Extreme weather and high temperatures are alarming signs of climate change

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Extreme weather seen in Western Australia sends us an unequivocal message that governments and corporations must address the climate crisis, writes Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter.

AS A Western Australian kid who now lives in Sydney, I spent the “black summer” of 2019-2020 inhaling the smoke from the fires that devastated our eastern seaboard. However, this summer has been very different in my home State. It’s been quite wet in the Emerald City.

Western Australia has been an Inferno. The heat of the place was always a source of pride for sandgropers. However, global warming is lowering the temperature to levels we have never experienced before.

The temperature More than fifty degreesThe temperatures in the Pilbara were at their highest point since Australia’s history in January. Perth has experienced a Record11 days at 40 degrees, including six consecutively. The unprecedented heat is driving catastrophic fire conditions, leading to the terrifying blazes of the last few weeks.

As anyone who’s spent time in WA knows, the locations that have burned or been threatened include precious places of extraordinary natural beauty and magnificent wildlife, and small towns with tight-knit communities.

As always, it’s right to express our gratitude to the first-responders to emergencies who are fighting the fires, as well as to all those who care about the aftermath.

There have been bushfires in WA since the beginning. The valley I lived in until I was ten years old was burned through a couple of times while my parents lived there. Like most rural-urban children, I was raised with a healthy respect for fire safety. I also knew the value and importance of a damp Hessian sack. At the local school, Colin Thiele’s February DragonMandatory reading.

But frightening as the threat of fire was in those distant days of the 1970s, today’s fires are of a different order of destructiveness.

According to Great Southern District Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) Superintendent Wayne Green, who has spent recent days dealing with the chaos, he’s“Seen the changes in our fire behavior over the last few year’ Climate change is a clear contributor to this problem.

Earlier in the season, WA’s DFES Commissioner, Darren Klemm, had already RecordedIt is possible to argue that climate change has influenced the intensity and frequency of weather events in the state.

The top WA firefighters are just joining the chorus of frontline fire fighters and emergency chiefs who have been sounding their alarm for years. I’ve just finished reading Greg Mullins’ terrific memoir, Firestorm: Defeating Super-Charged Natural DisastersThis article outlines in clear, unentimental detail the awakening he had and that of other senior leaders in the fire service and rescue community in relation to severe fire risks posed by climate changes.

Mullins is unambiguous

I’m a firefighter. I’ve been involved in some way in just about every major bushfire event in NSW for decades, and helped coordinate responses to many interstate bushfire emergencies such as Black Saturday in 2009.

Based on my personal observations and unchallengeable scientific data, I can assure you that the climate is changing. Humanity is responsible… resulting in more frequent natural disasters, increasingly on a scale beyond our ability to manage or control.

Mullins also identifies what is needed to respond to climate change disasters on a greater scale and frequency. He also recommends that we have much more resources and that we reduce emissions that are primarily due to the burning of coal, oil, and gas.

This dual approach is essential to ensure that communities are safe. Only emissions action has a chance to eventually stabilize and then reduce the escalating risks.

Western Australians are known for manifesting a certain reflexive sense of grievance at Canberra, but in relation to the Federal Government’s dismal performance on climate change, the frustration is fully justified.

Scott Morrison’s government has no credible planTo reduce emissions in line with what is needed to limit global warming and the internationally agreed Paris climate goals. Similar investments by the federal government in disaster response have also been InadequatAnd laggardly.

One year after the devastating Black Summer bushfires, a report was released in February 2021. It is less than halfThe promised bushfire relief funds had been paid to the surviving communities.

Woodside, a fossil fuel kingpin, is threatening to take over Western Australia. New emissions can be unleashedthrough its Scarborough gas plant.

This project, which is the most climate-polluting ever proposed in Australia would certainly make a significant contribution to worsening global warming and have disastrous consequences for the environment’s pristine marine environment.

Western Australia, which is one of the sunniest and most windy places on Earth, has so much to gain from a quick transition from a solar and/or wind-powered energy source. Conversely, it faces increasingly serious threats from climate changes unless it takes action to reduce emissions.

Our aim should be to create the conditions that enable our futures to flourish together, not a future of fire.