How could a nation like Australia came close to a humanitarian crisis during the recent bushfires? A problem-solving theory called “systems thinking” can help us find out.
Whatever our differences, Australians’ essential empathy and yearning for connection always come out in times of crisis. We have a responsibility to make sure it stays that way.
Millions of Australians far from the bushfires’ direct path have been affected by smoke haze. Here’s everything we know about the effects of bushfire smoke on our health.
Pressure is mounting on fashion producers to stop using skins from Australian native animals. But Indigenous people are reviving traditions and there are ethical ways for trade to continue.
Morrison’s hope for clear air for his messages is being stymied by the crisis around deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie, as more damaging information emerges against her in the sports rorts affair.
Without an emergency cull of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park, the land cannot recover from the bushfires – and threatened species are at grave risk of being annihilated.
Australia can learn from how India used community hubs to bridge the gap between government and local communities in the challenging years of reconstruction.
Indigenous kinship networks link each plant to the next and connect us to Country. Honouring this way of being and engaging in fair collaboration might give power to our heartbreak.
Eric Kerr, National University of Singapore et Malini Sur, Western Sydney University
When a bushfire burns is one country, smoke drift means it can become the world’s problem. But the law lacks the teeth to hold those responsible to account.
There is a real risk a national inquiry could get bogged down in politics, or not lead to real change. But we need more federal action on bushfires. Our old approaches are broken.
Australia’s rural firefighting organisations hold a special place in the nation’s heart. Part of what makes them so interesting is how they are organised and funded.
To be clear, I’m not advocating compulsory population control, here or anywhere. But we do need to consider a future with billions more people, many of them aspiring to live as Australians do now.