The Australian wildfires blaze on - and the pictures of suffering wildlife will hurt your heart

fashion 03:59

A billion animals are dead...

Australian wildfires
Getty Images

The wildfires in Australia have been catastrophic for the country’s wildlife, killing nearly 500million birds, reptiles and mammals in New South Wales alone.

Images of suffering kangaroos, koalas and baby bears have started going viral across the internet, as Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has finally admitted the country’s devastating bushfires are linked to climate change.

He said, ‘There is no dispute in this country about the issue of climate change globally and its effect on global weather patterns and that includes how it impacts in Australia. I have to correct the record here. I have seen a number of people suggest that somehow the government does not make this connection. The government has always made this connection.’

But it would be unfair to solely point the finger at Morrison, as it is also world leaders of past and present generations who have failed to act to reduce their country’s environmental footprint, and thereby facilitated a dramatic shift in the earth’s climate.

Today, cooler temperatures and light rain have brought temporary relief from some of the blazes that have ravaged New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia – but the crisis is far from over.

At the Golden Globes pre-awards event, Nicole Kidman was said to be ‘visibly upset’. The star and has husband Keith Urban have donated 500,000 US dollars (£382,000) to Australia’s fire-fighting fund.

US pop star Pink has also donated the same amount. She tweeted, ‘Am totally devastated watching what is happening in Australia right now with the horrific bushfires. I am pledging a donation of $500,000 directly to the local fire services that are battling so hard on the frontlines. My heart goes out to our friends and family in Oz’.

Meanwhile, teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg has called for Australia’s politicians to take action on the bushfires. The 17-year-old took to Instagram to share a picture of a kangaroo fleeing a blaze in Conjola, New South Wales, and wrote a lengthy caption urging for change.

View this post on Instagram

Australia is on fire. And the summer there has only just begun. 2019 was a year of record heat and record drought. Today the temperature outside Sydney was 48,9°C. 500 million (!!) animals are estimated dead because of the bushfires. Over 20 people have died and thousands of homes have burned to ground. The fires have spewed 2/3 of the nations national annual CO2 emissions, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The smoke has covered glaciers in distant New Zealand (!) making them warm and melt faster because of the albedo effect. And yet. All of this still has not resulted in any political action. Because we still fail to make the connection between the climate crisis and increased extreme weather events and nature disasters like the #AustraliaFires That has to change. And it has to change now. My thoughts are with the people of Australia and those affected by these devastating fires.

A post shared by Greta Thunberg (@gretathunberg) on

#AustralianWildFires is currently trending on Twitter – let’s continue to keep the conversation alive and pray for Australia.

The post The Australian wildfires blaze on - and the pictures of suffering wildlife will hurt your heart appeared first on Marie Claire.



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