An Open Letter to Tom Marland - food for thought and thought for food (Facebook)https://www.facebook.com/Tom-Marland-food-for-thought-and-thought-for-food-388056525306104/?ti=as
In response to his post made about Climate Change and Bushfire.
Firstly, I would like to thank Tom for his work. He is a refreshing, real and honest writer of the facts of life on the land in Australia.
His witty, intelligent and well thought out writings are an enjoyable read and oft informative.
Today's post about Climate and Bushfire was something that I couldn't quite swallow. Plenty of points I agree with readily, and think it's bloody great he has raised it. But, Tom, mate, let's have a chat about some other information - that in today's totally controlled, and intentionally curated media scape you might be missing out on: with your Algorithms spitting stuff at you geared to your activity, engagements, and your dyed in the wool Liberal/National colours.
Let's break it down shall we::
"Don’t blame climate change when you’ve restricted access to millions of hectares of densely thickened eucalypt forests, you haven’t back burned this millennium and there are no fire breaks when the whole show goes up in flames."
Tom, buddy - you couldn't be more right. Silver culture (grazing and hardwood timber running concurrently on one Property) is bloody brilliant and an excellent way to sequester carbon, manage pasture and provide extra income to graziers. Buuuuuuut.... We do need to have ungrazed natural areas. To preserve flora and fauna habitat. However, as we have been in and fucked with the balance of nature, allowing it to run rampant without management is silly. Hazard reduction burns (not back burning, silly! That's used on active fires to contain it!) Absolutely need to be implemented more regularly... Buuuut there is another problem, mate. You know how we are balls deep in drought? Like for our area (I do live just down the road, pop in for a cuppa!) We would expect an average about 600+mmpa in rainfall. This year I have a big fat 100mn, maybe. You'd be about the same, yeah? Last year was shit too. And the one before that. When, pray tell, has it been wet enough to safely conduct hazard reduction burns here?
Think on it. Tiny little windows when we were all too busy throwing out fertiliser, seeding and spraying before thinking " Ah shit, better get onto the Fireys for a permit", but by then we have had five days of gusty southerlys and it's dried it out anyway. First Officer at Tirroan said no friggin way last time I asked even though we had breaks cut in and green grass in the road reserve I wanted to burn.
There's less rain, mate. We can't bloody burn if it's too dangerous to do it.
Picture it now, if you will. Here is my mate Kevin. Kevin is a firey. Volunteer RFS at his local brigade. Dad to three kids. Fiancee who runs her own business cause she can, cause he has a good wicket at work these days, finally. It's been a hard time for them, but they are finally kicking arse. If he hasn't got an emergency to cause him to risk a fire crowning off into the tops of 10m tall spotted gums and burning half of the town down, then by Jove, he probably won't be even remotely thinking about wanting to drop a red steer in my road reserve, even if the fuel load is ridiculous and is basically an apocalypse waiting to happen. He would want a dozen appliances up the wazoo before he even thought about it. Because it's too damn dry. He will definitely burn the road reserve if he tried. Definitely my house. The neighbours place. The macadamia farms. All of it. Cause it's tinderbox dry. It's crackling, so that I can nearly hear the flames in it already. It's an errant cigarette or reflected shard of broken glass away from a fucking disaster.
Last time it was probably wet enough here to want to drop a match in my road reserve was in the Big Floods, mate. Dead set.
"Some people haven’t seemed to notice that Australia is the second driest continent on earth, it gets very hot around this time of year, every year, and our vegetation has evolved over the last 60,000 years to love bushfires. Big ones."
Yep, but again, kinda missed the point. Our fire season is getting longer because our wet seasons are getting shorter and drier... Climate change. Sorry pal. I don't wanna burst your bubble, but it's true. Anyway, so less rain, over a shorter period, less opportunity to hazard reduction burn, more fuel loading.... You get the picture. Three years of these conditions in a row - and here we are. Oh and the Climate here has been evolving for Billions of years too 😘
"Perhaps the houses that have been allowed to be built in 30 meter tall eucalypt forests may not have been there since the last fire and there will be a few less after this one." Agreed. Not smart AT ALL.
"The Bureau of Meteorology have claimed that the “strong winds and high temperatures are the reason for these catastrophic fires”.
No doubt wind and heat help flame the fires but they aren’t the “reason” or the “cause”.
The real reason is Governments - local, state and Federal - over the past 3 decades have bowed to conservationists and green groups by locking up more and more national parks and native forests." Yep, Labor and Liberals sure have fucked this up. Agreed. Buuuut, imma stop you right there. How about I chuck you some yellows, hand you a branch, slap you on the arse and send you headlong into the quivering miasma of a 20kt southerly up the ass of several years of drought and tell ya "It ain't the weather, son." Pfft. Righto mate. The wind and dryness have FUCK ALL to do with the fires being so fuckin savage. Yep. K.
"The only “emergency” that’s occurring is the lack of brain cells and common sense being applied to the management of our national estate."
Yeah, agreed. We haven't declared a climate emergency yet! Like, WTF! If you think the last few years of drought and extreme fires have been FUN, let's exacerbate this, instead of warming the planet by 1°C, let's see how things go while we stick our heads in the sand and let it get to 2°C. Cause doubling the effect wouldn't be bad at all, would it? Nah. Problem with that is, it's not just a simple doubling of the effects. It's a greenhouse, as it's named. And each incremental increase is magnified because of it. So it won't just get doubly bad. It will be so fuckin bad. Like, Mad Max bad. Some towns are already running out of water just down the road from us. Half of your place was on fire not long ago. Jeez mate.
Eventually I am hoping something will happen to make the penny drop, but I am not holding my breath: cause if that shit ain't making you open up to the idea that 'just maybe this isn't actually okay or normal and maybe we should start doing more about it instead of hating on Greenies, let's sit at a round table and have an intelligent discussion on how we save the damn planet and also feed everyone as well' might pop in your head and instead of a weird episode of cognitive dissonance, we might actually get somewhere. Cause Tom, we need blokes like you. Who give a shit about the land you work. Who do the best by their community. You give fucks mate. And you aren't afraid to say what you think, even if it's a little bit misguided by your confirmation bias. I know you are of the old school mate, but it's okay to admit you don't know enough about a topic to talk about it. Shit I do. My blog is even called Emma Purdie's Utterly Unqualified Opinion on Stuff. Cause I know 9/10ths of fuck all. But that 1/10th, hooooo boy, brace yourself, it's comin' at ya.
"People often ask me - “what would you do to stop the fires” and the answer isn’t a simple one and the mess we find ourselves in is not an easy one to untangle. Often I just feel like cutting the knot and starting again." Yeah... Except I would prefer to cut the knot after ensuring the other end is expertly tied around the ankles of our current government, while I, am on a speed boat towing the bastards out to sea.
"However, here are a few less dramatic things we can do, other than trying to stop the climate changing, to prevent our national estate, our wildlife and our carbon being cooked every fire season." YES DID HE JUST ADMIT THE CLIMATE IS CHANGING SHIT I THINK HE DID
"1. You’ll never stop fire
Fire has always been a part of our landscape.
Management philosophies of no back burning or delayed fire regimes which fail to recognise natural fire patterns lead to a self defeating prophesies.
You never stop a fire but you can manage one.
There will always be a lightning strike or a cigarette butt or a coke bottle or an arsonist or a blown tyre or a welding spark to start a fire at the worse possible time.
It’s the fuel load when fires hit that is really important.
A fire can’t burn if there is nothing or little to burn."
DUDE. WE SPOKE ABOUT THIS. CAN'T DO THEM HAZARD REDUCTION (not back burns) WHEN ITS TOO HOT, DRY, WINDY ETC... Jeeeezzzz
"2. Reform national park policy.
Just by locking up a piece of scrub and calling it a national park does not make it so.
There should be a prioritisation of national parks based on their environmental significance and their risk of impact.
You can’t compare Carnarvon National Park to an area of state forest that has been logged for 150 years.
You can’t compare Fraser Island to a patch of deserted scrub in the back blocks that no one can access let alone visit.
You can’t compare the Daintree rainforest to a dry sclerophyll forests which cover the majority of the eastern sea board.
By expanding national parks because it “feels nice” actually dilutes the resources to protect the areas of our environment that truely are special and endangered.
I’m not saying a dry or wet sclerophyll forest isn’t “special” or shouldn’t be protected. I’m just saying that they need to be properly managed and by simply locking them up causes the real environmental destruction.
I prefer the “regional reserve” system in SA which includes environmental protection but also facilitates tourism, grazing and resource activities. This allows economic return but with conservation principles which is a win - win for everybody. " Yes. Excellent. We fucked with it Tom, we need to manage it. Hear hear.
"3. Let the cows back in.
One of the best forms of fire fuel reduction is low intensity grazing. It’s low risk, low impact and also puts people into areas that actually know how to manage the country and know how to fight fires.
Anyone who says cattle are bad for the environment and biodiversity should go and ask the millions of animals, birds and insects currently being incinerated in national parks and native forests." PREACH MATE 🙌 I LOVE THIS
"4. Thin the suckers out.
Every fire that is burning in NSW and QLD at the moment is in national parks or densely timbered native vegetation which, by its very design, are bred to burn.
Fires in open grass lands with lower fuel loads can be managed and contained. Those in forests are uncontrollable.
Vegetation naturally thickens and throw in some noxious weeds like lantana - you have yourself a ticking time bomb every fire season. Add some dry westerlies and hot temperatures and you’ll eventually see it explode.
We need to reintroduce low intensity silvercultutal practices across our forest estate to reduce fuel loads, increase forest health, reduce noxious weeds and prevent catastrophic fires." SING IT BROTHER I GOT YOUR BACK ON THIS ONE
"5. Breaks, buffers and cool zones.
There has been a lot of debate in Queensland about fire breaks.
All fire breaks should be assessed on the type, height and fire risk of vegetation not some demarcated figure ie. 10 meters.
We also need to look at cool buffers where vegetation is retained but canopy cover and stem density reduced to better manage fires.
These should be implemented off fire breaks, roads, access lines, around houses, subdivisions and towns.
These buffers should be regularly burnt (every year) which reduces the area of forest to be maintained with more frequent larger hazard reduction burns which are risky and difficult to manage.
Native vegetation must also be back burned when the seasonal conditions suit not on prescribed fire rotations set by some university academic.
For example, in QLD national parks can’t be back burned unless in line with their regional ecosystem description which is usually 15 to 20 years. The volume of material, in already thickened vegetation, after 20 years is frightening which damages the forest and its biodiversity."
AGREED. Except - Annual burns aren't possible. Even indigenous folk didn't do it that often. It needs to be managed better. Which means jobs. Yay. But that means more tax. I am down with that. But y'all in the Blue always "boo" that shit down. We gotta pay for it somehow, right? 🤷 I will pay more tax if our government is responsible enough to spend it on paid fire wardens inspecting National and State (heck even observing private) property to advise and implement a burn schedule and strategy. Best way to do it. Hands on the ground actually looking at the shit. But that costs dollars. Won't get a budget surplus on that, but the Economy will be healthier. And so will the country.
"6. Let the people back in.
For decades government policy has been focused on kicking people out of the environment.
From foresters to graziers to trail riders to bee keepers to campers - there has been increasingly restricted access to our national estate.
This takes people out of the environment who are best equipped to manage it and willing to invest their own time, resources and lives to protect it." Yep. Agreed. 🎵But it's Gunna need to be managed, and that means jobs! And that means tax increases 🎵
"7. STOP BLAMING CLIMATE CHANGE
It drives me absolutely insane when I hear someone bleating about climate change causing bushfires.
Even if the climate is changing, does that mean we should just throw our hands in the air and let our national estate and biodiversity go up smoke every year?
There are simple, practical and common sense things we can do to prevent and mitigate bushfires.
Bushfires have always been and always will be a natural part of our environment.
You’d sooner turn back the tide than take fire out of native forests.
Sitting around blaming the weather for all of our problems is juvenile and futile.
If the climate is changing, it’s more important than even that we start to look at practical and affordable solutions to how best manage the impacts of fire."
OI! HE SAID IT AGAIN! CLIMATE IS CHANGING, SEE TOM SAID SO!
LOL, sorry.. I agree. Tom, but we aren't just 'bleating'. (honestly, EAD on that one, we aren't sheeple) about the weather. ( BIG Difference between climate and weather).......
We are talking about it because our fucking governments, big business and everyone else who is a citizen on this planet that is threatening to turn into a giant fucking fireball - uninhabitable to all but a hybrid species of underground dwelling lizard people - are IGNORING THE FACT THAT THE CLIMATE IS CHANGING AND NOT DOING ANYTHING OR LISTENING TO US. Mate. We have the largest number of Aussies that have ever signed a single petition about the need to Declare a Climate Emergency, so we can legislate some shit into action - NOW. Our country was banned from presenting at the UN Climate Summit because we were recognized as actively hindering Climate Management efforts. In fact, our emissions have risen! Why! Why! Let's not shit where we eat and sleep. FFS.
"My thoughts are with those families and communities currently battling these fires."
... My brother in law, out in the yellow. My aforementioned mate Kevin, out in the yellow. My mates husband, missing his daughters firsts, out in the yellow. Community members, out in the yellow. A dear friend in NSW, hunkering down now the Southerly change has come in, cause there is literally nowhere safer they can get to than their place on top of a hill on road which is lined with trees. SHIT. If I could, I would be out in it too, but I have a daughter to care for. So alas, I shan't be donning the yellows today.
"Let’s hope some common sense prevails to avoid these unnecessary disasters into the future."
Shit yeah mate. Let's put our heads together and unite. Liberals Blue and The Greens, erm, Green and Labor's Red. Shit, even Pauline's Orange and Clive's Yellow thrown in for a full rainbow. Our lives will change irrevocably and irreversibly. This will become the norm, but magnified ten, hundred or even thousandfold if we don't act while we can still reverse the damage we have done.
We want the same thing mate, and we both know different things. Let's sit down and join forces on this one.
It's only our lives and planet at risk, after all.
Follow the contact me deets if ya wanna chat, like, IRL. Or just ask your brother where I live, he knows where to find me x
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