Chapter 5 Bush Fire: Scientific Concept –Photo and Comments
Bushfire – Photo and Scientific View
‘Marginal world’ may be interpreted, geographically, as a periphery away from where most people live. In Europe, as young people are leaving for the cities, large parts of the countryside – the periphery; marginal world – are abandoned. Old men and women are left to tender their gardens and till the lands. Death is not far away. But Europeans see this as an opportunity to rebuild. Wisely, they regenerate these forlorn farmlands back to wilder wetlands, greener forests, cleaner coasts and opener seas; re-populated them with eagles, bisons and wild bees; to restore its original biodiversity and turn them into eco-tourist hotspots, so that visitors can once again experience wildlife as their forebears once did. In this way, the marginal world regains its desirability.
In Australia, internal human migration takes a different direction from that of Europe when COVID hits. Australians, resilient as always, undeterred by the apocalyptic 2019/20 bush fire, are moving to the countryside. But such moves need careful plannings in order to avoid another catastrophe and to minimise environmental footprints.
In a recently published natural science article, titled ‘Apocalypse now: Australian bushfires and the future of urban settlements,’ Barbara Norman et al argue that the catastrophic bushfires were caused by ‘… human civilization going beyond biophysical limits leading to collapse. The apocalypse has been a part of much global ecological concern with accelerating climate change and the transgression of planetary boundaries.’
First, Norman’s group proposes that we should not indiscriminately continue with ‘hazard reduction burning,’ which is not conducive to biodiversity as well as risky to nearby settlements. Instead, we should adopt a fire management plan that is more nuanced and smaller in scale that is closer to indigenous techniques; including the regeneration of forests.
Other proposals include: retreat from fire-prone areas; rebuild with fire-resistant materials; zero carbon villages, townships and regional centres along major train lines; better regional amenities and services; local solar facilities and electric vehicle rechargers; water sensitive/recycling plants. Eventually, such innovations can flow back to major urban centres, rendering them more sustainable.
Work Cited
Norman, B., Newman, P. & Steffen, W. “Apocalypse now: Australian bushfires and the future of urban settlements.” npj Urban Sustain, vol. 1, issue 2 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-020-00013-7
