I’m in Australia and Black Summer (September 2019 to Jan 2020) was horrific. The scale and intensity of the devastation was completely unprecedented.
It was a time of enormous stress for everyone. The entire eastern half of Australia which is roughly equivalent in size to the area from Florida to the Canadian border was blanketed in smoke and whole towns were destroyed. Over 10 million hectares of bush burned. It is estimated that over 3 billion animals were killed or displaced.
The only thing on the news was the fires, and everyone was constantly glued to the apps which told them where the fires were as they watched the fires get bigger and bigger and closer to their homes every day. Carbon monoxide exposure has been linked to depression and I personally believe that part of the reason we have a mental health crisis at the moment is due to that fire season.
Fires were burning through rain-forest gullies that normally are too wet to burn. Once rain-forest burns, it takes hundreds of years for it to return to a rain-forest ecosystem as the plants are not fire adapted. Whole species have been pushed to the verge of extinction by the destruction of their habitat.
Those fires were when I decided I no longer had any time for climate change deniers. Shit’s got real now.
I remember early in 2020 talking about the bush fires and thinking that it was a crazy way to start the year. Little did we know then what a year it would be…
Do you have any fires that stand out in your memory? Take this as your open ended question to share any stories you want an excuse to tell.
I’m in Australia and Black Summer (September 2019 to Jan 2020) was horrific. The scale and intensity of the devastation was completely unprecedented.
It was a time of enormous stress for everyone. The entire eastern half of Australia which is roughly equivalent in size to the area from Florida to the Canadian border was blanketed in smoke and whole towns were destroyed. Over 10 million hectares of bush burned. It is estimated that over 3 billion animals were killed or displaced.
The only thing on the news was the fires, and everyone was constantly glued to the apps which told them where the fires were as they watched the fires get bigger and bigger and closer to their homes every day. Carbon monoxide exposure has been linked to depression and I personally believe that part of the reason we have a mental health crisis at the moment is due to that fire season.
Fires were burning through rain-forest gullies that normally are too wet to burn. Once rain-forest burns, it takes hundreds of years for it to return to a rain-forest ecosystem as the plants are not fire adapted. Whole species have been pushed to the verge of extinction by the destruction of their habitat.
Those fires were when I decided I no longer had any time for climate change deniers. Shit’s got real now.
I remember early in 2020 talking about the bush fires and thinking that it was a crazy way to start the year. Little did we know then what a year it would be…
Thanks for sharing!