What can one say about the fires currently burning out of control through Victoria? The loss of life – 100 confirmed dead so far, the infernos ripping through homes, forest, farmland. It's an absolute tragedy. We grieve for our fellow Victorians who have lost their loved ones, their homes, their livelihoods. The conditions were worse than Ash Wednesday in 1983. Hotter than Black Friday in 1939. Presumably once the smoke clears, there will be an inquiry, and climate change has to be on the agenda.
At 46.4 degrees Melbourne’s maximum temperature on 7 February was the highest ever recorded. It’s almost a degree hotter than the previous all time record and smashed the previous February record by 3 degrees. The state is so dry – over a decade of drought. We can shore up our water supplies by building desalination plants, (and adding to energy usage and climate change) but we can’t just ‘ fix’ our natural environment. We are destroying it.
It makes climate change real and tangible – maybe even to the skeptics. I heard of one avid Andrew Bolt reader who whilst sweltering in the heat said he thought he may have been following a false prophet . If our political leaders have any brains at all they must realise the need for serious action at emergency speed to tackle our climate emergency– the fact they are not taking it shows just how beholden they are to the greenhouse mafia of the coal industry and others
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