, "This is what global warming in Australia looks like. And unless we get dangerous global warming under control we may be experiencing these kind of awful terrifying fires on a much more regular basis."
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot, who axed the nation's climate watchdog hours after being sworn in, and other climate change denying politicians should be charged with "criminal negligence" for their "willful blindness," charged Canadian environmental activist David Suzuki while speaking in Australia last month.
__________________
The Associated Press reports that there are "68 fires still burning -- 22 of them out of control," and hot, dry and windy conditions in the days ahead pose ongoing threats.
"We are talking wind strengths starting at 25 to 30 kilometers [over 15 to over 18 mph] and gusting up to 50, 60 and right up to - as the days roll on - wind strengths of 70 to 100 kilometers per hour [43 to 62 mph] across these fireground areas," said NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.
"We've got what would be unparalleled in terms of risk and exposure for the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury communities throughout this week," he told reporters.
"If you are to draw a parallel, and it's always dangerous to draw a parallel, at best you'd be going back to time periods in the late 60s."
"We are not in a catastrophic [weather] ratings scale [but] we are talking about fire danger ratings that will be in the severe category and you overlay that with the fires that are already burning and it's a whole new ball game," he added.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
Changes in the Forest Fire Danger Index have already shown that many regions have had an increase in extreme fire weather, partly due to the increasing intensity and duration of hot days - January this year was the hottest month on record.
Meanwhile, some Australian politicians are "connecting the dots" between the raging bushfires and global warming.
At a walk to "put climate back on the agenda" on Saturday, Tasmanian Climate Change Minister Cassy O'Connor, who joined the Australian Youth Climate Coalition on the walk, said that the blazing bushfires are one of the signs pointing to the need for urgent action on climate change, and slammed Australia's "climate-denying government" that is "taking us backwards on climate change at a time when the world needs leadership and committing to bringing down emissions."
"Australians are very aware that this is part of the future we are moving towards," she continued, "a time where we will see more intense and increased frequency of bushfires, more flooding, sea level rise, extreme weather events.
"We have a collective moral responsibility to do something about it," said O'Connor.
Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt has also said, "This is what global warming in Australia looks like. And unless we get dangerous global warming under control we may be experiencing these kind of awful terrifying fires on a much more regular basis."
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot, who axed the nation's climate watchdog hours after being sworn in, and other climate change denying politicians should be charged with "criminal negligence" for their "willful blindness," charged Canadian environmental activist David Suzuki while speaking in Australia last month.
__________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy