It’s becoming harder for Australia’s government to avoid talking about the link between its biggest export earner and rising temperatures.
You could smell the approach of Sydney’s bushfires two weeks away. Leaving my home for work last month at a time when California’s fires were at their most intense, the sandalwood odor of burning eucalyptus was heavy on the air.
Looking north from Bloomberg’s office to the far side of Sydney Harbour, the normally sparkling blue water was a barely discernible smudge. That was mostly not wildfire, but a dozen deliberate hazard-reduction burns under way across the metropolitan area in a last-ditch attempt to eliminate flammable plant litter and undergrowth before conditions worsened.
Tuesday will prove a test of how effective that has been. Sydney’s entire metropolitan area and a swathe of country in the Hunter Valley to the north and Illawarra to the south will face catastrophic fire danger, the highest risk rating in New South Wales state, thanks to strong winds combined with temperatures up to 37 degrees centigrade.
Already, three are dead and 150 homes have been destroyed by fires elsewhere in New South Wales and Queensland state to the north.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been determined not to link the disasters to the country’s fractious climate and energy debate. Asked what his response would be to a couple who’d had to flee their homes and wanted to know what he was doing about climate change, he deflected.
For the rest of this article: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-11-11/australian-bushfires-highlight-coal-climate-link?srnd=politics-vp