Thanks Chris, Felipe, things are almost back to normal, except for smoke hanging in the air in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.... yesterday morning to my surprise I saw Elvis, a purpose designed dump helicopter with a water capacity of 9 tonnes, pass over my home. It has the biggest rotor of any chopper I've ever seen, must be 3000 bhp jet engines.
I just heard an interesting argument on the radio about the Oz bush. One proponent of burning off, controlling the bush for habitation, keeping undergrowth down with regular cool season burnoffs. The other, a Professor, who wants to preserve the beauty of the bush at all costs, no burning off or clearing, learn to 'live with it'. These represent the polar opposites in this debate, no wonder government and local councils are confused...... the conservationists have captured the heart of the people, and now aerial photography every year reveals people who have cut down a tree and are prosecuted for a criminal offence.
The fact is, the bush burns routinely. It's been going on for millions of years, and nothing will stop it. Environmentally, it even appears to be a cleansing event. Australia is very hot in summer, the flora has adapted, it's tinder dry on hot days, and if an arsonist doesn't light it, a passing spark from a car or chainsaw or even a bolt of lightning will. Since there is an ancient inevitability about bushfires, if we insist on living in the bush, we should either take steps to survive it with underground bunkers (and an oxygen supply!) OR we should partly clear our living areas so that if a fire does come through we stand a chance. In this carbon obssessed world the irony is that 450,000 hectares of burnt forest produces more carbon emissions than the entire transportation sector in the State of Victoria in one year, so some of the ecological arguments are beginning to look a little specious.
Hugh
