Australian Bushfires

Hi all,

A bit of a sadder post today. I'm sure many of you have heard about the horrible bushfires destroying Australia at the moment - if not, I'll summarise some of the salient points below and you may be interested in reading up about it more.

This isn't a political post - I don't want to discuss opinions on climate change or which parties are/are not responsible for what we're suffering at the moment. Regardless of your views on climate disasters or which political sides may hold blame for what is happening, the reality is that we are suffering bushfires of unprecedented proportions and we aren't being provided with the resources we need to battle them or prevent them occurring again.

• 6.3 million hectares of land has been burnt
• Over 2500 buildings (1600 of which are houses) have been destroyed
• 6 people remain missing
• 25 people have lost their lives
• Over half a billion wildlife have been killed
• Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated - for example, on New Year's Eve, 4000 Mallacoota residents and tourists were sheltering on the beach under the instruction that when the sirens sounded they would need to get in the water to save their lives. They were eventually rescued by a boat, facing a 20-hour voyage to safety.
• Victoria has declared a State of Disaster, whilst New South Wales has declared a State of Emergency
• The smoke haze has been so bad that affected areas have looked like night time in the middle of the day, and the smoke has travelled across the water to Auckland in New Zealand, visibly affecting the air quality
• Canberra had the worst air quality in the world yesterday
• These fires have been raging since September and we have not yet reached the height of the fire season which usually hits its peak in February - these fires will be raging for months more

There is obviously a lot more to say on this issue - these are just the key points to convey the magnitude of the situation.

Whilst your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated, what we really need is monetary donations (and, based on the literal millions already raised on social media, I'm sure many of you have already very generously donated what you can, which is just so appreciated by us all), since we aren't receiving appropriate financial support from the people we should be receiving it from. Most of our firefighters are volunteers, and funding has been slashed so they cannot afford adequate equipment, and have to pay for what they have (including fuel for trucks) out of their own pocket. Those evacuated with homes destroyed need food, clothes, water and shelter, and those are just the basic necessities. Animals need to be rescued and cared for. When these fires finally end the recovery will be immense.

I am putting this out there in the hopes that anyone reading and able to donate even just their spare change would be compelled to do so. Of course you are free to spend your money as you wish, and I hope this doesn't come across as begging, demanding or guilt tripping - that is truly not my intention. If you cannot or do not wish to donate, please do not feel bad - I wish you no ill will. I am simply hoping that there may be a few out there who can donate and would like to.

I don't believe I am allowed to share a link here to appropriate donations or educational articles (mods - please advise as to whether I would be allowed to link information or donation sites) - but a few donation options are listed below:
- Australian Red Cross: these people are on the ground at evacuation sites, helping those whose homes have been destroyed. They are in need of money for resources to help these people
- Various rural fire services - New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia need the money the most, but any fire service will need all the support they can get
- WWF Australia - you can donate directly to the koala fund to help rescue and care for injured koalas
- WIRES helps the NSW wildlife affected
- Port Macquarie Koala Hospital is also helping injured koalas and other wildlife with drinking water. They have now raised $2 million and are distributing additional funds elsewhere - so your money may not go directly to them, but will be sent exactly where it is needed
- The Salvation Army or St Vinnies - much like the Red Cross
- GIVIT is a register where people affected can list exactly what they need, and you can donate that (this is better for Australian residents, as the items are usually physical rather than just monetary)
- Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund
- Bendigo Bank Bushfire Disaster Relief Appeal
- Various GoFundMe or Facebook fundraisers

If you would like links to any of these donation sites, or links to more information, please do not hesitate to send me an IGM and I will be sure to pass that information along.

Again - please do not feel any obligation to donate. I will not think anything less of you! But for those who can and are willing, I thought I would put a call out. If you can't donate but want to know more, or want some information to pass on to others who may be able to help out, send me an IGM!

Thank you all so much for reading, and for any assistance you are able to give - it is really, truly appreciated.

 

Hello squigglegiggle,

Yes the Australian bushfires are devastating to both the Environment and those living near them.

I am sorry, but no outside links are allowed on the Forum. Players can search for the information on Google if they choose to look into this further.

Regards,
shooger.sweet

 

yes it is terrible and people are not really grasping how bad it is- my mum was outraged that a zoo burnt down in Germany over New years killing 30 monkeys.
Well, half a billion in Australia puts that into perspective.

Thing is the problem has arrived. I was told about it as a child growing up (went to a pretty advanced school) but all they taught us is that it is inevitable and once it has started it cannot be stopped.

Even if we were to stop all greenhouse gas emissions for the next 100 years it would help but it would take 1000 years to recover. Since none of that is happening and emissions are going up every year despite emission targets being put in place.

All these companies claiming to go green, its actually just a marketing campaign because just like in physics you cannot destroy energy, you cannot make something without causing emmissions - it is physically impossible so while economies around the world grow - and they need to otherwise inflation and stagnation, starvation and riots would kick in - this problem will get worse year on year.

Battery powered cars are expected to cause a huge amount of pollution - unprecedented pollution - despite them being "green". We will need to mine billions of tonnes of heavy metals to produce them which we don't have.

There is only one real solution and we are not and never will talk about that until we have to - ie till Australia is burnt to the ground.

I don't like being a realist, I would much refer to be an optimist but I don't like lying to myself either.

Every year 130 million new people are dumped into this world.

If you ask me ironically the thing we are causing is the only thing that will eventually save the planet, not anything we will put in place, humans are collectively too stupid. Once a few tsunamis hit and other places too dried out to survive, then maybe will the world see a reduction in pollution.

 

Mods - apparently despite my attempts to keep politics and climate discussions out of this, there is the danger of such a thing occurring. Please close the thread - anyone who would like additional information about the current situation or how they can help can contact me directly via IGM.

Thank you.

 

~closing as requested~