The Australian bush fires reached a critical level a long time ago – and the rest of the world is only beginning to play catch up. Australia has been burning since early September, and it’s not really showing any signs of slowing down. Since then, approximately 1 billion animals have died – including koalas, whose population is already greatly threatened. In response, cryptocurrency influencer and native Aussie, Naomi Brockwell, has launched the Crypto Fire Alliance, aimed at raising funds to help combat the growing devastation. Crypto to the rescue!
About the Crypto Fire Alliance
“Australia is in the grips of an ongoing bushfire emergency,” the Crypto Fire Alliance explained. “We’re challenging the global cryptocurrency community to unite, help out, and showcase the strength and compassion of our great ecosystem.” CFA funds are being managed by auditors Finder and HiveEx, and Blockchain Australia, TraderCobb.com, and Coinstop are among CFA’s 6 supporting members.
Any funds raised will go to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief, as well as Recovery Fund, NSW Rural Fire Service Association, and WIRES. The relief will go to human and wildlife victims, as well as environmental damage relief. Australia is in great need of help – over 3000 homes have been burned, two dozen people are dead, and at least 1 billion animals have succumbed to the fires, and yet the Australian government is doing little to help.
New South Wales (NSW) has been hit the hardest by the fires, with more than 100 fires raging in the region. NSW authorities have pinned the blame on around 200 people, who have allegedly had a role in helping the fires spread. However, activists on the ground claim that climate change is to blame for the situation entirely, or at least for exacerbating the ferocity and length of the flames.
Many Australian politicians are refusing to acknowledge climate change’s role in the bush fires. Scott Morison, Australia’s PM, has finally acknowledged climate change’s impact, but also said that, “job-destroying, economy-destroying, economy-wrecking targets and goals” on climate change “won’t change the fact that there have been bushfires or anything like that in Australia”.
Backbench MP Craig Kelly denied the link between bushfires and climate change in an interview on British television, and the conservative media have focused on other factors, like the amount of hazard reduction burning that was carried out, and the activities of arsonists. Unfortunately for them, both of those claims have been proven to be inflated.
Bushfire experts argue that normally hazard reduction is an effective way to control the fires, but climate change is making it increasingly challenging to carry out controlled burns.
Why have the fires been so bad?
Extreme heat and dry weather have had a major impact on the fires – and 2019 was the hottest year on record for Australia. Average temperatures were 1.52°C above the 1961-1990 average. The second hottest year was 2013, followed by 2005, 2018 and 2017.
New South Wales broke its record by an even wider margin, with temperatures reaching 1.95°C above average.
Australia has also had its driest year on record in 2019, with 40% less rainfall than average – based on data going all the way back to 1900.
At this point, we don’t know the extent of the damage that the fires have done. So, it’s time for crypto to come to the rescue! Crypto Fire Alliance has just started, so there’s still a long way to go. Check it out and donate here.
Climate change is only going to make things worse
According to Global Forest Watch Fires, there were more than 4.5 million fires worldwide, spanning larger than 1 square kilometer. That’s 400,000 more than 2018. Climate change is only going to make things worse. As the world heats up, we’ll see more fires of this devastating nature – and our wildlife and our homes will be decimated. It’s time for crypto to come to the rescue – the cryptocurrency community can now step up and provide donations to help combat the devastation.
