Australian Bush Fires 2020

Last year I made a post that warned of coming weather catastrophes with climate change and not four months later we had one on the largest scale imaginable. So it’s hard not to be angry with wilful ignorance that is still on display with our government and hence the second post. The 2020 Bush fires in Australia has been unprecedented & the summer has only just started. Over 30 people dead so far, more than a billion native animals wiped from the face of the earth along with thousands of properties lost. Then trailing that we had super storms in three capital cities that caused even more damage to property and infrastructure. Australia was always going to be in the front line of Climate change, science warned us of that many decades ago due to our geographical location. Yet despite those warnings, the conservative movement in Australia along with a certain percentage of the population is still driven by this blind belief that refuses to connect human activity with a changing climate. This same movement has also been responsible for the political death of seven OZ leaders in the past decade. Especially anyone who even thought about taking any decisive action to reduce emissions. That’s how mind boggling stupid this is, denying science as if science was attacking their basic beliefs. I mean nothing is more basic than survival or preserving a quality of life. But to these individuals its like denying gravity, after falling flat on your face. No wonder the doomsday clock moved closer to midnight this year. But it’s not just limited to Australia its how conservatism around the world has evolved, small factions that determine a power base for governance because they hold the balance of power. Then drive policies from an economic and environmental template that dates back to the 50’s when a global population was only just over 2 billion. When you steal from nature for centuries this comes with consequences. Science warned us of a breaking point over 40 yrs ago but it was mostly dismissed because it meant a different model economy. Yes these same people who believe in rocket science that can put a missile through your front window but climate science, nope that’s always been a bridge too far. However the price of doing nothing is fairly obvious now. So why does this political minority keep holding the will of the majority at bay. Perhaps the very nature of their politics which can be adverse to change might be one explanation but still its playing Russian roulette with the way we live. Dismissing the smartest minds we have who voiced those alarms decades ago and in fact pin pointed the year it would start. But then it could be more about protecting that tiny percentage of the population who get enriched by never deviating from these policies regardless of the larger cost to billions more. That tiny percentage of people who on their own could not elect any government let alone dictate policy. The irony of all this is, the same model steered in a different direction where fossil fuels became worthless and renewable’s valuable could drive a global economy exactly the same.