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Comment by 9nGQluzmnq3M | Hacker News Reader

Reading any article like this, it's worth bearing in mind that bushfires are a natural seasonal phenomenon in Australia, and both flora and fauna are adapted to them. There are even some Australian plants that reproduce only after fires.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrophyte

The worrisome thing this time around, though, is the accompanying drought. Droughts too are a fact of life in the world's driest continent, but if this is now the "new normal" due to climate change, the land will not be able to recover.

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Read this the below link[1]. Which is a personal account of what's happening and 100% aligned with what I've seen while driving in the outback.

People are leaving. The land is no longer habitable to human or animal life. Trying to write off the last 3 years as 'seasonal phenomena' is fucking insane.

Significant chunk of brumby population died[2] no one's ever seen this before.

Wildlife is unable to reproduce because of the heat and drought[3]

The total wildlife death toll is estimated at 500m for this year alone[4]

None of this is precedented. None of this is part of the 'natural cycle'. This continent is experiencing a mass extinction event and the only reason it's not all over the news is because all of the news outlets are owned by Murdoch the coal mogul who probably understands climate change but will continue funding the public denial of it just because it makes a buck.

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/ecaqu4/australia...

[2] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-23/mass-brumby-death-dis...

[3] https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/cattle-hav...

[4] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/australian-bushfires-n...

> This continent is experiencing a mass extinction event and the only reason it's not all over the news is because all of the news outlets are owned by Murdoch the coal mogul who probably understands climate change but will continue funding the public denial of it just because it makes a buck.

and this is where you lost that miniscule credibility you had, ideologues is exactly what the environmental issues DON'T need.

https://www.crikey.com.au/2019/01/24/comments-climate-change...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/13/a-nation...

https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/science/biodiversity/w...

Please. Point out which part of what I said is false or 'ideologue'. And maybe not from a brand new alt account at -3 karma.

There's one giving data and evidence and reciting the scientific consensus, and then there are climate change deniers like yourself.

There's no reason or need to debate the truth. These are unprecedented fires. They have immense impact on animal and human life. You can discuss details and claim that some.things might recover naturally, but there is no way you can honestly think this is all just fine and normal.

Have a look at this. The scale is different from a regular wildfire.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/ng-inter...?

Damn, this map is really scary https://i.imgur.com/t1ls7wG.png

Yes, I'm aware of that, but locally it doesn't make much of a difference how big the fire is. Australian plants are built to survive bushfires and assuming there's water -- which is the big if I called out earlier -- they'll regrow.

Put enough way: the bushfires, in and of themselves, are not the problem. The underlying drought caused by climate change is.

This is not accurate.

This is the current state of fires in nsw: https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

There are fires in other states too.

Not on this scale. It's kinda like saying anthrax is natural.

Truth be told, anthrax is natural.

That's the point.

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