Wildfires in Australia is a serious issue. The wildfires raging in Australia began in November, 2019. It affects the state of New South Wales and Victoria. Yet, the fire has no signs to stop. At least 25 people were killed in this fire, and over 1,400 homes were destroyed. Many animals were killed and more than 15.6 million acres of land were burned. The devastating wildfires has fled thousands of Australians left their homes and seek refuge near the oceanside.
The wildfires have caused many cities along the east coast to hazardous air pollution level. NASA’s Terra satellite revealed that the affecting region is blanketed by extremely high levels of carbon monoxide. Breathing carbon monoxide can cause headache, dizziness, vomiting and nausea. Large amounts of carbon monoxide can even cause humans to lose consciousness and die. Long term exposures of carbon monoxide can lead to brain damage with disturbances in memory, language and cognition.
Besides affecting human health, the wildfires also destroy the homes of many animals. The fires have destroyed the forests which are the habitat of many animals. Some animals who are lucky to survive the flames may eventually have to face death due to lack of shelter, food and water. As Australia is known for homes of many distinctive species, we hope that the wildlife populations can survive through this wildfires crisis.
Many people believe that climate change has caused this catastrophic wildfires. Global warming has caused Australia to have record high temperatures and dry conditions. I think everyone plays a role to solve this global warming issue. We should seriously make an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We should encourage to use less heat and air conditioning, sealing and insulating heating and cooling ducts and replace single-pane windows with dual-pane windows. We should encourage to use renewable energy such as solar, wind or hydro energy. We should also replace our lawn with drought resistant plants.
The Australian wildfires are indeed a tragedy. People and animals died. Properties and forests are destroyed. I saw a Youtube video about people saving a koala from the fire but in reality, many koalas died in this disaster. I guess, koalas are used to sleep all the time. They are very slow motions. When there is a fire, they just are not fast and smart enough to escape. I feel sad that the animals suffer from the mistakes that humans made. I saw from a news report that koalas bring in lots of fortune to the tourism industry in Australia every year. Tourists love to hug the koalas and take pictures with them. Thus, the loss of koalas population has an impact to the economy of Australia.
