Climate change denial remains strong in the Aus government

[pErvinalia]

NSW is experiencing catastrophic bushfires right at this moment, and the PM is copping a lot of flack for various opinions and policies relating to bushfires and climate etc. He's attempted to deflect opinions and evidence that suggest that Australia's ever worsening bushfires are the result of climate change. A Green's MP (member of parliament) has copped a lot of shit from the PM for his attack on the government for their inaction on climate change. But as usual, our PM only represents the most base and ignorant in our society. I really hope he dies doing a media stunt in the bushfire.

"As people in fire prone areas across New South Wales review their survival plans or flee for their lives, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said he is convinced there is no link between bushfires and climate change.

"Fire is a part of the Australian experience," Mr Abbott told Melbourne radio listeners. "It has been since humans were on this continent.... Climate change is real as I have often said and we should take strong action against it but these fires are certainly not a function of climate change. They are a function of life in Australia."

To make his point, Mr Abbott rattled off a series of years when Australia had experienced bad bushfires. He also said that Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was "talking through her hat" when she pointed out earlier this week that there was a link between bushfires and human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases.

In making his statement, Mr Abbott has dismissed out of hand the work of scientists going back more than 25 years showing that as temperatures and carbon dioxide emissions go up, so do the risks of bushfires. Christiana Figueres' hat is stuffed with evidence......"

http://www.theguardian.com/world/planet ... CMP=twt_gu

[Clinton Huxley]

These bush fires are all started by climate change scientists as part of the conspiracy. They melt glaciers with hairdryers when no-one is looking, too.

[JimC]

Each side will use a particular spin. It is reasonable to criticise someone who baldly states "the current fires are the result of climate change", given the degree of random factors involved.

However, it is also reasonable to say that it is highly likely that the extent and severity of Australian bush fires will rise in the coming years as a result of human induced climate change.

[Tyrannical]

Forest and brush fires are inevitable, especially in Australia with their stupid trees that burst into fireballs.

[pErvinalia]

They are. But they are increasing in ferocity. Imagine in 40 years time when the maximums are up 5 degrees or more. The whole continent will spontaneously combust.

[mistermack]

Firstly, there are more people about in Australia now, and they are far more mobile than they used to be. And there are more roads.
All that means that more fires get started, over a wider area.
And nowadays, you haven't got the abbos regularly burning off areas on a controlled basis, so there is more brush to burn.
And when fires start, they get put out. So that increases the available fuel over time.

I don't understand the logic over there. You see houses burned out, with trees and undergrowth growing right up to the buildings.
If I was living there, I'd have a cleared area round the house, to give myself a chance of surviving a fire.
And a swimming pool with a bloody great pump and hose.

[pErvinalia]

Oh, look who's here. I don't think you understand logic, let alone logic over here. And for your information, "abbo" is considered like "nigger" here. Don't use it, please.

[mistermack]

If abbos is like niggers, it's because of the way that the people were treated, not because of the word itself.
So don't get so high and mighty. Same with the word Pakkis. It was never a suspect word, until the advent of ''pakki-bashing'' by skinhead nazis.
So if abbos has become a bad word, that's an indication of how badly you Australians have treated them.

[Tero]

Australia is not set up for European style agriculture. The whole sheep business is silly. We don't need wool. The use of the land for growing things should be limited to areas with reliable rainfall.

Weather patterns are changing. Deal with it, whatever the cause. Denying measurable change is stupid.

[JimC]

Firstly, there are more people about in Australia now, and they are far more mobile than they used to be. And there are more roads.
All that means that more fires get started, over a wider area.
And nowadays, you haven't got the abbos regularly burning off areas on a controlled basis, so there is more brush to burn.
And when fires start, they get put out. So that increases the available fuel over time.

I don't understand the logic over there. You see houses burned out, with trees and undergrowth growing right up to the buildings.
If I was living there, I'd have a cleared area round the house, to give myself a chance of surviving a fire.
And a swimming pool with a bloody great pump and hose.

There is some truth in this; however, most state governments try to replicate some aspects of aboriginal fire management by controlled burns in the cooler months. And certainly some people build houses in very dangerous situations, in terms of fire risk.

However, on average, it is likely that the extent of fires will increase in response to rising temperatures and longer, dryer summers...

[pErvinalia]

If abbos is like niggers, it's because of the way that the people were treated, not because of the word itself.
So don't get so high and mighty. Same with the word Pakkis. It was never a suspect word, until the advent of ''pakki-bashing'' by skinhead nazis.
So if abbos has become a bad word, that's an indication of how badly you Australians have treated them.

And how disrespectful you continue to be to them by using the word. Don't be a prick. Stop using the word.

[pErvinalia]

Firstly, there are more people about in Australia now, and they are far more mobile than they used to be. And there are more roads.
All that means that more fires get started, over a wider area.
And nowadays, you haven't got the abbos regularly burning off areas on a controlled basis, so there is more brush to burn.
And when fires start, they get put out. So that increases the available fuel over time.

I don't understand the logic over there. You see houses burned out, with trees and undergrowth growing right up to the buildings.
If I was living there, I'd have a cleared area round the house, to give myself a chance of surviving a fire.
And a swimming pool with a bloody great pump and hose.

There is some truth in this;

There isn't actually much truth in it. More people and more roads means less forest and more fragmentation. That means smaller intensity fires, given the same weather conditions. The fact that intensity of fires has been increasing is clearly due to increasing temperatures and greater variability in rainfall (i.e. longer dry spells). The Aboriginals still practice traditional firestick farming, but that is in remote areas where the fires aren't a threat to major population centres. National Parks and forestry carry out controlled burns all the time. The fact is it's getting hotter and it's getting dryer for longer here. That's a recipe for more and bigger fires. Simple.

[JimC]

You missed the part where I picked out 2 points from mm that are correct. In the south east, the amount of controlled burns is almost certainly less than it was before white settlement, with fuel loads higher, which adds to fire intensities. Also, I agreed with mm that house locations in the bush are often a disaster waiting to happen. Over the next 20 years or so, however, the effects of climate change will exacerbate these factors even further, leading to more loss of life and property.

[pErvinalia]

The problem with his "logic" is that this issue isn't a comparison between pre-white and post-white. The comparison is between pre-industry intensive white and current white. The fact is that bushfires are increasing in intensity, despite the fact that there has been virtually no change in Aboriginal fire management in the last 50 odd years. It's not the "abbos" fault, like the racist twat would like to have us believe.

[piscator]

As long as mining and oil are strong performers in the Australian economy, Australian politicians have millions of reasons to deny climate change.