
Australia Burns Again, and Now Its Biggest City Is Choking - vo2maxer
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/world/australia/sydney-fires.html
======
axolttl88
It’s bad. I’ve lived in Sydney 21 years and there’s been nothing like this
before. We were on the harbour this summer afternoon staring directly at the
sun at 5pm - it was a barely visible red dot in the smoke haze - and ash was
raining down on us.

The current drought is so tough on December 10 Sydney starts Level 2 water
restrictions for all residents and businesses.

There’s an increasing sense among my friends of all political persuasions that
we’re heading into this future faster than anyone anticipated - and that our
government is asleep at the wheel.

~~~
L_226
> and that our government is asleep at the wheel

No, they are deliberately misleading the public while attempting to shore up
as much capital as possible for themselves, before the real crisis actually
happens. It just so happens that more people are starting to catch on to their
bullshit.

Don't make the mistake of thinking Morrison et al are incompetent. They are
highly accomplished politicians who know exactly what to say and do to keep
their jobs, and so far it is working.

~~~
ganeshkrishnan
Morrison won the election in a direct democracy with mandatory voting.
Recently they increased their approval in the latest poll.

Countries get the leaders they deserve.

~~~
cyphar
Australia is not a direct democracy, it's a representative democracy. The only
element of direct democracy we have are constitutional referendums.

~~~
ganeshkrishnan
Semi-direct, yes. But at some point majority of the people have elected him?
And still approve of him. Anything else are excuses. fwiw, I didn't vote for
him and am equally disappointed

------
legostormtroopr
Stop replanting eucalyptus trees. They are highly flammable and don’t
biodegrade, and instead litter the ground with kindling in the form of oil-
rich non-roting leaves.

People have to find a balance between climate solutions and retaining
biodiversity. Looking at Australia, and California, where Eucalyptus trees
were introduced a common thread behind these massive bush fires is these
highly flammable trees.

It’s unknown why eucalypts thrive and promote bush fires, but the evidence is
there.

We should be planting high growth European deciduous trees that have strong
roots and give back to the soil.

Instead, environmentalists take a hardline “only native plants” view. In the
coming years, if Australia is going to combat this we’re going to have to
rethink our love of Eucalypts and start looking at less bushfire promoting
plants.

~~~
cyphar
Eucalypts are native to Australia (and most forests are full of naturally-
occurring Eucalyptus), and evolved to not only survive bushfires but also
replentish themselves as a result of bushfires. That's almost certainly why
they promote and thrive in bushfires -- it's part of their lifecycle. There is
plenty of other Australian fauna which depends on bushfires for reproduction.

But to your main point -- Australia has had eucalypts for tens of millions of
years. It seems unlikely that eucalyptus is the cause of these extreme and
very unusual bushfires. It's much more likely that the recent drought, reduced
forest management, and similar factors are at play.

Environmentalists are right to be concerned about introduction of non-native
species. The entire history of European colonisation in Australia has proven
categorically that introduced species almost always cause unforseen and
irreparable damage to the local ecosystem. For God's sake, we built _three_
fences in the middle of the outback to try to stop rabbits from spreading.
This is something that is so well known and simple that you learn about in
primary school history classes.

But I do agree that California should probably stop planting non-local fauna
in large numbers. Australia's biosphere has evolved with bushfires for
millions of years, and California's has not.

~~~
ganeshkrishnan
Eucalyptus also evolved to be more flammable due to human intervention and
they are spreading faster than other native trees.

------
viraptor
Smaller scale effects are visible way further than mentioned in the article.
With the wind blowing just the right direction, my town 600km away from Sydney
(and over 700km from the fires at the time) experienced a haze over two days.
Not a dense/coloured one, but the sky still disappeared and there was the
"it's bright from every direction" feeling during the day.

~~~
bamboozled
See this article, New Zealand's Glaciers have turned red from the fires:
[https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/05/australia/australia-
bushf...](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/05/australia/australia-bushfires-
new-zealand-glaciers-scn-scli-intl/index.html)

