Fire crisis sees thousands protest around the world demanding climate action
Harrison Jones
Friday 10 Jan 2020
Thousands of people across the world have taken to the streets to protest against the Australian government’s ‘inaction’ on the climate crisis. With bushfires burning huge parts of the country and estimates of a billion animals left dead, protesters called on prime minister Scott Morrison to urgently change course.
Thousands of Australians, including a baby girl dressed a koala, took to the streets to demand stronger environmental policies, while demonstrators also turned out at Australian embassies around the world, including in London.
Mr Morrison has faced criticism for downplaying the crisis but earlier today he rejected criticism of his government’s environment policies. He claimed it was ‘disappointing’ and ‘ridiculous’ that people were conflating the fires with Australia’s emission reduction targets, despite broad consensus from scientists that climate change has played a part in the catastrophe.
Australia also weakened its commitment to the landmark UN Paris climate agreement last year, while activists have heavily criticised a major proposed coal mine.
Mr Morrison’s conservative government has taken heavy criticism for its handling of the wildfires, and the prime minister himself has faced a series of embarrassing episodes involving fire-hit communities and firefighters.
Friday’s demonstrations came as authorities urged nearly a quarter of a million people to flee their homes and prepared military backup as soaring temperatures and erratic winds fanned bushfires across the east coast.
Back in Sydney, major were blocked as protesters chanted ‘ScoMo has got to go’, while others held posters that read: ‘There is no climate B’ and ‘Save us from hell’. 12-month-old baby Juniper took part in the rally dressed as a koala, as concerns grow for the animal’s long-term future.
There were similar protests in Canberra, the capital, and Melbourne, where air quality turned so noxious this month that the two cities featured among places with the most polluted air on earth. Smoke has since spread as far as Brazil.
In Melbourne, huge crowds braved heavy rain and a sharp drop in temperature to come out with placards, shouting ‘Phase Out Fossil Fools’, ‘Fire ScoMo’ and ‘Make Fossil Fuels History’.
But Morrison has repeatedly rejected concerns that his government is not doing enough. He told Sydney radio 2GB: ‘We don’t want job-destroying, economy-destroying, economy-wrecking targets and goals, which won’t change the fact that there have been bushfires or anything like that in Australia.’
Today’s protests also provoked a backlash from Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews, who said they were wrongly timed and would divert police resources.He said it was ‘common sense’ that it was not ‘appropriate’ today as concern grows that the blazes are set to worsen.
Teacher Denise Lavell said she attended the protests in Sydney because she believed the pleas were only a tactic to keep people from protesting. She told Reuters: ‘Our country is burning, our planet is dying and we need to show up.’
Climate scientists have warned the frequency and intensity of the fires will surge as Australia becomes hotter and drier. Australia has warmed by about 1C since records began in 1910, NASA climate scientist Kate Marvel said this week.
She tweeted: ‘This makes heat waves and fires more likely. ‘There is no explanation for this – none – that makes sense, besides emissions of heat-trapping gases.’
Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters, including many from Extinction Rebellion, protested ‘against the Australian government’s failure to respond to the bushfires and the climate and ecological emergency,’ outside the Australian Embassy in London.
Protesters held banners with the words ‘Burning Earth’, listened to speeches and used animal skeletons to draw attention to the plight of wildlife. Anna Moore, an NHS respiratory doctor, and mum-of-four, said: ‘I spoke to a doctor in Sydney yesterday – they’re used to coping with bushfires but the scale of these fires is unprecedented.
‘People who need oxygen to breathe have no choice except to come into hospital because their oxygen supplies need power. ‘Emergency departments are overwhelmed with people – especially babies and the elderly whose bodies just can’t cope with the heat.’
Activists also called on mobile manufacturing company Siemens to pull out of the Adani coal mine project in Australia’s Galilee Basin, which has provoked widespread criticism for its potential to produce huge carbon emissions.
Environmental activists and school strikers in Berlin demonstrated outside the company’s headquarters and at the German capital’s Australian Embassy.
Extinction Rebellion say Australia-focussed protests are taking place in cities in more than 30 countries – including in Bristol, London and Sheffield in the UK – both today and on January 16.
Extinction Rebellion campaigners protest outside Australia's London embassy demanding Prime Minister Scott Morrison is fired for his handling of the bushfire crisis
- Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Australian Embassy on the Strand
- Dozens of Extinction Rebellion activists wore kangaroo masks and held banners
- Catastrophic fires killed at least 26 since October with 2000 homes destroyed
Extinction Rebellion campaigners gathered outside Australia's London embassy this afternoon to demand Prime Minister Scott Morrison is fired for his handling of the bushfire crisis.
The catastrophic fires have killed at least 26 since they began in October, with an estimated 2000 homes destroyed in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
Morrison, who opted to go on holiday to Hawaii in the midst of the crisis in December, has been widely criticised for his lack of action in the catastrophe.
Hundreds of protesters arrived outside the Australian Embassy on the Strand in London this afternoon to urge the Australian government to 'act now' in response to the 'ecological emergency'.
Dozens of activists dressed in kangaroo masks or held signs reading 'How 'bout no, Scott?' and 'Denial is not a policy' as they were supported by Extinction Rebellion's Red Rebels.
Others held a banner reading 'BURNING EARTH' as they joined the protest, which was one of many to take place across the world today. Rallies were also held in Sheffield, Bristol and Lambeth, as well as in 30 countries worldwide from Argentina to Zambia.
The protest was held to draw attention to the 'betrayal of the Australian government in failing to protect Australians from the bushfires', according to Extinction Rebellion.
Ms Hackman said: 'I am just so very sad for people and wildlife in Australia.
'The bushfires around Canberra in 2003 showed us what to expect and there have been warnings about the consequences for Australia of climate change, yet the government did not prepare.
'We need to see the Australian government acknowledge the connection between climate change and these bushfires, and declare a climate and ecological emergency now and take action.'
The catastrophic fires have been blazing across Australia since October, when Robert Lindsey, 77, and Gwen Hyde, 68, were found dead in their burned out home in Coongbar near Casino.
Today, firefighters were photographed conducting property protection patrols at the Dunns Road fire in Mount Adrah, as New South Wales braced for severe fires across the state with high temperatures and strong winds forecast.
There are currently 37 fires burning across NSW - 66 of which are not contained.
The NSW Rural Fire Service said conditions were 'difficult' thanks to a gusty southerly change which would cause 'erratic fire behaviour'.
Similar crowds were seen in Brisbane and Canberra - where hundreds were heard chanting 'sack ScoMo'.
Another popular chant was 'the liar from the shire, the country is on fire'.
Organisers in Sydney were hoping to rival the crowds of 20,000 seen in December protests.
The East Ournie Creek and Dunns Road fires near the Victoria border were upgraded to watch and act level this morning.
But by lunchtime they had merged as temperatures hit 37C and 20kmh winds fanned the flames.
Together the blazes, including sections that have burnt out, cover half-a-million hectares - about five times the size of Canberra.
The Rural Fire Service forecast extreme danger for the fireground and warned of 'erratic behaviour' meaning the flames can move and change direction quickly.
The fire has already passed through the towns of Talbingo, Wondalga, Kunama and Batlow.
Later on Friday, an emergency warning was issued for the Green Valley Fire, with those in Lankeys Creek, River Road and between Jingellic and Welaregang told it was too late to leave.
'Out of control bushfires are sweeping across the state - destroying thousands of hectares, houses, and lives,' organisers said on Facebook.
'These fires, heatwaves, and droughts are not just unprecedented - they're the direct result of decades of climate destruction at the hands of fossil fuel loving politicians.
'The climate crisis has compounded hundreds of years of land mismanagement since invasion and decades of profiteering on water which has left much of the country in drought.'
The country-wide protests came as two giant bushfires raging on the NSW-Victoria border merged into a terrifying mega blaze spanning half-a-million hectares.
2019/2020 FIRE SEASON DEATH TOLL
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