With New South Wales suffering winter bushfires and temperature records tumbling around the globe, our leaders in Canberra have picked a bad time to jettison climate policy in favour of political bickering.
Fires burning in NSW are harbingers of what’s to come.
LUKAS COCH/AAP
Wildfires in the US have drawn thousands of firefighters. Meanwhile, Indonesia is struggling to rebuild in the wake of earthquakes. What’s the difference? Poverty and access to resources.
Firefighters damping down the Winter Hill wildfire.
Peter Byrne/PA Wire/PA Images
Managing flood risk is not just ‘good planning’; it requires commitment to resilient cities by land developers, politicians and communities. Effective response means learning from mistakes.
High intensity logging burns and the resulting smoke plume near Mount Baw Baw, April 2018
Photo Chris Taylor.
Every autumn Victoria copes with smoke haze from planned burns that reduce bushfire risk, but a large part of that pollution actually comes from industrial logging activity.
New research shows that fire follows fire in the Australian Alps, and old-growth forests are less flammable.
The Victorian mountain ash forest has been severely affected by fires and logging. To determine the actual health of the forest, we need to look at the quality, not just the quantity of what remains.
Graeme/flickr
In the aftermath of fires or logging, conservation needs to focus on recovering the health of the remaining vegetation, not just the size of the forest or woodland.
A bushfire destroyed around 70 houses and businesses in the coastal town of Tathra this week.
AAP (DEAN LEWINS)
In NSW and Victoria this week, communities were hit by bushfires. Long after such devastating fires pass, the risks to physical and mental health remain.
Australians need better planning to cope with extreme heat.
Mike Blake/Reuters
Australia’s scorching summers aren’t just inconvenient: heatwaves are deadly. Yet new research has found many vulnerable people don’t have a plan for extreme heat.
What decisions can we make today to reduce the future risk of hazards like floods and fire? Particularly in a time of climate change, modelling various plausible futures helps us plan for uncertainty.
A fireman tackles one of the wildfires that swept through parts of California in October.
Jim Urquhart/Reuters
This year is poised to go down as the hottest non-El Niño year ever recorded, with record low polar ice and extreme weather that left many regions battling bushfires and hurricanes.
Isiah Courtney carries his dog Bruce through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont Place, Houston, Texas, U.S., on August 28, 2017.
REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman
In 2013 a mild and dry winter led to some of the most destructive bushfires in NSW history. Now new modelling shows 2017 record-breaking winter warmth has created worryingly similar conditions.
Fire threatening a house in Pelican Bay in 2006. If you need to shelter from a fire in your house, know where your exits are and be aware of surrounding vegetation.
thinboyfatter/Flickr
Leaving early is the best response to a bushfire, but it’s not always possible. Every house is different, but there are some general guidelines for finding the safest spots to shelter in your home.
Avoiding fires in Indonesia’s peatlands should be a common goal of everyone involved.
Antara Foto/Jessica Helena Wuysang/ via REUTERS
Indonesian peatlands are important to many people: farmers, bureaucrats, businesspeople, and conservationists. But preserving this value for everyone will mean listening to everyone’s concerns.