Owen O'Brien
Global warming is one of the largest fears we have in the modern world, this is because it is such a big issue that most of the people on earth can’t even comprehend what has to be done to reverse what is happening. Within the last two years, Australia was hit with one of the worst years they have had with their wildfires. With the temperatures on the rise, we do not want to see what happened in Australia to happen in our own backyard.
(Wikimedia)
The Australian wildfires from 2019 to early 2020 were one of the worst brush fires that have happened in Australia. The fires “which killed at least 33 people and three billion animals, from koalas to frogs, and torched an area twice the size of Pennsylvania.” as quoted by Craig Welch in a national geographic article about the new set of fires happening right now in Australia. A massive wildfire can cause total devastation to environments, while also being able to change a whole landscape.
A massive wildfire like this happening in the northeastern United States would be extremely devastating. This is because of the dense population density that the eastern coast has. When compared to the wildfires in Australia. Australia has large amounts of land that is very open. This means that a wildfire there has a lot less of a chance of impacting heavily on very urban areas. If we look at the map below and compare it to what was said before about the wildfires we can see that the fire was twice the size of Pennsylvania, we can see how large the impact of a wildfire would be in the area even if it was only half of that.
Work Cited
"File:Map of USA highlighting Northeast.png." Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. 15
A massive wildfire like this happening in the northeastern United States would be extremely devastating. This is because of the dense population density that the eastern coast has. When compared to the wildfires in Australia. Australia has large amounts of land that is very open. This means that a wildfire there has a lot less of a chance of impacting heavily on very urban areas. If we look at the map below and compare it to what was said before about the wildfires we can see that the fire was twice the size of Pennsylvania, we can see how large the impact of a wildfire would be in the area even if it was only half of that.
(Wikimedia)
The Australian wildfires are an example of why we need to understand the effects of what wildfires can do to an environment. There is a lot that we can still do to prevent things like this.
"File: Bush fire at Captain Creek central Queensland Australia..JPG." Wikimedia Commons, the free
media repository. 9 Jul 2020, 17:46 UTC. 6 Jan 2021, 15:20
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php
title=File:Bush_fire_at_Captain_Creek_central_Queensland_Australia..JPG&oldid=432104800>.
"File:Map of USA highlighting Northeast.png." Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. 15
Oct 2020, 07:34 UTC. 6 Jan 2021, 15:22
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
title=File:Map_of_USA_highlighting_Northeast.png&oldid=490242146 >.
Cohen, Ilana. “A Warming Planet Makes Northeastern Forests More Susceptible to
Western-Style Wildfires.” Inside Climate News, 7 Dec. 2020,
insideclimatenews.org/news/25112020/warming-planet-northeastern-forests-wildfires/.
Do you believe there has been more fires in the USA besides only on the East coast?
ReplyDeleteHow can we as individuals help to make sure that Wildfires like the one seen in Australia doesn't happen here. Wildfires are also a normal part of the natural cycle in many areas and can in many cases can create a more biodiverse environment. How should we view that aspect within this issue, is the problem the wildfires themselves or the increased severity which has been caused by Climate Change?
ReplyDeleteOwen, I appreciate that you compared the size of the fires in Australia to the size of New England. That visual is helpful. What was the size of the largest wildfire we've experienced in New England? Certainly California has dealt with wildfires recently. I wonder what the scope of those fires has been in comparison to Australia's.
ReplyDelete