By now, the whole world has heard about the fires ravaging Australia's bush, but the problem is bigger than we think
Right now, thousands of firefighters are spread across Australia. 120 fires are ravaging the country. Entire towns have been affected, and the wildlife and natural land lost will be irreplacable for years.
The fires coat Australia, with at least ten per province. Burning hundreds of thousands of hectares.
When the fires in the Amazon came to global awareness, 125,000 hectares had burned. In Australia, 970,000 have burned, and it will only get worse.
One of the fire chiefs, from New South Wales warned that the "fires could be out of control for months." Even over this weekend, the fires are supposed to get worse and worse as temperatures rise.
The fires have already claimed several lives, and 500 homes. Ten days ago, the number of homes destroyed was at 150, it rose mid-week to 300, then nearly doubled. Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes, as the fires sweep whole towns.
Australia's wildlife is suffering at large as well. Australia is home to thousands of unique animals that live nowhere else. One of it's most popular, the Koala has already been declared "functionally extinct," meaning that it's population is so low, it cannot repair itself. A reporter from the Mirror said that almost half a thousand koalas have perished already.
The smoke from the fires can even be seen from sattelite images, and the fires themselves are a wall of red, at 20 feet high. They've even started to cause so-called "fire tornadoes" a result of them moving through thick brush at 50 mph.
Debate is currently swirling around the topic, as the Prime Minister of Australia refuses to acknowledge the possible connection to a global climate crisis. Environmentalists fear that this is climate change, and that it is not debatable, while other's dismiss this as part of Australia's bush season. But the fact of the matter is that the bush fires, climate or not, are partly our fault. That they will get worse, and that we have to do something now, before it's too late.