As a child Rob was burnt. As an adult, he’s fighting fire with fire
Every time farmer and volunteer firefighter Rob Armstrong gets a call to battle a bushfire, something inside says not to do it. But he goes anyway. He knows what it’s like to be trapped in the flames and rescued by volunteers.
Firefighters slam bureaucracy for slashing roadside burns by 90pc
By Eden Hynninen and Jean Bell
Victorian fire authorities release new findings that show how planned burns helped control and contain the devastating summer bushfires.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-15/cfa-volunteers-want-more-planned-burns-in-otways/106659534
#Bushfires #LocalGovernment #EmergencyServices #EnvironmentalManagement #EdenHynninen #JeanBell
2/
This firsthand account of the 2009 Aus-
tralian bushfires is a vivid reminder that perception of events is acquired not
through one sensory modality but rather from the synthesized experience
of simultaneous perceptions associated with an event. In the case of a brush
fire, these are smoke (olfactory), heat (tactile), crackling flames (auditory),
and the motion and color of flames (visual).
“As the firefront approached, the sky blackened. Spotfires broke out as blaz-
ing embers fell from the heavens. The heat intensified and a blistering wind,
whipped up by the change of air pressure caused by the fire sucking in oxy-
gen, sounded like a freight train.”
Introduced weed is allowed to spread unchecked.
"Right now, the federal government is weighing up whether to declare buffel grass one of the worst weeds in the country – a “Weed of National Significance”."
"Native to Africa, the Middle East and Asia, buffel grass first arrived in Australia via imported camel saddles in the 1870s. It was later planted for dryland pasture as its deep roots allow it to thrive in dry climates.Buffel grass was first planted in the 1920s and became well established by the 1960s. It enabled significant returns to the pastoral industry, including economic returns in dry years...Valued by many graziers, buffel grass is now spreading so rapidly and widely its severe negative impacts can no longer be ignored...Buffel grass has spread much further and is smothering Aboriginal land, conservation reserves, public places and regional and remote towns." >>
https://theconversation.com/should-this-plant-be-declared-one-of-the-worst-weeds-in-australia-279109
#weeds #InvasiveSpecies #BuffelGrass #PastoralIndustry #bushfires #conservation
Koalas in NSW were predicted to be extinct in the wild by 2050 after the Black Summer fires. Now they’re officially endangered.
Meanwhile, it’s not governments leading the charge — it’s small local groups planting trees and rebuilding habitat, one patch at a time.
This is what real action looks like.
Some reading on our climate:
The Journal of Environmental Research Letters - Editor's Choice Awards
https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326/page/Best_article_awards
Some random choices:
Estimating the sea level rise responsibility of industrial carbon producers
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/adb59f
Potential impacts of marine carbon dioxide removal on ocean oxygen
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ade0d4
Interplay between climate and carbon cycle feedbacks could substantially enhance future warming
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/adb6be
Weather disasters and their underreported transboundary impacts on Amazonian communities
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ae20a7
Key drivers and pressures of global water scarcity hotspots
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad3c54
Dams and tribal land loss in the United States
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acd268
Achieving net-zero emissions in agriculture: a review
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acd5e8
Extreme heatwave over Eastern China in summer 2022: the role of three oceans and local soil moisture feedback
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acc5fb
Existing fossil fuel extraction would warm the world beyond 1.5°C
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228
Unmasking the impunity of illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: a call for enforcement and accountability
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5193
Global warming and population change both heighten future risk of human displacement due to river floods
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abd26c
Climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme autumn wildfire conditions across California
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab83a7
Feedback between drought and deforestation in the Amazon
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab738e
The effects of climate extremes on global agricultural yields
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab154b
#ClimateCrisis #FossilFuels #freshwater #ecosystems #ocean #deoxygenation #IndigenousePeoples #dispossession #GHG #deforestation #heatwaves #bushfires #agriculture #extractivism
Study finds Tasmanian native forest logging increases potential for more severe bushfires
"Logging worsens bushfires because regrowth eucalyptus trees are highly flammable in comparison to mature trees, which act as "green fire breaks...A fire expert says mature forests can "act as a buffer" to slow bushfires, whereas regrowth eucalypts are more flammable."
"The study has found around a fifth of Tasmanian tall wet forest is regrowth under 40 years old, largely a result of intensive logging and recent fires."
"Professor Bowman said this raised concerns around community safety and the sustainability of the state's timber industry."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-10/bushfire-risk-worsened-by-regrowth-after-logging-study-finds/106546528
Landscape-scale experimental proof that tall wet Eucalyptus regrowth burns more severely than mature forest >>
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ae4d62
#bushfires #LoggingImpacts #NSWLogging #LoggingIndustry #BellingenLogging #FCNSW #risks #harm #forests #biodiversity #CommunitySafety #Bellingenshire #RegrowthHazard
Australia’s alpine ash forests are now officially endangered.
"Intensifying fire seasons are threatening this balance to the extent the Federal Government has just officially listed this forest type as an endangered ecosystem. This means these forests face a high risk of collapse or extinction. "
"It is also an important part of First Nations cultural landscapes – in north-east Victoria, the Taungurung people harvested Bogong moths (or Deberra) when the moths migrated to mountain forests where alpine ash is a key part of the landscape. " >>
https://theconversation.com/australias-alpine-ash-forests-are-now-officially-endangered-can-we-save-them-279099
Image: Eugène von Guérard, Warrenheip Hills near Ballarat, 1854 "The name "Warrenheip" is derived from the Aboriginal word "warrengeep," meaning "trees on mountain top" or "emu feathers on top".
https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/a-brush-with-fidelity-three-works-by-eugene-von-guerard/
#AlpineAsh #BogongMoths #LeadbeatersPossums #GreaterGliders #LoggingImpacts #Bushfires #extinction #ecosystem #collapse #biodiversity #FossilFuel #climate #IndigenousPeoples
After 60 years, the proof is in: logging Tasmania’s wet forests makes them MORE flammable, not less.
Regrowth from clearfells burns hotter and more intensely than old-growth — denser canopies, drier microclimates, leaves closer to the fuel on the ground. A 2019 bushfire gave scientists the perfect natural experiment, and the data is clear.
Old-growth forests are our best defence against worsening bushfires. Time to end native forest logging in Tassie. Protect what’s left.
We have the proof that logging makes Tasmania’s forests more flammable
#tasmania #nativeforestlogging #oldgrowthforests #bushfires #climateaction #endlogging #forests
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