A koala affected by the recent bushfires is released back into native bushland following treatment at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park on Feb. 21, 2020 in Parndana, Australia. Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images
By Fino Menezes
After unprecedented bushfires devastated communities and iconic flora and fauna across Australia, non-profit group Science for Wildlife releases 12 koalas back into their natural habitat in the Blue Mountains.
First Koalas Released Back Into the Wild After Bushfire Horror
<p>Before this current global health crisis, Australia endured an unprecedented bushfire season that devastated communities and iconic flora and fauna across the country. In the midst of the horror, 12 koalas were rescued from the Kanangra Boyd National Park in the southern Blue Mountains World Heritage area. On March 23rd and 25th, they were reintroduced back into the eucalyptus forests of their Kanangra home.</p>On March 23rd and 25th the Koalas Returned Home
<p>Science for Wildlife, a not-for-profit wildlife conservation organization based out of Sydney, Australia, recently announced that all of their koalas, saved from the recent bushfires, have been returned to their home in the Blue Mountains of Australia.</p><p>They rescued the marsupials, who are representatives of the most genetically diverse population of koalas in Australia, from the devastating mega-fire that moved through the area in December 2019. They were sheltered in safety and cared for by staff at Taronga Zoo, with a team effort between Taronga and Science for Wildlife in keeping them fed.</p><p>On March 23rd and 25th, they were reintroduced back into the eucalyptus forests by the team, with the support of San Diego Zoo Global.</p><p>"While they have coped well in care, we are delighted to finally send our koalas home. We have been busy assessing the burnt area that we rescued them from, to establish when the conditions have improved enough that the trees can support them again," said <a href="http://scienceforwildlife.org/people/dr-kellie-leigh/" target="_blank">Dr Kellie Leigh</a>, Executive Director of Science for Wildlife.</p><p>"The recent rains have helped and there is now plenty of new growth for them to eat, so the time is right. We will be radio-tracking them and keeping a close eye on them to make sure that they settle in ok."<br></p><p>Dr. Leigh continued, "During the massive fires, as 80% of the World Heritage Area burnt, we were at risk of losing the entire koala population at this site and so that's what drove us to try something so radical and pull these koalas out before the fire hit."</p>The Animals are Part of a Genetically Diverse Koala Population
<p>The Greater Blue Mountains area is a mountainous region located in New South Wales in Australia, which supports koalas that seem to break all the rules. The region was listed as a World Heritage Area by UNESCO in 2000 largely due to an outstanding diversity of eucalypt species (over 100 species), giving koalas more choice of habitats and food trees than anywhere else in Australia.<br></p><p>Science for Wildlife has been running the Blue Mountains Koala Project in this region for 5 years and through collaborative research they discovered that the Blue Mountains World Heritage Region is home to the most genetically diverse population of koalas in the world. The population in Kanangra-Boyd is also free of chlamydia, which is sadly a rare thing. Science for Wildlife, along with San Diego Zoo Global*, is committing resources to help ensure that the population is recovered.<br></p><p>*Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. A leader in global conservation, San Diego Zoo Global has been a core partner for Science for Wildlife's Blue Mountains Koala Project since it started and have been raising funds to support the rescue and other emergency wildlife work that Dr. Kellie Leigh and her team have been undertaking during the bushfires.</p><p>Some of the core funding provided by San Diego Zoo Global over the years has been used for ecological studies and to find, capture and radio-track koalas at the different study sites – those tracking devices are what enabled the team to go in and find the koalas and move them out before the approaching fire. The same devices, along with more support from San Diego Zoo, will now allow them to monitor the animals and ensure they settle in ok.</p>What's Next for These Koalas?
<p>The reintroduction of these koalas back to their natural habitat is just the next stage in what conservationists know will be a long-term effort to recover koala populations in the area.</p><p>"There is still a lot of work to be done to assess what is left of koalas in this region and plan for population recovery. We are dedicated to continuing to support this critical work to conserve a significant koala population," <a href="http://scienceforwildlife.org/koalas-return-to-the-blue-mountains/" target="_blank">said</a> Paul Baribault, President and CEO of San Diego Zoo Global.</p><p>The radio-tracking devices fitted to the koalas will ensure that the Science for Wildlife team can monitor their welfare, and also learn more about how koalas use the landscape after fire. This should tell them where else they might find pockets of surviving koalas. Finally, the technology will help the Science for Wildlife team plan a future for koalas under climate change, where more frequent and intense fires are expected.</p><p>To learn more about the Blue Mountains Koala Project, visit their project page <a href="http://scienceforwildlife.org/iconic-koalas-blue-mountains-project/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>For projects updates and to learn more about Science for Wildlife community, visit their projects page <a href="http://scienceforwildlife.org/projects/" target="_blank">here</a>, or follow them on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/ScienceForWildlife/photos/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. </p>Koalas are Being Released in Other Parts of New South Wales
<p>Koalas are also being released in other parts of New South Wales, the state where Sydney is located, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/sydney-australia-bushfires-koalas-released-a9443261.html" target="_blank">reported</a> <em>The Independent</em> last week.</p><p>Staff and volunteers at Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, based four hours' drive north of Sydney, released their first koala on April 2.<br></p><p>The four-year-old named Anwen was rescued in October last year, and will be the first of 26 koalas to be released into the wild by the animal hospital over the coming days.</p><p>The remaining koalas will be split into three groups and will be released back to their original habitats in Crowdy Bay (South of Port Macquarie), and two areas in the Lake Innes Nature Reserve.</p><p>Sue Ashton, president of Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, said, "This is a heart-warming day for us – to be able to release so many of our koalas back to their original habitats, even to their original tree in some cases – makes us very happy.</p><p>"Anwen was our first ever female koala to be admitted during the bushfires and her recovery has been extraordinary. It marks a proud moment for Australia; to see our Koala population and habitat starting to recover from what was such a devastating time."<br></p><p>Port Macquarie Koala Hospital has also cared for koalas from Taree, the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury. The hospital said these will be returned to their "home" areas to be released.</p>From Your Site Articles
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A woman watches as she takes shelter at the beach as smoke from a bushfire is seen in Batemans Bay in New South Wales on Jan. 4. PETER PARKS / AFP / Getty Images
The Australian wildfires that burned for five months and destroyed millions of acres also killed 33 people. However, the smoke from the fires killed 12.6 times as many people. New research has shown that smoke from the fires killed 417 people and caused thousands of hospitalizations between October and February, as CBS News reported.
<p>The study was published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja2.50545" target="_blank">Medical Journal of Australia</a>. The research team, led by Fay Johnston at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, collected data on deaths, hospitalizations and emergency room visits. They then took that data and created a comprehensive map that pinpointed exactly how spikes in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" rel="noopener noreferrer">air pollution</a> levels linked to increases in hospital visits, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00886-9" target="_blank">according to Nature</a>. </p>
<p>"The fires were unprecedented in Australia's history, in terms of vast amounts of smoke, the huge populations affected by the smoke and the long duration," Johnston said, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/21/smoke-from-australias-bushfires-killed-far-more-people-than-the-fires-did-study-says" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. </p><p>The wildfires caused Australia's air quality to plummet. Sydney experienced 81 days of poor or hazardous quality in 2019, more than the last 10 years combined. The capital, Canberra, at one point during the fires, had the world's worst air quality. In January, tennis players at the Australian Open in Melbourne complained that the smoke from the nearby fires hurt their lungs. </p><p>"When you're affecting millions of people in a small way, there are going to be enough people at high enough risk that you're going to see really measurable rises in these health effects," Johnston said to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/21/smoke-from-australias-bushfires-killed-far-more-people-than-the-fires-did-study-says" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>The data that Johnston and her team collected found that the smoke accounted for 1,124 cardiovascular-related hospital admissions, 2,027 respiratory-related hospital admissions, and 1,305 asthma-related emergency room admissions, according to CBS News.</p>
<p>"In terms of the extent and duration of the fires, and pollution in the air, this is off the chart for a single summer fire season," said Johnson, as Nature reported.</p><p>The research focused on the four areas in the eastern part of Australia that were hit hardest by the wildfires: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Australian Capital Territory. The state of New South Wales, which was most affected by the Australian wildfires, saw thousands of people forced to evacuate their homes and more than an estimated 800 million animals killed, as CBS News reported.</p><p>Guy Mark, an epidemiologist who studies respiratory diseases at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia who was not involved in the study, told Nature that research that focuses on the unseen impacts of smoke and air pollution is vital to understanding the fires' impacts. </p>
<p>"These deaths and hospitalizations would not have been recognized as being attributable to the fires and smoke at the time they occurred. Hence, they tend to have less attention paid to them," Marks said.</p><p>Johnston told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/21/smoke-from-australias-bushfires-killed-far-more-people-than-the-fires-did-study-says" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> that any of the deaths and hospitalizations were likely elderly people with an existing pulmonary health condition like heart disease or lung problems, such as chronic bronchitis or emphysema. She added that severe asthma attacks would account for deaths in younger people. </p><p>Marks added that he would like to see long-term research that focused on the effects on newborn babies and pregnant women were exposed to hazardous air quality during the fires, as The Guardian reported.</p>
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Demonstrators hold up placards outside the Australian Open venue during a climate protest rally in Melbourne on Jan.y 24. MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP / Getty Images
The climate crisis has now stretched Australia's summers twice as long as its winters, a new report has found.
<p>The report, published by <a href="https://www.tai.org.au/content/australian-summer-now-over-one-month-longer" target="_blank">The Australian Institute Monday</a>, comes after the country experienced its warmest and driest year on record, as well as a devastating <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfire</a> season that killed 33 people and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-wildfire-deaths-2644394434.html" target="_self">more than one billion animals</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-51697803" target="_blank">BBC News pointed out</a>.</p><p>"Following the hottest Summer on record, it commonplace to hear older Australians claim Summers aren't what they use to be. And they are right," Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program Director Richie Merzian said in a press release. "Our findings are not a projection of what we may see in the future. It's happening right now."</p>
<div id="31146" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="HQQBJG1583161512"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1234367170001244167" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">“Our findings are not a projection of what we may see in the future. It's happening right now. Summers have grown l… https://t.co/ZoEvD1WByk</div> — Australia Institute (@Australia Institute)<a href="https://twitter.com/TheAusInstitute/statuses/1234367170001244167">1583131041.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The researchers looked at Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) temperature data from 70 weather stations across Australia, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/02/climate-crisis-cutting-short-australias-winters-and-extending-summers" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. First, they compared temperature data from 1999 to 2018 with data from 1950 to 1969. They found that, between the two periods, summers had gotten 31 days longer while winters had gotten 23 days shorter. Then, they looked at data for the last five years and found that summers from 2014 to 2018 were around twice as long as winters.</p><p>This has major implications for the health and wellbeing of Australians. Extreme heat waves are the deadliest extreme weather events in the country, responsible for more deaths than all other hazards combined, Merzian said. Shorter winters also mean there is less time to implement strategies for managing bushfires during the off season.</p><p>One region that suffered during the most recent wave of wildfires has also seen its summers extend significantly: Port Macquarie in New South Wales, where the Lindfield Park Road fire burned for almost seven months starting in July 2019, is now seeing 48 more days of summer, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-02/australian-summers-getting-longer-winters-shorter/12013978" target="_blank">ABC News pointed out</a>. Fires in Port Macquarie also <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/koala-habitat-fire-port-macquarie-2641163216.html" target="_self">devastated koala habitats</a>.</p>
<p>"[T]he catastrophic 2019 fires near Port Macquarie occurred before summer as defined by the calendar, but well within the new summer as caused by climate change," the report said, according to ABC News.</p><p>The report predicted that these hotter conditions would likely continue unless greenhouse gas emissions were reduced and ultimately zeroed out, according to The Guardian. Australia has seen one degree Celsius of warming so far, but is on track for three to four degrees of warming based on its current emissions targets.</p><p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison has faced criticism for failing to act on the climate crisis, BBC News reported. Australia is one of the highest carbon dioxide emitting countries per capita because of its reliance on coal.</p><p>"According to numerous modelling exercises, including those commissioned by the federal government, it is in Australia's national interest and economic interest to put in place a strong policy to reduce emissions," Merzian said. "The Australian Government's current policies only serve to further fuel the climate crisis."</p>
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People commute to work on Feb.07 in Sydney, Australia. A severe weather warning is in place for Sydney and most of the NSW coast, with 130mm of rain predicted in Sydney alone. Brendon Thorne / Getty Images
The fire ravaged state of New South Wales in Australia received much-needed torrential downpours that doused active fires, reducing the total number by a third, as The Guardian reported. The number of active fires dropped from more than 60 to 42 in just one day.
<p>Authorities in New South Wales warned of flash <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" rel="noopener noreferrer">flooding</a> on Australia's east coast and in Sydney. However, they were happy to welcome the rain, which was the most recorded in over a year, according to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51409551" target="_blank">BBC reported</a>. </p><p>"It was fantastic to wake up to much-needed rain this morning!" Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore wrote in a <a href="https://twitter.com/CloverMoore/status/1225591134908338176" target="_blank">tweet</a>.</p>
<div id="f89f0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="BUY8HQ1581099907"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1225591134908338176" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">It was fantastic to wake up to much-needed rain this morning!
Today has already been the wettest Sydney day in 15… https://t.co/uBXf9o4L7V</div> — Clover Moore (@Clover Moore)<a href="https://twitter.com/CloverMoore/statuses/1225591134908338176">1581038671.0</a></blockquote></div><p>New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons expressed optimism that the rains will continue to help put out the fires in the coming days. Seventeen of the remaining 42 fires are not contained, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/a60a7e36fa66c38ef65c4fa7bf60d9a5" target="_blank">AP reported</a>.<br></p><p>"The rain is good for business and farms as well as being really good for quenching some of these fires we've been dealing with for many, many months," said Fitzsimmons, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/a60a7e36fa66c38ef65c4fa7bf60d9a5" target="_blank">AP reported</a>.</p><p>The Rural Fire Service is taking advantage of the conditions to conduct back burning operations in an effort to contain more fires, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/07/massive-relief-torrential-rain-douses-bushfires-across-parts-of-australia" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. </p><p>"This has been an absolute welcome disruption to that weather pattern and a massive reprieve and relief to so many people right across New South Wales," <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/07/massive-relief-torrential-rain-douses-bushfires-across-parts-of-australia" target="_blank">Fitzsimmons said to The Guardian</a>. "Obviously we don't want to see lots of widespread damage and destruction from flooding, but it is certainly a welcome change to the relentless campaign of hot, dry weather resulting in widespread damaging, destructive fires that we've experienced for too long now."</p>
<p>The fire officials were ecstatic over the help the rains provided. </p>
<p>"This is that constant, steady, decent rainfall that we've been praying for for so long," <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51409551" target="_blank">NSW Rural Fire Service spokeswoman Angela Burford said to the BBC</a>.</p><p>"This isn't just one of those scattered showers we saw a month ago. This is really helping our firefighters, and in some places, giving them a well-needed rest."</p>
<p>Yet, she cautioned that while New South Wales is getting some relief along the coast, Australia is not out of the woods yet. There is very little rain around Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. Burford warned that the largest blazes there had received little rain and were still a major concern for the fire service. </p>
<p>Firefighters are unable to contain major blazes across Australia's southeast coast without heavy rain. The rain is expected to continue through next week, providing relief to drought stricken areas. It will also move southwest from the northeastern coast over the next week, which will be the first substantial soakings to reach dozens of fires, <a href="https://apnews.com/a60a7e36fa66c38ef65c4fa7bf60d9a5" target="_blank">according to the AP</a>.</p>
<p>Next week, the heavy rainfall may help douse the fires near Canberra and in Victoria, but that rainfall will carry with it warnings of water contamination from ash and silt, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/07/massive-relief-torrential-rain-douses-bushfires-across-parts-of-australia" target="_blank">according to The Guardian</a>. </p>
<p>While New South Wales has suffered the most from this season's brushfires, which scientists say is exacerbated by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate crisis</a>, Victoria and South Australia have not yet reached peak fire danger. The fire season is predicted to last through April, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51409551" target="_blank">according to the BBC</a>. </p>
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Australian Supreme Court Halts Logging Project as Animals Seek New Habitat Amid Fire Destruction
30 January
Animals
A children school sign crossing is seen in front of burned trees in Mallacoota, Australia on Jan. 15. A logging project west of this area has been temporarily stopped to assess the health of native species. Luis Ascui / Getty Images
The Australian Supreme Court has stepped in to put an immediate halt to a logging project in east Victoria while it waits for cases about the health of native species to be heard in court, according the Brisbane Times.
<p>The state's logging agency VicForests must immediately stop logging several areas that were earmarked for clear-cutting. Environmentalists had argued that that devastation from the fires in East Gippsland had put an inordinate amount of strain on native species in Victoria. They argued that areas that were left unscathed must not be logged while surviving animals try to find a new habitat, as the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-30/court-halts-logging-due-to-impact-of-gippsland-bushfires/11913528" target="_blank">Australian Broadcasting Company reported</a>. </p>
<p>Justice Kate McMillan said there was "a real threat of a serious or irreversible damage to threatened species and their habitat should harvesting operations continue in the coupes," <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-30/court-halts-logging-due-to-impact-of-gippsland-bushfires/11913528" target="_blank">according to the Australian Broadcasting Company</a>. "The recent bushfires have caused extensive environmental damage, the severity of which is only beginning to be understood."</p>
<p>Wildlife of the Central Highlands filed the case against VicForests. It is looking to stop 10 areas that are scheduled for clear-cutting. The current injunction stops three of them from continuing. They will seek an injunction for the other seven <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests" rel="noopener noreferrer">forests</a> when the issue is before a court again in a few weeks, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/30/court-orders-logging-to-stop-in-parts-of-victorias-central-highlands-after-fires" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<p>Wildlife of the Central Highlands claimed the areas targeted for logging are habitat for the greater glider, the smoky mouse, the sooty owl, and the powerful owl — all have been identified by the Victorian government as being of immediate concern because of the bushfires, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/30/court-orders-logging-to-stop-in-parts-of-victorias-central-highlands-after-fires" target="_blank">according to The Guardian</a>. The plaintiffs say that logging the areas where these animals have been spotted is illegal until the government creates a plan to protect the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildlife</a>.</p><p>Environmental Justice Australia, which represented Wildlife of the Central Highlands in court, told the justices that the animals had seen their habitats destroyed in the fires so the unscathed areas will now take on a larger role in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a>. Considering that, the trees should remain standing for the short term, <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/victoria/supreme-court-halts-post-bushfire-logging-in-victoria-s-east-20200130-p53w46.html" target="_blank">according to the Brisbane Times</a>.</p>
<p>Danya Jacobs, a senior lawyer with Environmental Justice Australia, said it was a good result for threatened species "who suffered a huge blow after the catastrophic bushfires," as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/30/court-orders-logging-to-stop-in-parts-of-victorias-central-highlands-after-fires" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. She added, "important unburnt habitat is now safe from logging, while this case moves to the next stage."</p>
<p>"This case is an important test for whether laws designed to protect threatened species are able to do so in the aftermath of this summer's catastrophic bushfires," said Jacobs, as the <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/victoria/supreme-court-halts-post-bushfire-logging-in-victoria-s-east-20200130-p53w46.html" target="_blank">Brisbane Times reported</a>.</p><p>Victoria's Premier, Daniel Andrews, said the fires destroyed 40 percent of the area in East Gippsland that had been slated for logging, as the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-30/court-halts-logging-due-to-impact-of-gippsland-bushfires/11913528" target="_blank">Australian Broadcasting Company reported</a>. In 2019, Andrews announced that logging in Victoria would be phased out by 2030 because of dwindling <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sustainability" rel="noopener noreferrer">sustainable</a> supplies. </p><p>"I don't think we yet know exactly what the impact is on the current timber release plan or our timber transition plan in terms of whether the volumes we thought would be available will be," said Andrews, as the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-30/court-halts-logging-due-to-impact-of-gippsland-bushfires/11913528" target="_blank">Australian Broadcasting Company reported</a>."There has been impact from these fires, and we will have to assess what that impact is."<span></span><br></p>
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People are seen embracing at Numeralla Rural Fire Brigade near the scene of a water tanker plane crash on Jan. 23 in Cooma, Australia. Three American firefighters have have died after their C-130 water tanker plane crashed while battling a bushfire near Cooma in southern NSW this afternoon. Jenny Evans / Getty Images
Three U.S. firefighters gave their lives battling Australia's historic wildfires Thursday when their airborne water tanker crashed.
<p>The firefighters took off in a C-130 water tanker at 1 p.m. to fight a blaze near the Snowy Mountains in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), according to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/air-tanker-fighting-bushfires-reportedly-crashes-in-snowy-mountains-20200123-p53u3r.html" target="_blank">The Sydney Morning Herald</a>. The plane then disappeared from radar. </p><p>"It's just a ball of flames ... over," a nearby plane told flight control of the crash, as The Sydney Morning Herald reported.</p>
<div id="44cca" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2YOUPM1579875555"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1220191579979186177" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">RAAF A47-005 P-8A Poseidon as "BLACKCAT 50" currently searching for a missing C-130 Large Air Tanker in the Snowy M… https://t.co/lUqO72pBTj</div> — scanSydney (@scanSydney)<a href="https://twitter.com/scanSydney/statuses/1220191579979186177">1579751317.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the plane disappeared from radar a little after 2 p.m., while Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said in a news conference that contact was lost with the plane before 1:30 p.m., <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/01/23/australia-wildfires-americans-die/4550882002/" target="_blank">USA Today reported</a>.</p><p>Coulson Aviation, the Canadian company that operated the plane, identified the firefighters as 44-year-old Capt. Ian H. McBeth from Great Falls, Montana; 42-year-old First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson from Buckeye, Arizona; and 43-year-old Flight Engineer Rick A. DeMorgan from Navarre, Florida.</p><p>McBeth, a former member of the Wyoming Air National Guard and an active member of the Montana Air National Guard, was also a husband and a father to three children.</p><p>DeMorgan was a father of two who served 18 years as an engineer on the C-130 in the U.S. Air Force.</p><p>Hudson was a veteran who had served for 20 years in the U.S. Marines, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring.</p><p>Their deaths bring the death toll of the Australian wildfires up to 32 overall since September, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/01/23/798801208/tanker-plane-fighting-australias-bushfires-crashes-killing-crew-of-3" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>. More than a dozen of those killed have been firefighters.</p>
<p>The devastating blazes have also burned an area larger than Pennsylvania, destroyed 2,500 homes and killed <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-wildfire-deaths-2644394434.html" target="_self">more than a billion animals</a>. The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> has made Australia's natural bushfires more dangerous and extreme, Australia's <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/bushfire-briefing-paper/" target="_blank">Climate Council has found</a>.</p><p>"The fire season is still far from over and today we've seen, again, tragic consequences, where three people have lost their lives," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said in the wake of the three firefighters' deaths, as NPR reported. "Our thoughts and prayers and heartfelt condolences go to their families."</p><p>Berejiklian said that flags would fly at half-mast Friday as a sign of respect.</p>
<div id="4e08b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="W9FHH61579875555"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1220232762109464576" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Out of respect for the three US firefighters who lost their lives operating a Large Air Tanker, flags will fly at half mast in NSW tomorrow.</div> — Gladys Berejiklian (@Gladys Berejiklian)<a href="https://twitter.com/GladysB/statuses/1220232762109464576">1579761135.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Coulson has grounded the rest of its firefighting aircraft as a safety measure while it investigates the cause of the crash, which is still unknown, according to USA Today. This will reduce the air power available to the 1,700 firefighting volunteers and personnel still battling the flames.</p><p>There are currently five fires burning at the highest "emergency warning" level in NSW and near the Australian capital of Canberra.</p><p>The fire near Canberra has burned almost 1,000 square miles and is considered out of control, according to NPR.</p><p>The U.S. has sent more than 200 people to Australia to help fight the fires, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/23/us/american-firefighters-killed-australia/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. It said Wednesday it would send another two 20-person crews.</p><p>Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne honored the U.S. firefighters who lost their lives.</p><p>"Our hearts go out to their loved ones. They were helping Australia, far from their own homes, an embodiment of the deep friendship between our two countries," she said in a statement reported by USA Today.</p>
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The exact location of the prehistoric trees saved by firefighters has been kept a secret to protect them from contamination. NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment / CC BY 4.0
It looks as if firefighters in Australia have succeeded in saving a secret grove of prehistoric trees belonging to a species that dates back to the time of the dinosaurs.
<p>The Wollemi pines once grew widely across Australia from more than 100 to 60 million years ago, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/16/wollemi-pines-australia/" target="_blank">The Washington Post reported</a>. But now less than 200 remain in the wild, in a national park 125 miles northwest of Sydney. </p><p>"It's something like the Opera House of the natural world," Richard Kingsford, director of the Center for Ecosystem Science at the University of New South Wales (NSW), told <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/incredible-secret-firefighting-mission-saves-famous-dinosaur-trees-20200115-p53rom.html" target="_blank">The Sydney Morning Herald</a>. "Losing it would have added to the catastrophe we have seen elsewhere."</p>
<div id="eb043" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="M6MFZ51579270327"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1217567510398025728" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Wollemi Pines outlasted the dinosaurs and thanks to the mammoth efforts of NPWS they look like they will surviv… https://t.co/mS9HXWtoNm</div> — Matt Kean MP (@Matt Kean MP)<a href="https://twitter.com/Matt_KeanMP/statuses/1217567510398025728">1579125690.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Historic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a> in Australia this spring and summer have killed at least 28 people and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-wildfire-deaths-2644394434.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" target="_self">more than a billion animals</a>. Heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours has brought some relief to the the hard-hit states of NSW and Victoria, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/16/australia/australia-weather-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>But during the worst of the crisis, the NSW government knew it had to protect the ancient trees growing in a ravine in Wollemi National Park, so the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) firefighters and the NSW Rural Fire Service worked together to carry out an "unprecedented environmental protection mission," NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean said in a <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/fire-fighting-mission-saves-prehistoric-pines" target="_blank">statement Wednesday</a>.</p><p>"Wollemi National Park is the only place in the world where these trees are found in the wild and, with less than 200 left, we knew we needed to do everything we could to save them," he said.</p><p>Fire retardant was first dropped over the area from air tankers, and firefighters were lowered from helicopters into the ravine to set up an irrigation system.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjUyMzM1NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTYxMzQzNn0.PjMzZ98QzI-htGUk-KiLNf_bXn95EgVBS8sm-rgX2VA/img.png?width=980" id="156b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d0fbc822e4a3f8a436ff5c24ede0e465" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment / CC BY 4.0
<p>Firefighters returned when the flames approached the grove to operate the irrigation system. Helicopters also dropped water on the edges of the fire to protect the trees, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.</p><p>Much of Wollemi National Park was destroyed by the Gospers Mountain fire, and, for four days towards the end of 2019, officials feared the trees might have been destroyed too.</p><p>"We just waited with bated breath," Kean told The Sydney Morning Herald.</p><p>But when smoke cleared, it became clear that most of the trees had survived.</p><p>Wollemi pines aren't actually pines, The Washington Post explained. They are in fact a type of conifer that has bubbly-looking bark and can grow to be 130 feet.</p><p>They were thought to be extinct until 1994, when David Noble, an officer with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, discovered an unfamiliar tree species when rappelling in the park, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/796994699/aussie-firefighters-save-worlds-only-groves-of-prehistoric-wollemi-pines?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR0GRlw5n97nTwCvoxOTLW8ixqw1X1Knrcjv-KgrC3zYTKnId4csxvsPFfw" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>.</p><p>Noble did not know what he'd found, and the samples he brought back stumped biologists and botanists. It was only when he returned with scientists a month later that the mystery was solved.</p><p>"When the pines were discovered in 1994, you might as well have found a living dinosaur," Kean told The Sydney Morning Herald.</p><p>Their exact location has been kept a secret since then to protect them from contamination, and the firefighters' efforts to save them were kept similarly secret to protect their location.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjUyMzM1NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzkyMjQ1MX0.SALYMQDMMBrCnnGIJuNBHgriXhkutVNsbmtTEkNespE/img.png?width=980" id="11feb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1e4dfe980a84c94de12fae459e4e3cd6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment / CC BY 4.0
<p>Kean expressed hope that what Australian firefighters had done for the trees, Australia as a whole could do for the planet.<br></p><p>"We'll always have bush fires in this country. There's no doubt about that. But there's no doubt also that the severity of this year's bush fires is not like anything we've ever seen. And that's due to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a>," Kean told NPR. "There's a huge opportunity for us to lead the way in terms of tackling climate change and help the rest of the world decarbonize. There's no better country on the planet better placed to do that than Australia."</p>From Your Site Articles
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Australia Airdrops Thousands of Carrots, Sweet Potatoes to Wallabies Starving From Wildfires
13 January
Animals
A wallaby licks its burnt paws after escaping a bushfire on the Liberation Trail near the township of Nana Glen on the Mid North Coast of NSW, Nov. 12, 2019. Wolter Peeters / The Sydney Morning Herald / Fairfax Media / Getty Images
Carrots to the rescue!
<p>In an effort to help one of the many animal species threatened by Australia's devastating <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a>, officials in New South Wales (NSW) are air-dropping more than 4,000 pounds of carrots and sweet potatoes into the fire-ravaged habitat of the brush-tailed rock-wallaby, an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> in the state.</p><p>"This is the most widespread food drop we have ever done for brush-tailed rock-wallabies," NSW Minister of Energy and Environment Matt Kean said, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/12/australia/australia-bushfire-operation-rock-wallaby-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>.</p>
<div id="d20b0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="VP6XE51578924363"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1215900857436270592" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Operation Rock Wallaby 🦘- #NPWS staff today dropped thousands of kgs of food (Mostly sweet potato and carrots) for… https://t.co/Lmb5zC8Xj5</div> — Matt Kean MP (@Matt Kean MP)<a href="https://twitter.com/Matt_KeanMP/statuses/1215900857436270592">1578728329.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Kean called the airdrop "Operation Rock Wallaby" on Twitter and explained <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/aerial-food-drops-for-endangered-wildlife" target="_blank">in a statement</a> why it was so important:</p><blockquote>"The provision of supplementary food is one of the key strategies we are deploying to promote the survival and recovery of endangered species like the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby," Mr Kean said.<br><br>"Initial fire assessments indicate the habitat of several important Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby populations was burnt in the recent bushfires. The wallabies typically survive the fire itself, but are then left stranded with limited natural food as the fire takes out the vegetation around their rocky habitat.<br><br>"The wallabies were already under stress from the ongoing drought, making survival challenging for the wallabies without assistance."</blockquote><p>Brush-tailed rock-wallabies are a kind of marsupial. They live in rocky habitats near the east coast of Australia and can climb trees and almost vertical rocks with their sharp claws and strong legs, according to the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/brush-tailed-rock-wallaby-petrogale-penicillata" target="_blank">Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy</a>. Most of the 15 species of rock wallabies in Australia are considered threatened. The brush-tailed rock-wallaby is considered endangered in NSW and <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/16746/21955754" target="_blank">vulnerable</a> by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The IUCN last assessed the species in 2014 and reported that there were around 20,000 in the wild, according to <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6402115/australia-animals-food-fires/" target="_blank">Global News</a>.</p>
<p>In the past week, NSW has dropped almost 1,000 kilograms (approximately 2,205 pounds) of carrots and sweet potato to six wallaby colonies in the Capertee and Wolgan valleys, approximately 2,205 pounds to five places in Yengo National Park and almost 100 kilograms (approximately 220.5 pounds) of food and water in the Kangaroo Valley. Provisions have also been sent to Jenolan, Oxley Wild Rivers and Curracubundi national parks.</p><p>Kean said that the government would also support the wallabies by managing predators and setting up cameras to see how many animals were present and whether they were eating the food.</p>
<div id="ce706" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FL1BIB1578924363"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1216106489523232768" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">One happy customer 🦘🥕🥕🥕🥕#operationrockwallaby #AustralianFires https://t.co/wtzMgeaX6D</div> — Matt Kean MP (@Matt Kean MP)<a href="https://twitter.com/Matt_KeanMP/statuses/1216106489523232768">1578777355.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"At this stage, we expect to continue providing supplementary food to rock-wallaby populations until sufficient natural food resources and water become available again in the landscape, during post-fire recovery," Kean said.</p><p>Operation Rock Wallaby is one of many ways that Australian officials are working to help <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> recover from the bushfires, which ecologists estimate have <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-wildfire-deaths-2644394434.html" target="_self">killed more than one billion animals</a>. On Monday, the government promised 50 million Australian dollars (approximately $34.5 million) to an emergency wildlife recovery program, <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-australia-bushfires-wildlife/koalas-wallabies-endangered-by-australia-bushfires-ecological-disaster-idUKKBN1ZC0DK" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>"This has been an ecological disaster, a disaster that is still unfolding," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the press on Monday during a visit to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, as Reuters reported. "We know that our native flora and fauna have been very badly damaged."</p><p>The fires may have destroyed 30 percent of koala habitat in NSW, and Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> status of some koala populations might have to be raised from vulnerable to endangered.</p>
<p>The country's most devastating fire season on record has burned since September, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-wildfires-bushfires-wallabies-carrots-sweet-potatoes-helicopter-a9280571.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported</a>. The fires have killed 28 people and torched thousands of homes. Scientists agree that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> is making Australia's fires worse, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/13/explainer-what-are-the-underlying-causes-of-australias-shocking-bushfire-season" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"Human-caused climate change has resulted in more dangerous weather conditions for bushfires in recent decades for many regions of Australia," Australia's National Environmental Science Program wrote in November 2019. "Observations show a trend towards more dangerous conditions during summer and an earlier start to the fire season, particularly in parts of southern and eastern Australia. These trends are very likely to increase into the future, with climate models showing more dangerous weather conditions for bushfires throughout Australia due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions."</p>
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Trending
A plume of bushfire smoke rises above Mount Taylor Road bordering local farm land on Jan. 11 in Karatta, Australia. Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images
By Jeff Turrentine
At first glance, the images seem more like nightmares than real life. Blood-red skies that appear to have seeped into the earth below, staining it hellishly. Cyclone-like whirls with columns of flame at their centers. People and animals huddled close together on a beach, ready to jump into the ocean should the encroaching fires reach their makeshift camp and leave them with no choice.
<p>New years are supposed to augur new beginnings: the chance for all of us to reconsider our priorities, refresh our spirits, and recommit to goals yet unreached. But the images coming out of Australia — where bushfires have destroyed more than 12 million acres, killing at least 26 people and perhaps <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/1/6/21051897/australia-fires-billion-animals-dead-estimate" target="_blank">as many as a billion animals</a> — make it difficult to greet 2020, or the new decade, with optimism about the fight against climate change. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/world/australia/fires-readers-escape.html" target="_blank">personal accounts</a> of those who have endured the fires, which were exacerbated by drought and record-high summer temperatures, use words like "apocalyptic," "dystopian," and "Armageddon" — language that connotes not only devastating loss but also a stark finality.</p>
<p>Occurring simultaneously with the Australian bushfires but receiving far less coverage is the massive flooding in and around the Indonesian capital of <a href="https://time.com/5761097/jakarta-indonesia-floods/" target="_blank">Jakarta</a>, which as of this writing has already <a href="https://twitter.com/BNPB_Indonesia/status/1212919840941363200?s=19" target="_blank">displaced hundreds of thousands of people</a> and killed at least 66. In a normal world, where an entire continent wasn't burning so violently that the smoke was <a href="https://www.space.com/australia-wildfires-satellite-images-2019-2020.html" target="_blank">visible from outer space</a>, Indonesia's floods would easily count as the biggest climate change story of the new year. But we've now reached the point where there are bound to be multiple climate-related disasters happening around the world at the same time. Paradoxically, the more frequent these events are, the less likely any individual one of them is to command our full attention — even though the very <em>fact</em> of this increased frequency is undoubtedly the most important story of our lifetimes.</p><p>Australians and Indonesians are suffering almost unimaginably right now. But in addition to pain, there's fury. And in that fury, there's hope that the people of the world will demand more from their leaders. Visiting the fire-ravaged New South Wales town of Cobargo last week, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison was <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/scott-morrison-cobargo-tour-hastily-moves-on-as-residents-express-anger/98f2b3ff-e648-4e65-a84d-f5273d5e930e" target="_blank">met with open hostility</a> by residents, angered by what they saw as the government's lackadaisical response to a disaster that began back in September and is expected to go on for several more months. (He also did himself few favors by <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7812441/Scott-Morrison-defends-Hawaii-holiday-bushfires.html" target="_blank">jetting off to Hawaii</a> with his family at the height of the crisis.) But for many Australians, Morrison's greatest transgression has been his stubborn refusal to connect the protracted length and deadly intensity of Australia's fire season to climate change — a topic he would rather avoid, given his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/as-fires-devastate-australia-a-coal-loving-leader-faces-an-early-test/2020/01/08/a7827ebc-3178-11ea-91fd-82d4e04a3fac_story.html" target="_blank">close relationship</a> with his country's fossil fuel industry. In 2017, while serving as Australia's treasurer, he addressed Parliament while <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/09/scott-morrison-brings-coal-to-question-time-what-fresh-idiocy-is-this" target="_blank">holding a lump of coal</a>, proudly showing it off to the lawmakers and urging them to not be "afraid" of it. Morrison isn't a climate denier, exactly; when asked about it, he'll acknowledge that climate change exists. He's more of a climate hypocrite: someone who's willing to concede the point, rhetorically, all so that he can deflect attention from the dirty energy policies that are demonstrably contributing to his country's current miseries. In fact, Australia has earned the dishonor of being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/11/australia-ranked-worst-of-57-countries-on-climate-change-policy" target="_blank">ranked dead last out of 57 countries</a> recently evaluated for how well they're fighting climate change at the policy level.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Indonesians are directing their fury at their government's inability to respond <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-floods-nature-trfn/to-avert-future-flood-chaos-indonesian-capital-urged-to-defend-nature-idUSKBN1Z61MC" target="_blank">quickly and forcefully enough</a> to a single, inescapable truth: <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/jakarta-fastest-sinking-city-in-the-world-floods-challenge-river-12237202" target="_blank">Jakarta is sinking</a>. According to the World Bank, the city could well be at <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/01/08/keeping-indonesias-capital-safer-from-floods" target="_blank">16 feet below sea level</a> in just five more years. Last August, in a move that stunned the world, Indonesia's leaders revealed that they would be <a href="https://time.com/5661268/indonesia-borneo-new-capital/" target="_blank">transferring the nation's capital to Borneo</a>. While many government workers may have been relieved to hear the news, the announcement did little to quell the fears of the other nine million or so people who live in and around Jakarta and who lack the resources to pack up and leave. Wealth inequality is <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/inequality-indonesia-millions-kept-poverty" target="_blank">rampant in Indonesia</a>; climate change is showing us what it looks like. <a href="https://twitter.com/hhaanniiyy/status/1212221200505561088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1212221200505561088&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F5761097%2Fjakarta-indonesia-floods%2F" target="_blank">One photograph on Twitter</a> taken during the recent flooding distills the magnitude of this problem simply and breathtakingly. The aerial image shows both an upscale, resort-style hotel and the much poorer residential neighborhood separated from it by the resort's security fence. The hotel appears untouched by the flooding; the adjacent neighborhood, however, is almost completely underwater. The reason: The hotel — like most new developments that cater to tourists and elites — is elevated several feet above street level. The tweeter's terse caption: "If you think [the] gap isn't real, think again."</p>
<div id="e3345" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="85QHWU1578770117"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1212221200505561088" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">If you think gap isn't real, think again. https://t.co/I8qM0sdSyg</div> — Sakinah Ummu Haniy (@Sakinah Ummu Haniy)<a href="https://twitter.com/hhaanniiyy/statuses/1212221200505561088">1577851030.0</a></blockquote></div><p>If 2019 was the year that <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/has-climate-consciousness-reached-tipping-point" target="_blank">climate consciousness hit its tipping point</a>, thanks in large part to the efforts of Greta Thunberg and the youth climate strikers, then 2020 is already shaping up to be the year that we fully absorb the message these activists have been struggling to impart: Policies matter. The people of Australia and Indonesia need immediate disaster relief. (Learn more about how you can help them <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/world/australia/help-australia-fires.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.mercyrelief.org/join/donate/" target="_blank">here</a>.) But once they've gotten it, they need something else: governments that will work to prevent future disasters by enacting climate policies that cut carbon emissions, hasten the end of coal and other dirty fossil fuels, preserve and improve infrastructure, encourage cities to adapt to a new slate of inevitable challenges, and ensure that the negative effects of climate change aren't borne disproportionately by the poor and politically marginalized.</p><p>The images coming out of Australia and Indonesia right now are hard to look at. But we can't afford to look away.</p><p>By nearly every credible account, <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-09-17/why-2020-key-year-climate-action" target="_blank">2020 is the last year</a> we have to <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/2020-a-critical-year-for-our-future-and-for-the-climate" target="_blank">get things right</a>. The horror we're witnessing in just these first weeks is a reminder that there's no time to waste — and definitely no time to indulge governmental hypocrisy or lassitude. This is the year that the people hold their leaders to account. It has to be.</p>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/australia-burning-jakarta-drowning-welcome-2020" target="_blank">onEarth</a>.</em><em></em></p>
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Bushfires, Bots and Arson Claims: Australia Flung in the Global Disinformation Spotlight
10 January
Climate
The Kangaroo Island Fire in Australia early January 2020. A targeted, coordinated online campaign has tried to mislead the public. While the myths have been debunked, the culpable parties remain unknown. robdownunder / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
By Timothy Graham, Tobias R. Keller
In the first week of 2020, hashtag #ArsonEmergency became the focal point of a new online narrative surrounding the bushfire crisis.
The message: the cause is arson, not climate change.
<p>
Police and bushfire services (and some <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCRosAtkins/status/1215034651489820673" target="_blank">journalists</a>) have contradicted this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/08/police-contradict-claims-spread-online-exaggerating-arsons-role-in-australian-bushfires" target="_blank">claim</a>.<em></em>
</p>
<p>
<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/bushfires-bots-and-arson-claims-australia-flung-in-the-global-disinformation-spotlight-129556" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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<p>We <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/twitter-bots-and-trolls-promote-conspiracy-theories-about-australian-bushfires/" target="_blank">studied</a> about 300 Twitter accounts driving the #ArsonEmergency hashtag to identify inauthentic behavior. We found many accounts using #ArsonEmergency were behaving "suspiciously," compared to those using #AustraliaFire and #BushfireAustralia.</p><p>Accounts peddling #ArsonEmergency carried out activity similar to what we've witnessed in past <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/disinformation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">disinformation</a> campaigns, such as the coordinated behavior of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/world/europe/russia-troll-factory.html" target="_blank">Russian trolls during the 2016 U.S. presidential election</a>.</p>
Bots, Trolls and Trollbots
<p>The most effective disinformation campaigns use bot and troll accounts to infiltrate genuine political discussion, and shift it towards a different "<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02235-x" target="_blank">master narrative</a>."</p><p>Bots and trolls have been a thorn in the side of fruitful political debate since Twitter's early days. They mimic genuine opinions, akin to what a concerned citizen might display, with a goal of persuading others and gaining attention.</p><p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10584609.2018.1526238" target="_blank">Bots</a> are usually automated (acting without constant human oversight) and perform simple functions, such as retweeting or repeatedly pushing one type of content.</p><p>Troll accounts are controlled by humans. They try to stir controversy, hinder healthy debate and simulate fake grassroots movements. They aim to persuade, deceive and cause conflict.</p><p>We've observed both troll and bot accounts spouting disinformation regarding the bushfires on Twitter. We were able to distinguish these accounts as being inauthentic for two reasons.</p><p>First, we used sophisticated software tools including <a href="https://github.com/mkearney/tweetbotornot" target="_blank">tweetbotornot</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hbe2.115" target="_blank">Botometer</a>, and <a href="https://botsentinel.com/" target="_blank">Bot Sentinel</a>.</p><p>There are various definitions for the word "bot" or "troll." Bot Sentinel says:</p><blockquote>Propaganda bots are pieces of code that utilize Twitter API to automatically follow, tweet, or retweet other accounts bolstering a political agenda. Propaganda bots are designed to be polarizing and often promote content intended to be deceptive… Trollbot is a classification we created to describe human controlled accounts who exhibit troll-like behavior.<br>Some of these accounts frequently retweet known propaganda and fake news accounts, and they engage in repetitive bot-like activity. Other trollbot accounts target and harass specific Twitter accounts as part of a coordinated harassment campaign. Ideology, political affiliation, religious beliefs, and geographic location are not factors when determining the classification of a Twitter account.</blockquote><p>These machine learning tools compared the behavior of known bots and trolls with the accounts tweeting the hashtags #ArsonEmergency, #AustraliaFire, and #BushfireAustralia. From this, they provided a "score" for each account suggesting how likely it was to be a bot or troll account.</p><p>We also manually analysed the Twitter activity of suspicious accounts and the characteristics of their profiles, to validate the origins of #ArsonEmergency, as well as the potential motivations of the accounts spreading the hashtag.</p>
Who to blame?
<p>Unfortunately, we don't know who is behind these accounts, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1637447" target="_blank">as we can only access trace data such as tweet text and basic account information</a>.</p><p>This graph shows how many times #ArsonEmergency was tweeted between Dec. 31 last year and Jan. 8 this year:</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ5ODcyNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDAyNTM5OH0.RQ5XKjBViMUr8jAuGjne4FQgeJblaYZbvcSkTtmxLUI/img.jpg?width=980" id="7d8d7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c48957637707dc6223059ef71e9dd72a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />On the vertical axis is the number of tweets over time which featured #ArsonEmergency. On Jan. 7, there were 4726 tweets. Author provided
<p>Previous bot and troll campaigns have been thought to be the work of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42001-019-00051-x" target="_blank">foreign interference, such as Russian trolls</a>, or <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-08/topham-guerins-boomer-meme-industrial-complex/11682116?pfmredir=sm&sf223191298=1" target="_blank">PR firms hired to distract and manipulate voters</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/world/australia/fires-murdoch-disinformation.html" target="_blank">The New York Times has also</a> reported on perceptions that media magnate Rupert Murdoch is influencing Australia's bushfire debate.</p>
Weeding-Out Inauthentic Behavior
<p>In late November, some Twitter accounts began using #ArsonEmergency to counter <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/not-normal-climate-change-bushfire-web/" target="_blank">evidence</a> that climate change is linked to the severity of the bushfire crisis.</p><p>Below is one of the earliest examples of an attempt to replace #ClimateEmergency with #ArsonEmergency. The accounts tried to get #ArsonEmergency trending to drown out dialogue acknowledging the link between climate change and bushfires.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ5ODczMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTA3ODczOX0.PaMXEW_P1Jbq-n0eeHB4Qd-Rlgz5FiGIUNdlX6roC5E/img.jpg?width=980" id="2e204" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bc9b39e92218bb279ece99d797eea8d6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />We suspect the origins of the #ArsonEmergency debacle can be traced back to a few accounts. Author provided
<p>The hashtag was only tweeted a few times in 2019, but gained traction this year in a sustained effort by about 300 accounts.</p><p><a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/twitter-bots-and-trolls-promote-conspiracy-theories-about-australian-bushfires/" target="_blank">A much larger portion of bot and troll-like accounts</a> pushed #ArsonEmergency, than they did #AustraliaFire and #BushfireAustralia.</p><p>The narrative was then adopted by genuine accounts who furthered its spread.</p><p>On multiple occasions, we noticed suspicious accounts countering expert opinions while using the #ArsonEmergency hashtag.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ5ODczNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDY5ODU2M30.Sl3cZUYDAvxmTE4pNnabK-RP-J903gGmOxS4PWnsx-w/img.jpg?width=980" id="22e79" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e3fcb093d6a549232f8fef154080e33" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The inauthentic accounts engaged with genuine users in an effort to persuade them. Author provided
Bad Publicity
<p>Since media coverage has shone light on the disinformation campaign, #ArsonEmergency has gained even more prominence, but in a different light.</p><p>Some journalists are acknowledging the role of disinformation bushfire crisis — and countering narrative the Australia has an arson emergency. However, the campaign does indicate Australia has a climate denial problem.</p><p>What's clear to me is that Australia has been propelled into the global disinformation battlefield.</p>Keep Your Eyes Peeled
<p>It's difficult to debunk disinformation, as it often contains a grain of truth. In many cases, it leverages people's previously held beliefs and biases.</p><p>Humans are particularly vulnerable to disinformation in times of emergency, or when addressing contentious issues like climate change.</p><p>Online users, especially journalists, need to stay on their toes.</p><p>The accounts we come across on social media may not represent genuine citizens and their concerns. A trending hashtag may be trying to mislead the public.</p><p>Right now, it's more important than ever for us to prioritize factual news from reliable sources — and identify and combat disinformation. The Earth's future could depend on it.</p>From Your Site Articles
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