Pregnant women exposed to bushfire smoke face a higher risk of complications including gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and giving birth prematurely.
Wildlife can smell and hear a fire coming, and have developed novel ways to evade it. But they must watch out for cunning predators rushing in for a feed.
A crisis of this scale requires a willingness to listen to the best sources of advice and generate bipartisan consensus. But Morrison has struggled to put the national interest above party politics.
Damage to water supply infrastructure and catchments during and after bushfires inhibits the treatment processes that normally make our water safe to drink.
Local, self organised, community groups can be supported to do strategic hazard reduction through a range of techniques – including targeted grazing, and prescribed or fuel reduction burning.
As the bushfire crisis worsens, the prime minister’s fallback positions on climate change and lack of urgency on a federal disaster plan are no longer tenable – the public is demanding more.
We escaped through blackened landscapes where sheep wandered paddocks with the wool burnt off their backs. My three-year-old son, sensing the mood, asked why his dad and I were so quiet.
The peak time for heatwaves in southern Australia has not yet arrived. Many parts of Australia can expect heavy rains and flooding. And northern Australia’s cyclone season is just gearing up.