Australia On Fire!

[3DStudent]

I've been meaning to donate to the relief efforts. Does anyone know which are the best charities to donate to? Is the Aussie Red Cross a good one? Thanks.

 

[Beorn]

I've been meaning to donate to the relief efforts. Does anyone know which are the best charities to donate to? Is the Aussie Red Cross a good one? Thanks.

I could be wrong but from what I've heard the Red Cross has fairly large admin costs. You're probably better off donating directly to a group such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Fire Fighers NSW or Fire Fighters Vic.

 

[Kaigen]

I don't know if donating money to any big companies is a good idea. It will disappear in the big offices and used for different things.
Not helping people. Check this article after Sandy.
The Only Thing You Should Donate to Red Cross is Blood

 

[angelburst29]

Some relief from the bushfires but in the form of heavy rains and flooding. One extreme - to the other.

Australia's bushfire-stricken east welcomes drenching rain

Intense thunderstorms with heavy rains dampened bushfires on Australia's east coast on Friday, to the relief of exhausted firefighters and farmers battling years of drought, and granting a reprieve to the organizers of next week's Australian Open.

Floods, road closures in Australia as storms lash some bushfire-hit regions

Parts of Australia's east coast were hit by severe storms on Saturday, dousing some of the bushfires that have devastated the region for months but causing road closures and flash flooding.

Most Australian executives say climate change will damage companies: survey

More than 80% of Australian business executives believe climate change will damage their companies, a paper published on Tuesday showed, the highest percentage recorded out of business leaders in 19 countries surveyed.

Australian budget surplus in doubt as bushfire funding boosted

Australia on Monday boosted emergency funding for small businesses hit by bushfires that have ravaged the country for months, as the mounting costs of the disaster cast doubt on the government's ability to deliver a promised budget surplus.

 

[Agron]

cast doubt on the government's ability to deliver a promised budget surplus.

@Ocean
But they wont have problems with having a budget surplus for their paychecks and needed bribes, right?
And they earn their money very well, dont they? Doing whats good for citizens and enviroment....
They dont have issues with rent and prices of food, right? They get their debts in millions erased while you and me get evicted.
Nothing to see here, please move on and dont cross the yellow line....

 

[Arwenn]

We had a couple of thunderstorms and about 30 mm of rain over the weekend, but some parts of the East Coast had an absolute deluge, and place like Canberra had golf sized hailstones. Truly one extreme to another.

 

[Sol Logos]

I read about the Australian bushfires on Kangaroo Island in South Australia (SA). People lost their home, large swathes of forests were scorched, while millions of animals, including huge populations of kangaroos and koalas were burnt to a crisp. It's a catastrophic story that has been blamed on climate change. Behind that story is a growing green industry powered by lithium batteries. There's mining operations, multinational companies, Tesla, and the conglomerate of the Nicole Kidman's family somehow involved. The simple way to tell this story is with a timeline:


2009 - Mitsui & Co, a global mining and energy company wins right to sell lithium throughout Asia

2015 - Kangaroo Island Council development plan 2015, outlines that mining operations can't go ahead if they damage the environment and wildlife.

July 2017 - Tesla announces its building the world’s biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia

May 2018 - Mining company Auroch Minerals announces drilling plans for Kangaroo Island deposit

Sept 2018 - Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers (KIPT) signs exclusivity agreement with a Mitsui to “develop, maintain and operate the a woodchip-handling facility”

Nov 2018 - Mitsui and Tesla signs a definitive supply agreement deal with Kidman Resources with for lithium

Jun 2019 - Kangaroo Island reported to likely to boast significant yields of lithium

Sept 2019 - KIPT acquires 173-hectare taking it’s land holdings up to 50% of the island to develop a multi-user deep water “timber”port facility (KI Seaport at Smith Bay)

Dec 2019 - Fire reported to be started by lighting in KIPT's land holdings

1 Jan 2020 - 2 ravine fires on Kangaroo Island merged ravaging a lot of KIPT land

2 Jan 2020 - KIPT claims insured value of loss for $8.45 million for ravine fires

6 Jan 2020 - Mitsui to spend $3.5bn expanding its operations in Australia

10 Jan 2020 - ASX lithium shares are rebounding in 2020

12 Jan 2020 - Kangaroo Island’s majority of natural ecosystems completely scorched by apocalyptic fires

14 Jan 2020 - Mitsui donates $200k for bushfires damages to communities

22 Jan 2020 - Fires contained and 95 per cent of KIPT's timber estimated to be wiped out.


The sequence of these events here might only be loosely linked. But they beg a few questions, like:

Will mining operations now be free to begin, unrestricted from environment policies, since the earth is now scorched?

What interest would Mitsui & Co, the forth largest exporter of mining extracts in Australia, possible want with a wood-chip handling facility?

If the Australian government drastically reduces coal as the main energy source, as it's currently pressured to do, will there be a even larger market for lithium? Who would then supply it?

Was it climate change that caused the bushfire devastation, or was started and allowed to wreak havoc for other causes and reasons?


References:

Kangaroo Island Council development plan

Bushfires bring 'apocalypse' to Kangaroo Island

Why these ASX lithium shares are rebounding in 2020 // Motley Fool Australia/

https://themarketherald.com.au/kang...bers-asxkpt-ravaged-by-more-bushfires-2020-01/

https://www.theislanderonline.com.a...ne-fires-merge-move-toward-duncan-fire-ground/

https://www.proactiveinvestors.com....hardwood-exporting-via-ki-seaport-218278.html

https://investingnews.com/daily/australia-investing/kidman-hoa-mitsui-lithium-hydroxide/

https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/planni...oo-island-plantation-timber-port-at-smith-bay

https://www.theislanderonline.com.a...es-drilling-plans-for-kangaroo-island-deposit/

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20190208/pdf/442gl26ck424mk.pdf

https://www.vanadiumcorp.com/news/s...iggest-lithium-ion-battery-in-south-australia/

http://theleadsouthaustralia.com.au...es/kangaroo-island-shows-rpromise-for-lithium/

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/kangaro...ained-after-burning-for-more-than-three-weeks

https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wir...ks-count-the-cost-of-the-bushfire-catastrophe

 

[Agron]

I read about the Australian bushfires on Kangaroo Island in South Australia (SA). People lost their home, large swathes of forests were scorched, while millions of animals, including huge populations of kangaroos and koalas were burnt to a crisp. It's a catastrophic story that has been blamed on climate change. Behind that story is a growing green industry powered by lithium batteries. There's mining operations, multinational companies, Tesla, and the conglomerate of the Nicole Kidman's family somehow involved. The simple way to tell this story is with a timeline:

Thanks for this information! It goes in hand with my suspicions.
Landclearing. You can bet that someone who pushed for implementing "green" parties idiotic mismanagment of forrests and fuel loads did it with a good knowledge of those places where they can jump in with "development" after most devastating fires because theres NO animals and where new trees take much longer to return, if ever.
And when seeing the names you provided and whats going on I can bet on it.
To kill almost a million animals to make profits? But when you know that these "people" are not below killing humans for profits and manipulation... it seems so normal for them. And now its starting to seem normal to me that they would do it...
chilling stuff.

 

[Jones]

The peeps trying to help King Island out are coming up against all sorts of problems it seems. In the linked video, the claim is made that the govt have set up feed stations for surviving animals, but they're also sending in shooters to those feed stations. Apart from wildlife on King Island, farmers are having trouble finding feed for their stock and so the animal rescue groups are trying to get feed to farmers stock as well, but are coming up against all kinds of road blocks - they've got the feed, they just can't get it to the island.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10158056000644124

 

[Ruth]

I think this will go down in history as something Australians will never forget. It has had a devastating effected on the entire country. These are some of the stories behind the viral videos. 12 million hectares burned, 33 people died, 3000 homes and billions of animals. Nothing like this has ever happened before.

 

[Arwenn]

Now we’re dealing with flash floods from heavy rain over the past few days, while three months ago we were surrounded by bushfires. Pretty much all the way down the coast from Byron Bay to south of Sydney has been hit with incessant rain, strong winds and thunderstorms.

 

[Nienna]

May you and all of those around you stay safe, Arwenn. Remember to keep 1,000 eyes open.

 

[Voyageur]

May you and all of those around you stay safe, Arwenn. Remember to keep 1,000 eyes open.

It is a week off the above post, so hope everyone Down Under is doing okay - hopefully all the fires have somewhat abated in your areas, and then there was some big rains here and there and flooding. Things come in waves indeed.

North and half way around the world from you, the folks at Friends of Science (FOS) (Calgary, Alberta Canada) had a Press Release back on January 20th that was missed concerning suppression, not the fire suppression kind, although related:

Press Release
January 20, 2020

Australian Wildfire Facts Blocked by IFCN

You can read it from this pdf, and posting a video discussing it here:

https://www.friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/News/Friends%20of%20Science%20Press%20Release%20Jan.%2020,%202020.pdf

The horrific Australian wildfires are the result of many causes, not just climate change - and much can be done to reduce wildfire risk through well-researched, well-known mitigation techniques. The public should know this. But Poytner Institute's 'fact check' network and Facebook are preventing the public from learning about wildfire mitigation techniques that were not properly implemented or arsonists who are known to start many wildfires. Poynter Institute claims to be a global leader in journalism and in support of a free press, and democracy. Poynter has partnered with Facebook on a journalism integrity project to supposedly prevent false news from distribution, but instead it is blocking important facts from getting to the public. Poytner set up the "International Fact Checking Network" (IFCN) which is a network of journalists and scientists of various disciplines who are supposed to provide non-partisan and objective review of news items to ensure that false news is not distributed. Based on IFCN pronouncements, Facebook will then demote page quality is [sic] a post is deemed to be 'false news' (i.e. does not promote climate change as the cause of wildfires). The problem is that Poytner, IFCN, its sub-networks of Science Feedback and Climate Feedback, and Facebook all seem to be stuck in climate dogma. This video summarizes much of the material in Friends of Science Society's open letter to Poynter and Facebook on this topic. https://blog.friendsofscience.org/202...

Think elsewhere (on the forum) there were harrowing tales of people losing there homes (and deaths) possibly due in part to legal authorities decreeing preventing people from clearing up of their own brush/trees, and curtailments of government bush/forest mitigation practices. They were saying, we gotta have those carbon captures, don't you know. Then there were the crazy zealot protesters...

Here in BC we are no strangers to wildfire (and protesters), although different brush/forests then you Down Under, and yet the net results are the same when under threat. With the events over the years in BC, California (Europe last year) and now Australia, communities and land owners are scared and the protester voices have slipped away, and frankly, not many people in these areas are taking their shite anymore (they have moved on to pipelines or have followed Greta). So, landowners are clearing, crews have been hired by the province, and communities have engaged in detailed wildfire planning, because the forests here are getting over mature, full of pathology and they are loaded with volatile surface, ladder and crown fuel. Of course this will only mitigate a fraction of the risks.

What happened this summer (our winter) for you will happen again, and communities need to take charge of their own ways and remind legislators they will not be bullied by a sham. Unfortunately, there are so many who have never experienced the realities of a wildfire, up close and personal, that they will continue to beat the same climate drum, a beat that will only lead to more hardship and tragedy. Now, even some of those who are clearing their land for their safety think it's all about a AGW climate variable without understanding fuel loading cycles and climate history. Nothing new here.

Good luck all of you in facing these situations, and hope you find friends to help and can call out these IFCN types at every turn (as powerful and integrated as they are).

The Kyoto Protocol is a political solution to a non-existent problem without scientific justification.
- Dr. Timothy Ball, former climatology professor

Mike, Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith regarding the latest IPCC report? Keith will do likewise. ...Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same?

- Phil Jones, Director of Climate Research Unit, UEA, UK

 

[Arwenn]

It is a week off the above post, so hope everyone Down Under is doing okay - hopefully all the fires have somewhat abated in your areas, and then there was some big rains here and there and flooding.

No flooding where I am, thankfully & the fires have abated for now. It has been raining on and off over the last week, and it’s nice to see some green! Everything has been so dry & brown for so long. Now we just hope the farmers out West get some decent rain.

 

[MusicMan]

We had a couple of thunderstorms and about 30 mm of rain over the weekend, but some parts of the East Coast had an absolute deluge, and place like Canberra had golf sized hailstones. Truly one extreme to another.

Hello Arwenn, I've not been posting much lately (health issues). I live in the Canberra area, so I can tell you that the hail was very localised, and did not affect the area where I am, luckily. We got pulverised a couple of years back! As for the fires, they have been encroaching within 45km of us, and the smoke has lingered for the best part of the month - until the rains came. The rain where I am was minimal compared to other parts of NSW, (almost two inches) but enough to settle the fires down. We went for a drive down to Bredbo, and got an idea of the extent of the damage. while it was pouring rain, we could see a couple of groups of soldiers in their camo gear, cutting dangerous trees up, and we could see a blackened stump still smoking, so hopefully we get enough rain to extinguish them fully.
Much the same story on a trip to Bateman's Bay, I was amazed at how some of the houses in among the blackened trees were still standing. It's truly amazing to travel through mile after mile of blackened trees; It was a huge event. Hope all our other Aussie mates are OK.
A friend of mine said his ex-wife ran a business in Mogo with a house above; she lost the lot. There a lot of people in that situation now, it's terrible right on the Christmas / New Year season, and now we learn that the lady who raised like $61 million in Bushfire Relief can't get the money released to the victims due to a legal technicality!