Climate Council please care! https://www.linkedin.com/posts/climate-council_this-is-a-critical-climate-electionand-we-activity-7310759962828230656-Ew5H?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAATsRIMBGWSii_UHiFxi192J88YazNv3XGI
This infographic was produced by the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub. The ESCC Hub was funded by the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program and still feeds data into the Global Carbon Project. https://nespclimate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ESCC_Global-and-regional-carbon-budgets_Brochure.pdf
It was our wonderful natural land that acted as a giant carbon sink squirrelling away almost all the carbon dioxide we produced on our land.
Bushfires caused half of that carbon dioxide we produced.
It did not include our fossil fuel exports or our imports of so many goods such as solar panels that are made using fossil fuels.
Sadly, the infographic was changed a few years later, hiding the bush fire source of CO2 by lowering the extent of the ecosystem role. Isn’t it better that we help natural systems and appreciate how much they do for us?
In many parts of Australia, when bushfires start, we simply let them burn. Most firefighting is done by an ageing voluntary fire service with little equipment and even this equipment is old and often no longer safe.
As the climate gets hotter, the potential damage done by bushfire in Australia will increase dramatically unless we do all we can to protect our land from fire and fight fires quickly and effectively when they do start. It has already been shown that access to water bombing helicopters can result in a fire being stopped very quickly. Timing is critical – the sooner a fire is reached and action taken, the less the damage. Too late is too late. Too late is too late!
A First Nations man told me recently that Australia spends less than 5% on fire management and 95% paying for the damage afterwards. He wanted to know why we had it so backwards.
We are spending billions of dollars to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide when we produce electricity. Yet, fire releases far more carbon dioxide and has the potential to become much worse. If we stay on our current pathway, we will destroy the ability of our land to be a carbon sink. Modern technology can tell us in minutes where and when fires start. Let’s start prioritizing the funds we have in our battle against global warming.
My Blog has become My Nuclear Journey 