The horror of the last weeks and months are a compressed version of the last 30 years in bushfire and climate politics.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Environment + Energy – Articles, Analysis, Comment
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The Bureau of Meterology says persistent drought and record temperatures were a major driver of Australia’s fire activity, and the context for 2019 lies in the past three years of drought.
Plugging ventilation holes in walls helps, but there are dangers.
In a matter of weeks, the fires have subverted decades of dedicated conservation efforts for many threatened species.
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.
Australia has an outsized ability to influence others.
We pulled four before-and-after NASA satellite images and asked bushfire researcher Grant Williamson to reflect on the story they tell.
There is little to fear and lots to love about spiders, which have not killed anyone in Australia for 40 years.
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 this horrific summer of disaster continues to unfold in coming weeks, we need to overhaul our emergency management plan.
Relatively little has changed since the Black Saturday tragedy. It is as though Australia suffers amnesia when it comes to bushfire preparedness.
Shareable online images of chimpanzees, elephants and other animals are threatening their conservation and welfare.
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.
Sending holidaymakers directly into forests and national parks right in the middle of peak bushfire season is madness.
Here’s how Australians and their overseas family and friends can monitor the movement of fire fronts in real time.
Bees innocuously buzzing ‘round the birdbath may be a barometer for burgeoning bee invasions.
Beloved family pets have all the qualities we need in the next generation of puppies, so maybe you shouldn’t rush to desex them all right away.
Some predators thrive after fires, other wilt – and one bird even starts them on purpose.
Magpies have such good hearing, they can hear the very faint sound of grass roots being chewed.
People tend to pay attention when things get personal, so you need to know how climate change is damaging things in your life.
A proposed tax on electric vehicles would blow a golden opportunity to prepare our transport system for the disruption ahead.
For crop farmers, the risk of low profit years has doubled.
Under the Paris Agreement, countries have registered plans to meet emissions reductions, but the current pledges, if fully realised, would take us to 2°C by the 2050s.
Blue carbon stored in coastal ecosystems is important, but it’s a poor fig leaf for Australia’s abysmal record on emissions.
Australia says the reef’s world heritage values are fine and the threats are in hand. But the reality is far different.