Fires have been raging for months now in Australia.
But with the hot season only just beginning, what impact will these fires actually have
on Australia, the entire world, and even you?
The first major problem is smoke.
Bush fires produce particulate matter pollution,
which are airborne particles small enough to enter the lungs.
And with some cities measuring up to twenty times the hazardous level,
those with respiratory issues or asthma are most vulnerable to death.
For others,
experts have predicted that the smoke in some cities
is the equivalent of smoking over a pack of cigarettes a day.
And while previous years have seen a few days or a week at most of smoke exposure,
now they're looking at months.
This exposure increases the risk of long- term respiratory problems,
especially in young children and even babies in the womb,
as well as heart attacks, stroke and diabetes in adults.
Studies have also shown an increased risk of neurological diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Now the fire season is expected and normal in Australia.
In fact, the indigenous peoples of Australia
have long understood the importance of fire management
as a natural part of the ecosystem's health.
But not only has it gotten more severe in recent years,
the fires have been starting earlier in the season than typical,
which scientists see as a direct result of climate change.
Now, that's not to say that climate change
STARTED the fires,
but it did create conditions to make it more likely to ignite and spread,
whether that be from a cigarette butt, arson or lightning strikes.
This year saw one of the worst droughts in history,
one of the hottest years on the record
and a heat wave in December, all of which exacerbated the conditions across the country.
But as the fires have rapidly spread, they now pose an even greater danger.
25 people have died as of early January 2020,
thousands of homes have been destroyed,
tens of thousands of homes have been without power,
and 14.7 million acres of land have been burned.
That's nearly seven times the amount that was burned during the Amazon rainforest fires of 2019.
Or, put another way,
it's about twice the size of Belgium.
And this is what has led ecologists to estimate that around
500 million animals have already died in the fires,
(so as of editing this video,
scientists have now estimated that around 1 billion animals have died)
including 8,000 koalas.
While some early reports suggested that the fires could make koalas functionally extinct,
experts don't believe this to be true.
However, it has been estimated that around
1/3 of the koalas in New South Wales have been killed,
based on how much of their habitat has burned.
But the whole world will likely feel the impacts of these fires.
Dust and ash has been found over 2,000 kilometers across the ocean,
turning glaciers in New Zealand brown.
For Americans, that's about the distance from Boston to Miami.
Bushfires also release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,
which is a greenhouse gas,
and ironically, greenhouse gases trap more heat in our atmosphere,
contributing to climate change.
In just three months, Australia's fires have released around
350 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
To put that in perspective, it's nearly the amount of CO₂ that Australia produces in an entire year.
Experts estimate that it will take over a century for this amount to be absorbed.
One of the bigger questions is how all this extra smoke and heat
may change large-scale global weather patterns.
Not only can this fire, smoke, and instability in the atmosphere lead to massive thunderstorms,
they could potentially alter atmospheric circulation around the globe.
How big a factor this will have is currently being studied.
Finally, there are psychological impacts that doctors are warning of.
The existential threat of fire to life and the uncertainty and anxiety surrounding
when it will stop or what the future will look like
will likely carry a hidden impact for years to come.
Sadly, Australian firefighters saw the risk in 2019,
predicting a much more extreme season,
but they were ignored by the Australian government and the prime minister, Scott Morrison.
We're gonna put a bunch of links below where you can find out how to help,
how to donate, how to get more information.
We're gonna continually be posting about this on social media
as we, again, go into the hotter season in Australia.
Thank you so much for watching this video.
It is important that we all stay informed on things like this
and we will see you next week for a new science video.
See you! Peace!
Stay alive guys. Xoxo. (subtitles by @luvrizaday)
(