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Are the bushfires a result of climate warming?

By Peter Bowden - posted Thursday, 16 January 2020


This article shows the evidence that proves that they are – that global warming has caused Australia's bushfires. And that we can do something about the problem. But first we must deal with the climate sceptics and climate deniers.

They are primarily politically conservative. Two of the most outspoken are Tony Abbott, former Prime Minister of Australia , who has publicly stated that climate change is crap; the other is Christopher Monckton a British hereditary peer. Conservative political advisor, and UKIP political candidate, he has stated that it is necessary to nail the childish myth that global warming caused the bushfires in Australia. Monckton appears particularly unthinking and ill informed.

But perhaps the most extreme is Jeremy Clarkson, a British commentator, who, in his column for The Sun newspaper – owned by Rupert Murdoch, a supporter of conservatism, wrote that Australia was on fire because "God didn't want people to live there". Clarkson is unsympathetic to the green movement and has little respect for groups such as Greenpeace-he believes that the "eco-mentalists" are a by-product of the "old trade unionists and CND lesbians. Clarkson also criticized Greta Thunberg, calling her "a spoilt brat".

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Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp publications are climate deniers. Rupert Murdoch's son James, and daughter-in-law recently issued a sharp condemnation of Murdoch-owned publications, telling The Daily Beast they were disappointed in the climate-change denialism amid the deadly bushfire crisis in Australia. A member of Murdoch's staff has issued the same complaint.

Rupert Murdoch recently denied that there were any climate change deniers working at News Corp despite several of the company's columnists, such as Andrew Bolt and Piers Akerman, being long-time sceptics of the link between human activity and global warming. News Corp mastheads are The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun.

Why conservative beliefs should include climate scepticism is a mystery to this writer. But he is aware of several conservative friends and acquaintance who are sceptics. And other politicians. Even the current Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison is under attack for his climate policies. Morrison is also criticised for his bushfire policies.

The US President, Donald Trump, an arch conservative, is a further sceptic withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Paris climate change accord.

The only theory that this writer can offer for the conservative opposition to acting on the changing climate is that conservatives, by definition, do not endorse change. And our climate is changing. So, rather than acting, the least thinking approach is to deny that change.

Abbott has since modified his position, now accepting climate change, but arguing that we are approaching it the wrong way. Monckton however continues the conservative debate by arguing "those who profiteer by asserting that global warming is the cause of every extreme-weather event have rushed to state – falsely – that an "overwhelming scientific consensus" (to cite the Greens' website) blames the incidence, extent, duration and severity of the drought and bushfires on the somewhat warmer weather. "

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This present article argues that Monckton and his conservative colleagues are wrong – very, very wrong, and a danger to our community. Bushfires have long been part of the Australian scene The aboriginal people themselves used to burn the bush. But the recent outbreaks have been excessive.

The most common causes of bushfires in Australia include lighting strikes, trees falling on powerlines, arsonists, unintentional kindling of surrounding foliage during agricultural land clearing, dropped matches, cigarettes, sparks caused by power tools, farm machinery.

An announcement in The Sydney Morning Herald recentlyshows that lightning strikes are not uncommon. The following is in one city, not the thousands of square miles of bush: "Two people have been taken to hospital after lightning strikes in Sydney's north, with a woman in Arcadia and a man in Dee Why being struck within minutes of each other."

A second reason is embers from an existing fire, A strong wind can carry embers perhaps ten kilometres

This writer lives in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, in a bushfire prone region. On the edge of the bush, our family is acutely aware of the danger of bush fires. We are also aware of the precautions a house owner must take to reduce the chance of his house going up in flames. These are:

  • Lowering woodland density and burnable material around the house, by reducing shrubs and any loose leaves.
  • Ensuring trees do not overhang roofs to avoid build-up of leaf litter in gutters. They will go up if burning embers land on them.

Embers are the big problem. Whether to stay and extinguish the embers as they land on your house, or to evacuate when the fire service says leave is a difficult choice. This family has decided to leave, when the firies say "leave ", fully aware that they increase the chances of coming back to a burnt-out house.

There are also steps that the Volunteer Rural Fire Service takes, including:

  • "Prescribed burning","controlled" or "planned" burning . Burnoffs around communities designed to increase the distance that embers have to jump.
  • "Backburns", which are lit during an emergency with the aim of creating a scorched buffer to inhibit the advancement of an active bushfire.

Neither is a perfect solution, due to the ability of embers from an existing fire to jump large distances.

Climate control, not climate denial, is another, but also imperfect answer. Australia had its hottest and driest year on record this past year. One cause is human activity, a scientifically proven fact, despite the conservative sceptics. In 2008, the Climate Change Review by Ross Garnaut said Australia would face a more dangerous fire season by 2020. His recently stated that his big regret was that he was unable to convince the Australian public, and its politicians of this danger. He added: "although things are bad, they will keep on getting worse if the concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere keep increasing".

The report said there could be a 300 per cent increase in the number of days with extreme fire weather by 2067.

The main causes of human induced climate change are:

  1. Increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere, caused by increases in fossil fuel combustion for electricity generation, transportation, and heating. CO2 stops the earth's heat escaping to the atmosphere.
  2. Increase in ozone levels in the stratosphere over Antarctica. The return of the Sun at the end of winter triggers photochemical reactions that lead to the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere. The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation, a cause of many skin cancers. Elimination of certain CFCs is designed to protect the ozone layer.
  3. Deforestation is another cause. Forests are very human friendly, cleaning the air and acting as natural filters to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
  4. Methane and Nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture, arctic sea beds and factories.
  5. Aerosols present in the atmosphere.

Each time a fossil fuel burns, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increase. As we know, carbon dioxide absorbs infra-red energy emitted from the earth's surface, preventing it from returning to space. NASA describes it as 'the principal control knob that governs the temperature of Earth.' Electricity generation requires coal and is the largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions.

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About the Author

Peter Bowden is an author, researcher and ethicist. He was formerly Coordinator of the MBA Program at Monash University and Professor of Administrative Studies at Manchester University. He is currently a member of the Australian Business Ethics Network , working on business, institutional, and personal ethics.

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