Transcript

How does climate change affect bushfires? Well, climate change is driving worsening bushfire conditions in Australia. But let’s unpack this a little bit more.

Climate change means the world is heating up - and as Australia gets hotter, we experience more extreme hot days and longer, hotter heatwaves. And bushfires are more likely to occur in these conditions. Climate change is affecting rain patterns, and less rain is falling on mainland southern Australia, during winter. All of this means the new bushfire season is becoming longer. 2019 was the hottest and driest year on record in Australia, which has come off the back of decades of rising temperatures.

The first scientific paper looking at the links between climate change and bushfires came out over three decades ago. So, climate change is at the heart of worsening bushfires in Australia. But what’s at the heart of climate change, and how do we stop it?

It’s simple. When fossil fuels, like coal, oil and gas are burnt for energy, they produce greenhouse gases that warm our planet. Too much of these greenhouse gases? That’s climate change. We urgently need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and fight back against climate change.

Luckily for us here in Australia, we live in the sunniest and one of the windiest countries on the whole planet. And new renewables are cheaper than those other polluting forms of energy, too! So really, the transition to a renewably-powered Australia just makes sense.