Dear Editor,
Have you noticed that when a group of people look in the same direction they will all admittedly see the same thing. Anyone looking in the other direction or saying they see something different is deemed a sceptic or heretic, or castigated for not being a team player, also known as politically incorrect.
Same with the climate issue, are we looking at the chicken or egg?
Have you noticed that in a double glazed widow you don’t get condensation. Once the dust settles all is good clear insulated vision. If evaporation and transpiration is ongoing, why is there no rain. Simple – there is no dust. Have you noticed after a fire there is rain, after a dust storm there is rain.
For the past 15 years I have noted the rain after fires, even during fires, and even now we have seen the Bureau of Meteorology state their ‘no-rain till later’ forecast, but with the Hunter fires they now predict rain in Newcastle, and with fires at Armidale predict rain at Tamworth. After large smoke creation in southern Queensland they got hail. The smoke went out to sea, brought back by on-shore winds, the fact speaks for itself.
I wrote my first treatise on this subject in 2008 sent it to John Cobb (local MP of the day) and others, to be ridiculed and disregarded, but the question I now ask is it because we have become too clean and green that we are now in the mess we are in? Chicken or egg? Did going green create the cleaner dust free, dry atmosphere? Have you noticed the frequency of rain events in Sydney and many other major metropoles, polluted atmospheres where air quality is often described as questionable. I do not encourage wanton pollution but note that where there is atmospheric ‘dust’ there is rain.
The value of smoke cannot be under estimated, the need for seasonal burns is obvious. Banning cane burns in Queensland has lead to their drought like conditions, and therefore water production for the Murray Darling. Apart from weed management fire and atmospheric dust (then rain) supports environmental health.
It is a fact that mother nature sends lightning strikes to start fires, so why do we put them out? Having been burned out twice myself I have a true empathy with those losing property, but should efforts be applied to asset protection, fire suppression, or fuel-load reduction by hazard reduction burns. A very political, emotional, and rational thought-provoking discussion is yet to be had, hopefully by thinkers. I have a ‘considered opinion’ on the role of the RFS and other similar authority, not totally supportive of their deemed role or mantra. My view now is prevention is better than cure. Not all fires should be put out.
Have we become so clean and green to be politically compliant that we no longer see reality? But why spoil a good political argument with fact?
Stephen Tamplin