australia

AUSTRALIA:
                       A WARNING FROM THE BUSHFIRES

                        Melbourne, February, 2009 - There was Sam the rescued koala suckling water from a bottle held by a fireman; there was the couple falling into each others arms after the fire separated them; there were tears and defiant declarations " we'll rebuild ". And then there was the reaction to a campaign to help survivors of the worst bushfire in Australia's history, a horror scenario in which some two hundred small town residents burned to death.
                                Few stories are more heart-warming then the generosity of people for people struck by misfortune. It seems that often in times of disaster human beings can be capable of amazing unselfish practices and sacrifices when charity supersedes our materialist nature.
                                 During one week the people of Australia - a population of 20 million - donated 100 million dollars to bushfire victims, brushing aside concerns about a world-wide recession that has hit hard the Australian economy and the Australian dollar.
                                The entire proceeds from an Australian Rules football match, a popular sport that can attract a hundred thousands spectators for one game alone, were offered to the bushfire campaign. During the match famous players and personalities ran phone-lines that collected pledges of five million dollars alone while the warriors on the pitch still fought ferociously for victory.
                                Australians are famous for their charity but in this case the plight of the bushfire survivors was more personal. Their fate touched everyone because it was so much part of their own habitat. This is a sunburned continent with extreme weather conditions, a south parched, tinder dry and short of water, a north flooded by torrential downpours. On this continent desert and snow alternate with a greenbelt coastline and an arid interior. Australians will forever tell you about their poisonous snakes and spiders, their man-eating crocodiles and killer sharks and how rivers run dry for years then suddenly flood the land as far as the horizon; how the great interior lakes are empty cracked basins for years and then one day they turn into an inland ocean.
                                But those who live on this continent have always viewed the land as an interminable provider and they did little if nothing to safeguard its delicate eco-system or adjust to its unusual peculiarities. Australia's settlers introduced sheep and cattle unsuited to the water-poor land. Governments built open water canals from which the burning sun evaporated as much as 70 per cent of the precious liquid they carried. Nature-lovers built villas, cottages and wood houses into densely forested areas, easy victims for the almost annual bushfires.
                              Australians love their gardens and plant them with European flora that requires constant watering thus depleting further the continent's scarce water resources instead of planting native flora which sinks deep liquid-storing roots and survives on minimum amounts of water.
                                Even though some of the bushfires were lit by pyromaniacs the strange climatic conditions of Australia have always produced bushfires long before the white man invaded the continent two centuries ago. Then like today many bush fires were ignited by lightning during thunderstorms. In recent years unusually strong winds have fanned these fires into savage conflagrations.
                       (In the February fire, the worst in history, a hot northerly wind from the interior fanned and fed small fires eventually converting them into deadly fireballs racing through dry forest and bush.)
                             While the authorities did predict the potential of killer bushfires no one could have prevented the tragedy especially since most residents decided not to evacuate their endangered homes and leave to the flames a lifetime's paraphernalia, mementoes and homes in the bush often built by their own hands.
                              In fact the tragic fires have given Australians a blunt warning: Beware! In our era of traumatic climate changes and ever more extreme weather conditions your continent, already fragile by birth, is sure to become one of the most flagellated climatic victims - and therefore needs much more of your caring.
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