Australia is being Consumed by More than Fire

Our backyard midday summer. The sky should be blue.  No clouds no filter, just smoke.

The smoke and yellow/grey skies blown over miles are a scary and disgusting annoyance to us but those effected by the actual blaze are incomparably worse off.  The scale of it right now, and continuously over the past few months in Australia, the size, heat, and destruction, is beyond anything we have ever known.  It is spanning the whole continent, and like an evil army, sparing nothing and no one in its path.

Human victims are the smallest number. The homes, communities, animals and ecosystems are so extensively damaged that in some cases there will be no recovery and the landscape of the future is unknown. It is estimated that at least 500 million mammals, reptiles, and birds have been killed.  Those still alive are staggering like refugees into populated places searching for help. It is so fucked up and so angering. I could go on and on but I won't. There is good coverage on The Guardian Australia. I won't post any pictures of dead or dieing animals because it is too traumatic and I don't want anyone to turn away. But know that you need to be grieving for them.

Our friend's home/farm which is threatened by one of the huge fires. The smoke looms close by 

The effect on us personally has been asthma, headaches, sinus congestion, not being able to go outside some days and having to keep the doors and windows shut day and night, even when it is miserably hot and the air is stagnant. We have been unsettled waiting to hear what will happen next; afraid for our neighbors and friends who live or have homes where the fires are, depressed and devastated by the suffering and deaths of all the millions of innocent souls. Millions of innocent souls floating, drifting in the smoke up to the heavens.

Australia has a strange kind of laisser-faire attitude that can sometimes be positive, as in when they are less uptight than most Americans. But it can also be a cop out when someone wants to excuse their guilt for lack of preparedness, concern, comprehension, or capability. In other words - when they fuck up royally. They don't bother to respond to problems that need attention, or simply shrug their shoulders and say "what are you gunna do"?  This was basically the response of the Prime Minister Scott (Scumo) Morrison when the fires first started in October and November.  He had ignored a report commissioned in 2008 by previous government leaders that warned that unprecedented drought and high temperatures would cause catastrophic fires. He refused to meet with a group of top Fire Fighters just months before who wanted to make suggestions for strategies.  In our state of New South Wales, they cut the budget for fire fighting and prevention by 35% this past year.

Most of us have been much too complacent and passive in many political arenas over the last 20 years.  We either had faith that "the political democratic system" would sort things out, or we were paralyzed with fear or doubt or confusion. Many of us were just too exhausted from trying to make changes on so many fronts, to so many problems. We didn't sit back and say "let it happen, I don't care, I want the world to suffer".  

But there are people who plan and plot, who lie and cheat to get what they want.  They are consumed by selfishness and greed for wealth and power. There are elected representatives who make deals to support these plans rather than act in the best interest of the public or the safety of the planet.  I think that the way the various government officials shirked responsibility and failed the public, in this situation, jeopardizing the future, is criminal. I think they should be held liable and I think they should go to prison just as any arsonist or murderer would. I would hope that they will at least be ousted in shame. 

This is a photo from the ABC. I got it off their website.  Farmlands as well as forests are in blazes.

However, regardless of what happens to them, the main thing right now is to listen to the ecologists and farmers and fire fighters and do what they say - without excuses or arrogance. They need to do more and do it immediately. 

The public outcry has been huge, and international news has finally caught on. We were at a demonstration in the center of the city yesterday.  There were politicians, firefighters, students and indigenous leaders speaking with clarity and passion about the situation.  There were so many people gathered that we couldn't see the end of the crowd and the shouts sounded like a wave traveling over the top of us.  I wish they would have had sign up tables so each and everyone of us went away with a clear task to keep the momentum going, but as it is, we have to rely on our own will and emotion to keep the pressure for change prominent in public dialogue.

We are making donations.  We are signing petitions.  We are managing with water restrictions, closed roads, and electrical blackouts.  At the same time we are waiting and watching the weather, the temperature, the moisture, and the wind. We are literally holding our breath for an end to the smoke and flames pessimistic and hoping at the same time.

That's probably more than enough for now. Thanks to everyone who has expressed concern.  I will try to update this as necessary.  In the meantime, let this be a caution to everyone.  What do you and your community need to be looking after?

Sydney Townhall 10 Jan 2020 - a fraction of the crowd.

Peace and Love, Sheila