The Australian Wildfires




For the third year in a row, another wildfire has emerged due to global warming and climate change, starting with the Californian wildfires in 2018, followed by the Amazon rainforest fires in 2019 and, currently, the Australian bushfires in 2019~2020. Here's our newest column, #SFTSBrokenDown, where we cover all you need to know about global and domestic news, one Instagram post at a time. Stay on the lookout throughout the whole day for the full story!

What caused the fires?
Apart from the fact that this is the season of wildfires and whatnot in Australia, this summer, the temperature had reached nearly 50 degrees Celcius as of December 19, 2019. This is all due to climate change and global warming. This burning heat, that caused the moisture in the woods to evaporate, was coupled with "bone-dry vegetation, low humidity, high wind speed and low soil moisture," causing the fires to increase intensely.

“It is not the fury of nature, but something we humans have built — step by step, brick by brick — with our own hands and actions. Climate scientists concur unanimously without a doubt that man-made global warming has been a big part of the fires. Mike Flannigan, a fire scientist at the University of Alberta in Canada emphasised, ‘Australia's fires are an example of climate change.’” — dailyo.com 

What have the fires caused?
These fires have been so intense to the point where smoke has made its way across to New Zealand and Chile, which are around 2,600 miles and 8,000 miles from Australia, respectively. And, as of this moment, nearly 1/3 of the koalas' population, 1B animals -which some cannot be found elsewhere but Australia- and 25 people have died in the bushfires. Added to that are about 6.3M hectares of land and 2K buildings, including homes, which have perished amid the epitome. Even still, there are over 100 fires that are still burning, ones with fire tornados that have never been seen before.

How have others helped?
There are a lot of volunteering, unpaid firefighters which have made their way from all over the nation to help tame the fires, plus 20 veteran firefighters from California, USA. Besides them, some public figures came to the rescue such as the singer Lizzo, who took time off her world tour when she stopped in Australia to help in packing meals for the fire victims, and Kaylen Ward, known as The Naked Philanthropist, she has been sending nude pictures to those who have donated, so far raising over $1M. This doesn't top the Facebook campaigns donation, some of exceeding the $30M, which is currently the most amount raised by a Facebook campaign.

Where can you donate?
Nevertheless, the fires in Australia as mentioned before are still ongoing (just like last year's Amazone's fires) and help is still needed. Here are some of the organisations which you can donate to, categorised. 

Are there other ways can you help?
YES! If you cannot donate money at the moment, there are other ways with which you can help. 
Keep talking about the issue! By keeping the dialogue going we will help the issue stay relevant and not get overthrown by other less important news pieces. Part of this, however, is by demanding action from people in power, this isn't a problem that can simply be solved by taming the fires in Australia, this is a global problem that has been ongoing for years now, and no matter how many governmental officials claim that climate change is not real, we can never give up and believe in words constantly refuted by natural disasters. However, don't forget that you are also part of the solution, make a change and start by yourself, try to live as sustainably as possible and reduce your carbon footprints by using less plastic, avoiding fast fashion, driving less, rasing plants, etc.... Lastly, later on when you have the money, please try to travel to Australia; as a country, it has lost a lot to the fires and a lot trying to save what can be saved from the fires, so by visiting it and increasing its tourism profits, it'll save them from a recession period that might come after everything that's currently happening. 












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