3.4  Bushfires and polar ice melting

Earth’s fierce response  - increased bushfire frequency and faster polar ice melting

Extreme heat and heatwaves are increasing. Globally, 2020 was the hottest year on record. The last 7 years were the hottest 7 years on record.

In July 2021, temperatures in British Columbia, Canada were nearly 50 degrees Celsius. This temperature caused extreme impacts including wildfires with 486 excess deaths. It’s been estimated that occurrence of this event is about 150x more likely because of Climate Change. It’s been estimated that an event like this, which would normally occur once every 1000 years, will now occur every 5 to 10 years if we reach 2 degrees increase in Earth temperature warming.

18,000,000 hectares (ie. 180,000 square kilometres = 1,000 km long x 180 km wide area) of trees and bushlands were burnt, which is an area 2.6x the size of Tasmania, or about 85% of all of Great Britain. The Black Summer bushfires killed about 3,000,000,000 animals. 80% of the World Heritage listed Blue Mountain ranges were burned. 50% of the Gondwnan rainforests burned. More than 3,000 homes were destroyed. The quantified costs of the Black Summer exceed 100 billion dollars. 8 million people were affected by bushfire smoke, and more than 400 people died because of smoke inhalation. 

Just as glaciers are melting and being lost, so are the polar ice caps in both the Artic and Antarctic. The IPCC report shows that the rate of ice sheet melting at the polar ice caps has increased 4x compared to the rate during the 1990’s. Time-lapse satellite imagery shows the loss of polar ice.

In Greenland, where it should be snowing, it is raining for the first time, and the rain is bad because it is melting the snow and ice.

Reference: Information from the Special IPCC Briefing with Professor Lesley Hughes – organised by Groundswell Giving - Thu 2nd Sep 2021, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm AEST