Earlier we discussed the heat wave in Australia and need for new vocabulary to cope with climate change. Here is a followup report on Australia.
Massive fires raged Saturday across tens of thousands of acres in Victoria and New South Wales, killing at least 49 people and destroying more than 100 homes as temperatures topped 118 degrees Fahrenheit — among the highest readings ever recorded in the regions.
First, we have record high temperatures, high winds, and extremely dry conditions. That’s going to happen in more places as the Earth heats up; we’d better learn to cope. Bear in mind that those temperatures are well above human body temperature, and in fact, proteins (such as those in eggs or human brains and muscles) begin to congeal above 112ºF. Bodies have cooling mechanisms, but not enough to cope with such withering heat. People without access to air conditioning, underground refuges, or other assistance tend to die of overheating in such conditions. Wildfires raise the death toll — and also pour extra greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Australia’s bush fires are fulfilling the dire predictions.
But that’s not all. Look what’s happening elsewhere in Australia:
Further north in Queensland, however, the extreme weather was entirely different, with flash floods sweeping through the town of Innisfail while heavy rains continued to swell already flooded rivers.
Two-thirds of Queensland has been declared a disaster area, with more than a million square miles affected by torrential rain from two recent cyclones.
Extreme drought in one part of the island continent contrasts with extreme precipitation causing floods in another. Australia isn’t all that big, really; this is a weird dichotomy of weather. Yet it, too, will become more common. There’s more to “climate change” than just “global warming.” It encompasses a whole host of deviations, most of them problematic. The vast majority demonstrate a shift towards extremes: too much rain here, not enough there. Freezing here, roasting there. Ripping winds and dead calms. We’re losing many of the buffers, such as vast forests and river deltas, that moderate large-scale weather and climate patterns. The result is these wild extremes, bad for people and property and wildlife alike.
We need to preserve what buffer zones we have left, and work on restoring some of what we’ve already destroyed. Nature is resilient, and can bounce back with a little help — or sometimes, if we simply get out of the way. We also need to stop abusing marginal territory that can’t support the extra burden of farming, or livestock, or in some cases even habitation. Push that land too far, and it turns into desert.
Take a good look at Australia, because it’s a preview for what the rest of the world will be facing.
EDIT: This blog post, written by an Australian woman, puts a human face on the tragedy. View the bushfires from her perspective.
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