I am interested in thoughts about the current bush fires, solutions and support.
I am respectfully asking people that regardless of what your thoughts are on climate change - that we please leave climate change arguments out of the equation just for this single discussion/thread so we can focus on other (or additional) practical solutions as to what we should learn from the current catastrophe outside of what almost everyone else is solely focused on at the moment, or practical ways in which we can help.
I understand that this request might frustrate some people - especially those who believe climate change is the primary contributing factor and see the discussion as meaningless otherwise. If you are one who does believe that we are having a negative effect on climate- and want to contribute to this thread - can I please contribute from a discussion on how we can practically address the increasing risk beyond lowering CO2 emissions or other climate change remedies - to areas that aren't been focused on by the media at the moment. Otherwise if you wish to discuss the climate change impact or non-impact of the bushfires, can I please ask that you kindly please start another thread, or contribute to
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12989 if it's applicable.
That's not to deny/exclude, nor to agree on climate change debates - it's just to have a neutral discussion focusing on other areas that aren't been discussed by most at the moment. (One of my concerns is that what I am seeing is almost a narrow focus on climate change only with other discussions and the media that I believe other practical solutions, problems and lessons that may be there for the learning learning are being missed).
I've looked over a number of sites, and have picked this forum for this question, as it seems that personal attacks start to reign as soon as you include or exclude climate change - and topics get off-track quickly - but I think that this site is one of the few that have a hope of having a respectable conversation even when people disagree (for the most part), and I hope that we can maintain respect through this.
Some thoughts I'm interested in are:
* Whether it is true or not we have reduced the amount of burning off, creation of firebreaks and if this is a contributing factor to the severity of the fires?
* Has reduction of allowing people to collect firewood alongside roadsides contributed or not towards the effects?
* Maybe for older fire fighters here - what differences have you observed with how fires used to be handled and fought, vs now and what do you see as being better and worse?
* Has the reduction and closure of 4WD tracks had an impact on the access fire fighting units have?
* Has reduction of stock in the high country affected this or is not relevant?
* If temperatures are rising - what practical ways can we be addressing the current issues at the moment beyond/outside of what climate change agenda is proposing (taxes, reducing co2 emissions, etc).
* Have we forgotten lessons learned from previous bush fires, or are we making the same mistakes, and if so - what ones?
* Is what I've heard the Aborigines have said about there being 10x more fuel now than when they were custodians of the land is true and whether that is contributing to the severity, etc?
* What policies (beyond or excluding) climate change should we as a country be considering to lessen the effects/damage/loss of life / property / damage in future.
* There's talk of the possibility of these fires joining and becoming 'Mega' fires. What does that mean, and is it more severe than other fires such as Ash Wednesday, Black Friday/Saturday, etc - or is it more media hype?
* And anything else that is relevant to the current bush fires that is not already been discussed by MSM.
Additionally - if you have been affected directly by these bush fires, what practical ways would you like to see people respond in the short to mid-term for support?