Come with me to the mega-blaze, Scott Morrison, and see what we're up against

On Sunday, volunteers from my own Rural Fire Service brigade faced off against 70 metre flames in the Blue Mountains. Properties were consumed by fire but thankfully no life was lost. This mega-blaze at Gospers Mountain, where I have spent several 16-hour shifts, has been raging for weeks and burned more than 380,000 hectares. There are 117 bushfires blazing in NSW alone and we face extreme heat by the end of the week.

Firefighters battle the Gospers Mountain fire near Colo Heights.

The Prime Minister has urged everyone to calm down about bushfires raging through NSW, Queensland, and now WA. He has said that he can recall as a boy seeing Sydney surrounded by bushfire smoke haze, and that for children, or anyone who hadn’t experienced it before, it was “deeply troubling”.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Greg Mullins - “Come with me to the mega-blaze, Scott Morrison, and see what we're up against.”

Project to harvest and mill kangaroo grass aims to encourage farmers to adopt native Australian crops.

A renowned Aboriginal writer and historian will work with volunteers to process kangaroo grass to prove the commercial value of native Australian crops.

Author, historian and Bunurong man Bruce Pascoe
at his Gipsy Point property in eastern Victoria.

In his 2014 book Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe put forward the argument that Aboriginal people were not just hunter-gatherers, but farmers who cultivated native plants prior to white settlement.

With the help of $17,000 raised from a Pozible crowdfunding campaign, Mr Pascoe and a group of volunteers from Victoria and the New South Wales south coast have purchased a specialised harvester to cut kangaroo grass.

He said they would then mill the grass to make flour, to show how the native grain can be used to make bread.

Read the ABC News story by Bridget Fitzgerald - “Project to harvest and mill kangaroo grass aims to encourage farmers to adopt native Australian crops.”

Severe drought threatens wild horses in American West: ‘Every animal in the desert is dying from thirst’

Volunteers and government officials are scrambling to protect wild horses in the American West, where the animals are facing harsh drought conditions that have already led to dozens of deaths.

Wild horses in the American West face dangerous drought
conditions that have dried of their food and water supplies.

In a stretch of land that includes parts of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico, land managers are rushing to help the horses survive through the dry conditions that have reached an intensity in some areas that have not been seen for decades, if not centuries.

“It has never been this bad,”  Simone Netherlands, the president of  Arizona-based Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, told The Independent. 

Read the Clark Mindock story from the Independent - “Severe drought threatens wild horses in American West: ‘Every animal in the desert is dying from thirst’.”

India plants 66 million trees in 12 hours as part of record-breaking environmental campaign

Volunteers in India planted more than 66 million trees in just 12 hours in a record-breaking environmental drive.

Volunteers planted 66 million in just 12 hours. 

About 1.5 million people were involved in the huge plantation campaign, in which saplings were placed along the Narmada river in the state of Madhya Pradesh throughout Sunday.

India committed under the Paris Agreement to increasing its forests by five million hectares before 2030 to combat climate change.

Read Chris Baynes’ story in the Independent - “India plants 66 million trees in 12 hours as part of record-breaking environmental campaign.”

Project to harvest and mill kangaroo grass aims to encourage farmers to adopt native Australian crops

A renowned Aboriginal writer and historian will work with volunteers to process kangaroo grass to prove the commercial value of native Australian crops.

In his 2014 book Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe put forward the argument that Aboriginal people were not just hunter-gatherers, but farmers who cultivated native plants prior to white settlement.

With the help of $17,000 raised from a Pozible crowdfunding campaign, Mr Pascoe and a group of volunteers from Victoria and the New South Wales south coast have purchased a specialised harvester to cut kangaroo grass.

He said they would then mill the grass to make flour, to show how the native grain can be used to make bread.

Read the ABC Rural story - “Project to harvest and mill kangaroo grass aims to encourage farmers to adopt native Australian crops.”