#canberra is a hellscape

[stingraydiant]

I know I'm far from the target demographic but ads like this are honestly mind-boggling. Don't you understand we Need to keep subsidising coal so that you can. Uh. Light up the outside of your garage door!!!

[daechwita]

i missed the mma and mama performances bc i was locked in a hellscape, aka spent the weekend in canberra, so i will watch them asap

[sciencespies]

Troops deployed across fire-hit Australia after horror weekend

https://sciencespies.com/environment/troops-deployed-across-fire-hit-australia-after-horror-weekend/

Troops deployed across fire-hit Australia after horror weekend

A torrid weekend of fires turned swathes of land in Australia into smouldering, blackened hellscapes

Reserve troops were deployed to fire-ravaged regions across three Australian states on Monday after a torrid weekend that turned swathes of land into smouldering, blackened hellscapes.

The bushfires have now destroyed an area the size of Ireland, according to official figures, and authorities warned the months-long crisis is not over as another heatwave looms.

Firefighters joined by fresh teams from the US and Canada were taking advantage of rainy and cooler conditions to tackle out-of-control blazes ahead of soaring temperatures forecast later this week.

Military teams, in the biggest-ever call up of reserves, fanned out across eastern Australia to help emergency services assess the damage, restore power and deliver supplies of food, water and fuel to cut-off communities.

For the first time in Australian history the government also deployed its medical assistance team—normally sent to other nations to lend support in the aftermath of their disasters—to help evacuees.

“There is no room for complacency, especially as we have over 130 fires burning across (New South Wales) state still,” New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said early Monday.

Almost five million hectares (50,000 square kilometres) have been razed across the state since late September, New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons added.

Military teams fanned out across eastern Australia

That took the total amount of land burnt close to eight million hectares—the size of the island of Ireland or South Carolina.

Twenty-four people have lost their lives so far, with over 1,500 homes damaged.

Two people are missing in New South Wales, the vast nation’s most populous state.

‘Creeping disaster’

The chair of the newly established Victoria state’s bushfire appeal fund, Pat McNamara, said this year’s summer bushfire season was a “creeping disaster”.

“We’re still not even into what we would regard as the peak of the fire season,” McNamara told national broadcaster ABC.

“So we’ve probably got at least another four to five weeks of this sort of weather and we’ve got to deal with it.”

In the usually picturesque southeastern town of Eden, Holly Spence said she spent more than 12 hours defending her family’s farm on Saturday, less than a week after saving it on New Year’s Eve.

Twenty-four people have lost their lives so far, with over 1,500 homes damaged

“If we weren’t here the spot fires would have taken all our sheds and the house and everything,” the 28-year-old told AFP.

“We don’t want to go through this for a third time.”

Fiona Kennelly, 50, who evacuated with 24 members of her extended family to a motel outside Eden, said she was relieved the easing conditions allowed them to get some respite from the crisis.

“It’s good to see daylight at the right time again,” she told AFP, adding that the skies had been turning pitch-black in the afternoons.

There has been growing anger in Australia about Prime Minister Scott Morrison conservative government’s slow response to the deadly climate-fuelled bushfire crisis

Authorities were also grappling with the health impacts of heavy smoke engulfing cities and towns in or near fire-hit regions, including the country’s second-largest city Melbourne and the national capital Canberra.

In Canberra, some government departments were shut as the city’s air quality was once-again ranked the poorest in the world, according to independent online air-quality index monitor Air Visual.

There has been growing anger in Australia about Prime Minister Scott Morrison conservative government’s slow response to the deadly climate-fuelled bushfire crisis, with rallies calling for action planned across major cities on Friday.

Explore further

Australia orders evacuation of fire-ravaged towns before heatwave

© 2020 AFP

Citation: Troops deployed across fire-hit Australia after horror weekend (2020, January 6) retrieved 6 January 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2020-01-troops-deployed-fire-hit-australia-horror.html

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#Environment

[mang-osorbet-blog]

Giving Happiness To Those Who Deserve It

Today I went and volunteered at a sanctuary in the Canberra, Australia region. There, with two of my friends, we helped to clean the pens of various rescued animals that were mainly from the food industry, however some were simply abandoned or had their mothers killed as babies.

There were alpacas, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, donkeys, chickens and of course dogs and cats. Although my friends and I set off at about 6:10 in the morning, none of us felt tired or moody due to our lack of sleep, and instead we all had an amazing time giving back to these amazing creatures that had suffered at our hands.

There was a chicken I grew very attached to because I saw her all over the farm going wherever she pleased, but it was obvious she was a recent rescue. Her underbelly and backside was burnt, but it seemed as though she had some feathers coming through. I later learned her name was Chi Chi, and she had been rescued from the Batterings. These are where chickens are locked into cages to have their eggs collected every day while they live amongst their own filth in an actual hellscape of an environment. The owner of the sanctuary said she was doubtful that her feathers would ever fully recover, and that she rubs ointment on her underside every day to protect her skin from the elemets.

Chi Chi, however, was an absolute badass. She was small compared to her friends, and she seemed to have a shortee neck. This didn’t stop her from going wherever the fuck she wanted, whether that be the pig pen, the sheep pen, the lunch area, the alpaca gathering - if she wanted to scritch, she aas gonna scritch. It’s amazing that animals can forgive us so quickly for what we’ve done to them, and being able to make an attempt to repay their suffering and their kindness today has kept a smile on my face since I’ve gotten home.

Sleep well Chi Chi, and every other beautiful being I had the pleasure of meeting today.