So what's going on?

Are Australian flames reaching us? The impact on Australia, the environmental concerns that have triggered the issue and some basic information on how we can help our planet to tackle a fire.

The strongest fires in history have been going on in Australia since October 2019. Their total area is 10.7 million hectares, which is comparable to the size of South Korea or Portugal. The economic damage from forest fires ravaging the east coast of Australia will be about $ 3.5 billion. This forecast was released so far by Westpac, one of the Australian largest financial institutions.

Australian fires have a significant impact on the Australian economy, slowing down economic growth and performance in general. Moreover, NASA has emphasized that the fires in Australia can cause global damage, saying that "unprecedented conditions that include searing heat combined with historic dryness" have led to an erratic weather phenomenon called "fire clouds." These clouds allow smoke to travel 10 miles high, and from there, it can disperse thousands of miles away from its origin

Nevertheless, fires have started to occur regularly, including the US, Siberia, and Amazonia, and those events have recently been a hot topic in the news, which means that there is something wrong happening nowadays.

Why do Australian fires draw more attention nowadays?

The fires in Australia are caused by its climate and weather conditions such as high temperature, dryness, strong winds and dry lightning. Certainly, it can be said that such events happen on an annual basis, as the Australian summer season starts in December and ends in March. So why does this gain such a widespread concern and outstanding attention than ever before?

Over the years, the severity and frequency of fires have increased and the damage that it causes to our ecosystem, people's lives and our future have become more visible. Since 1850, almost all long-term warming can be explained by greenhouse gas emissions and other human activities. [1] Put simply, we cause climate change ourselves due to our consumption habits. We tend to consume more if we have more income, we keep eating meat, extract, refine, transport, and burn fossil fuels (such as coal, natural gas, and oil). In doing so, we increase the levels of extra carbon and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. We also remove forests for the sake of consumption, though trees are the ones that can store CO2 emissions and help us tackle climate change. What's even worse is that some people have been arrested for causing bushfires themselves.

If there is no change in our lifestyle and consumption habits, we will cause even more damage to ourselves in the future.

Is the Australian fiscal policy to blame?

The Australian government has not been able to regulate the situation - in 2019, Australia is the 2nd largest exporter of coal in the world, yet coal is one of the largest drivers of climate change. [4]"Energy demand grew at its fastest pace this decade, with a 2.3% increase globally driving rises in fossil fuel consumption. Coal use in power stations was a third of the increase in energy consumption, and together gas and coal were responsible for nearly 70% of the growth in energy consumption, and while demand for solar and wind power also increased, it was by much less overall."[5]

Even though some big corporations have attempted to tackle the problem, there is still no efficient mechanism taking place to reduce the current phenomenon. Take a look at IKEA - it uses "close to 50 percent of its wood from sustainable foresters and 100 percent of its cotton from farms that meet the Better Cotton standards, which mandate reduced user of water, energy, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides."[5] However, it has a surprisingly small positive effect on the climate change issue and people's consumption behaviour.

The environment should become a top priority on a macroeconomic level: certain fiscal policies, which would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be developed and investments creating innovations to have greener substitutes should take place.

What is the economic cost of fires to Australia?

In terms of the Australian economy, according to analysts, fires will undermine Australia's already poor consumer confidence and will damage the economy as a result of increased air pollution and direct harm to agriculture, tourism, and even labour market.

The damage caused by fires will put upward pressure on consumer prices, given that the freshest fruits and vegetables consumed at home come from local sources. In the coming year, the deterioration is also expected in the labor market, which will further weaken consumption and beat on consumer confidence. The broader implications include air pollution, which has affected 30% of the population and will lead to "lower worker productivity, higher healthcare costs, and lower yields" as well as road closures and costs for insurers.

Tourism has also become the epicenter of the onset of the crisis. For instance, fires can affect the holding of Australia's most famous sporting event, the Australian Open tennis tournament, due to begin on January 20. The organizers said that they are considering the possibility of holding it on indoor courts as playing on standard outdoor areas will be impossible due to smoke.

Mike Flannigan, director of the Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science at the University of Alberta in Canada, said it has happened in fires in the United States and Canada in the past. "However, if it becomes constant ... then we do have significant problems," Flannigan said.

We don't know yet if the Australian fires can be classified as "constant" but the current fire crisis has already affected GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020. While NASA states that this phenomenon can affect global atmospheric conditions, the overall impact of Australia's smoke is still being studied.

How can you be more ethical?

The main cause that needs to be tackled is greenhouse gas emissions. We need to change our consumption and switch to greener options. Here are some ways how we can help our planet:

•  Cut on eating meat and dairy and focus on the consumption of fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans - meat and dairy are responsible for 14.5% of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions.[3]
  
• Switch from fast fashion to quality clothing that will last - average American gets rid of 80 pounds of clothing each year, 85% of which ends up in landfills. Moreover, shipping uses fossil fuels that cause global warming. [3]
  
• Buy less stuff - seek for options that are more ecologically friendly: for example, buy cruelty-free products, i.e. the products that do not undergo animal testing. Animal research facilities require large volumes of air, resulting in high consumption of energy thus, increased carbon emissions.[8]
  
• Save on your housekeeping bills, such as electricity, gas, and water - studies in the UK have shown that emissions from households' fossil fuel and electricity use are projected to rise 115 by 2035 compared with 2015 levels. [9]
  
• Drive less - avoid traffic, walk more and take public transport alternatives. The transportation sector in the United States accounts for 30 percent of national greenhouse gas emissions. [10] [3]
  

Summing up

Australian case is only one of the consequences of global warming. Siberian fires happen annually, leading to a damage to its ecological system - similar to the Australian scenario. It is not just fires harming the planet, but us causing them in the first place. Fires may become even more severe if we do not change our lifestyle. Moreover, we need to change our political and economic policies, as well as social norms, for the sake of our future.

We all need to contribute and stop causing the ecological damage, but obviously, it's UP TO us.

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Up to 01.02.2020

References:

1. https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-scientists-think-100-of-global-warming-is-due-to-humans
2. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/01/australia/australia-fires-explainer-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
3. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/
4. https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/catastrophic-australia-fires-are-the-latest-climate-change-horror-here-are-the-facts/
5. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/26/global-coal-use-up-by-third-as-greenhouse-gas-emissions-rise
6. https://www.virgin.com/virgin-unite/10-global-companies-are-environmentally-friendly
7. https://www.euronews.com/2020/01/15/scientists-find-australian-wildfire-smoke-has-circled-globe-n1116511
8. "Review of Evidence of Environmental Impacts of Animal Research and Testing" by Katherine Groff *, Eric Bachli, Molly Lansdowne and Theodora Capaldo, 2014
9. https://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/faqs/why-are-household-energy-efficiency-measures-important-for-tackling-climate-change/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_transport

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