My Nation Is Burning

Even the Arctic is burning.. 2019 also saw fires in the frozen Russian region of Siberia. "The kind of fires we have never seen before," says Clare Nullis from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).


Fire meets ice. The clearly-visible burn scar from one of the many wildfires in Siberia last year

 

@Craig Swanson Speaking of the one degree celsius rise....I saw an older documentary which said if earth got up to a two degree celsius rise, it would cause a global catastrophe. It becomes too unsafe for people to work outside, play sports outside and not enough crops could grow to feed humanity. This is all a scary thought.....and now here we are with the temperature rising.

 

@Bess Barber.
https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/2degrees/

This is the second pic of that melting glacier taken in 2005.

another Alaskan glacier then/now.

 

This is very pleasing @Yvonne Smith. and in no way am I trying to be patronizing. An independent study has found that 99% of fires in my state NSW were caused by means other than arson. Even less in the other states..bar Queensland..which had a disappointing 10% arson rate. Most of the blazes were attributed to dry litening strikes in remote forest areas.This includes the two mega blazes at Gospers Mountain north of Greater Sydney and a new one currently tearing thru Australia's alpine regions. As I suspected and posted it was media speculation and sensationalism that drove the rumors. Also as I suspected a good percentage of those 1% deliberately or accidently lit (arson) were kids in the city messing around with fireworks starting grass fires, which were quickly extinguished.

To date the 2019/20 fires have razed some 10 million hectares (almost the size of England) destroyed or damaged over 2000 homes plus hundreds of other buildings and killed 22 people. All of which are unprecedented. And they are not over.

 

What point are you trying to make? Arson is not a new thing. I expect arson has been responsible for several American fires too. The fact is those deliberately lit fires are a miniscule number compared to the massive quantity of nature made blazes we have had and are still having. They are unprecented in our history and dwarf what California experienced last year.

Anyway on a positive note. Divine providence or Mother Nature is about to step in and hopefully douse many of these blazes near Greater Sydney.. with almost a week of thunderstorms forecast this week. These are the first storms of the summer and the most vital probably in our history. It is hoped the storms can top up our drinking water reservoirs which are fast running dry. This is undoubtedly the best news we urban living Australians could have had. Not sure for our regional ones.. with no storms predicted west of our ranges.

 

So pleased to hear this @Craig Swanson - every night I pray for downpours in Australia and I'm sure many people
join me. The power of positive thought does work

 

Thank you to you @Patsy Faye I live in Victoria ..we are suffering from smoke from fires in Victoria lots of miles away ..let’s hope NSW / Qld gets the downpours ..next it will be floods

 

Do you Americans or Brits have an official inquiry/commission every time something happens outside the normal. Well out govt. has announced that they are holding such a commission into the fires.. the most damaging in our history and that are still burning large swathes of our continent. A pointless inquiry that will cost millions which is better spent on rebuilding fire victim's lives.. not filling the pockets of lawyers and bureaucrats. Milla Jonas and I know what caused these fires.. a controlled burn off that got outa hand ..yep some nuts started fires .. arsonists that get their jollies watching fire burn, some were by kids letting off fireworks, maybe an accident ..irresponsible people welding or using angle grinders. Most were started by an unforgiving Mother Nature.

Abandon this Commission and give the money to the farmers and people who cant afford insurance so they can have some hope of moving on.

 

I don't know the percentage of ones started through arson and those through natural causes. I only wanted to respond to the huge amount of people who have been arrested for starting major fires. What possible joy or benefit would be gained by it? I think they should consider charging them with attempted murder, because anyone could end up killed in these massive fire storms. I hope they don't just give them a silly 5 year sentence or whatever time Australia gives for arson.

 

I agree. Any one found deliberately starting fires.. like mentally disturbed pyromaniacs.. need to be locked away for a long time.

 

I keep finding subjects for this thread.

An estimated $A100m has been donated for Australian fireys and fire-ravaged communities by home grown and world celebrities/billionaires plus ordinary citizens like you and me. This is a tidy sum. An unknown percentage of this is via charities such as the Australian Red Cross. You generous Americans and Brits on this forum if you are thinking of parting with your hard earned and passing it onto the ARC think for a second how allegedly only half the money it is given actually reaches your intended recipient. The other half goes toward internal administration costs such as wages. So of the 100 bucks you hand to the ARC only 50 bucks actually reaches those you wanna help the most.. the destitute and homeless fire victims.

Celeste Barber an Australian comedienne who has raised a humungous $A50m alone sends her donations directly to the Trustee for NSW Rural Fire Service and Brigades Donations Fund. How long will the ARC continue to treat warm hearted people as naive..

 

I saw a report on the fires today from Australia and it will be apparently months before they are all out. So sad Craig. We pray and have donated.