Tassie Fires illustrate another danger arising from climate change

Prof David Bowman -
'This is climate change'.

“Tassie Fires” on the ABC’s Catalyst series illustrated just another of the dangers arising from climate change.

We like to think Tasmania is a refuge from climate change – a cool green island at the bottom of a warming world.

But this summer may have seen a tipping point. The unprecedented number and size of fires ignited by dry lightning in Tasmania are no longer 'natural' events. Conditions are so dry that the soil itself is burning.

Ecosystems normally too wet to burn are going up in smoke. 1000-year-old World Heritage forests face irreversible loss.

Is this what climate change looks like?

Well, Professor David Bowman, from the University of Tasmania, appeared on the show and said no longer could what is happening in his state be attributed to some other circumstance, “It was climate change” he told viewers.

 

Watch “Tassie Fires”.