Is Meat the Reason Australia is on Fire?
True to size, vegan activists have not wasted any time taking the tragic wildfires that are devastating Australia and, instead of having compassion and looking to heal, writing their own backstory of why the fires are so severe to fit their agenda.
Australia experiences a fire season every summer, but this year the damage has been unprecedented. 23 people have died and over 1,500 homes have been destroyed. Nearly 15 million acres (over 5 million hectare) have burned in the country since September, which is over 7 times more land than burned in California in 2018. |
The heat wave is being blamed for this season’s abnormally severe fires. But does that automatically equal climate change?
It turns out that there’s a much more regional explanation for the record temperatures that are fueling the fires. Sea surface temperatures on the Indian ocean vary in a pattern that Americans would recognize as similar to El Niño and La Niña. This phenomenon, the Indian Ocean Dipole, is in it’s strongest positive phase in over half a century, which is moving warm air over the country and excluding fronts that could bring precipitation relief.
Additionally, a warming weather system that originated in Antarctica has pushed strong winds over Australia. With the dipole lighting the fires and the winds pushing them, this combination of atmospheric events has really become the perfect storm behind the catastrophic fires we’re witnessing.
But one can’t help but wonder if this dipole is just a marine insult added to the cosmic injury that is global warming. Could there be more to the story?
Climate change is a complex topic that requires much more discussion than can fit in this post, but, for our immediate purposes, I must stress that climate change is real and well documented. The earth is warming, the ice is disappearing, and our weather systems are evolving.
What the scientific community is less agreed on, however, is how much human activities are contributing to this and which activities, exactly, are to blame. And I agree that these are worthwhile conversations.
It turns out that there’s a much more regional explanation for the record temperatures that are fueling the fires. Sea surface temperatures on the Indian ocean vary in a pattern that Americans would recognize as similar to El Niño and La Niña. This phenomenon, the Indian Ocean Dipole, is in it’s strongest positive phase in over half a century, which is moving warm air over the country and excluding fronts that could bring precipitation relief.
Additionally, a warming weather system that originated in Antarctica has pushed strong winds over Australia. With the dipole lighting the fires and the winds pushing them, this combination of atmospheric events has really become the perfect storm behind the catastrophic fires we’re witnessing.
But one can’t help but wonder if this dipole is just a marine insult added to the cosmic injury that is global warming. Could there be more to the story?
Climate change is a complex topic that requires much more discussion than can fit in this post, but, for our immediate purposes, I must stress that climate change is real and well documented. The earth is warming, the ice is disappearing, and our weather systems are evolving.
What the scientific community is less agreed on, however, is how much human activities are contributing to this and which activities, exactly, are to blame. And I agree that these are worthwhile conversations.
However, the mockumentary Cowspiracy, which makes ludicrous claims such as, “51% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture,” was completely fabricated. The authors of the flawed FAO report, "Livestock’s Long Shadow," which Cowspiracy writers used as a research base, have since admitted that livestock production does NOT contribute more to global warming than transportation.
Instead, livestock only contributes 4.2% of world greenhouse gas emissions. And this number is actually declining as methods become more sustainable. The most substantial contributor, instead, is the burning of fossil fuels for energy production. |
Clearly, it is simply not true that the heatwave, and thus the horrible fires, are caused by beef or dairy production. And to suggest otherwise is not only ignorant, but a malicious misrepresentation of the facts to advance one’s personal cause. We must take a good look at the data to understand what our most effective steps can be to reduce our carbon footprint. And if that has any influence on preventing future fires and devastation, all the better.
If you want to give to a charity that is relieving the pain these fires are causing, the best resource I have found is Australia’s leg of The Red Cross. You can donate at that link, if you feel called to do so. This post is in no way sponsored by them, but I have on good authority that they are responsible stewards of your donation.
My prayers are with all of the victims! The world is in your corner!
If you want to give to a charity that is relieving the pain these fires are causing, the best resource I have found is Australia’s leg of The Red Cross. You can donate at that link, if you feel called to do so. This post is in no way sponsored by them, but I have on good authority that they are responsible stewards of your donation.
My prayers are with all of the victims! The world is in your corner!