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Learning Task 1, Part B The Carbon Cycle

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Learning Task 1, Part B The Carbon Cycle

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Learning Task 2 - Hand Drill firestarter

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Learning Task 2 - Hand Drill firestarter

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The 2019-2020 Australian bushfires, were concurrent with record-breaking temperatures, months of severe drought, and disastrous ecosystem and biodiversity loss. An estimated 186,000 km2 was burnt, nearly 3000 homes were lost and at least 34 people were killed in an ostentatious manifestation of climate change. -
Climate Change and Bushfires

Australia broke its all-time temperature record twice in December. An average maximum of 40.9C was recorded on 17 December, broken a day later by 41.9C, both beating 2013's record of 40.3C.

It is difficult to attribute any one event to climate change. However, when looking at the mean 1°C shift over 100 years, and the exceptional drought and heat Australia has experienced in the past year, climate change's fingerprint is clear.

Andy Pittman, a climate scientist at the UNSW in Sydney, says climate change definitely contributed to the violence of the wildfires. While some insisted that arson was the major cause of this disaster, Pittman and other scientists maintained that regardless of the trigger, the fires would not have spread so fast and become so hard to put out without the fingerprints of climate change. Record heat, unprecedented drought, lack of rain - all these were catalysts for this ecological disaster.

The map below illustrates the spatial distribution of wildfires, with the red color representing the most serious and long-lasting wildfires.

Endangered Species

In 2019 and early 2020, the fires scorched more than 186,000 km² of vegetation that was home to at least 832 native animal species. Over a billion animals may have died in the blaze, according to an estimate by an ecologist at the University of Sydney.

Scientists estimated 25,000 koalas were killed when flames devastated Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Many of those that survived the flames subsequently died from dehydration, starvation, smoke inhalation, and other hazards. Drought is also drying up creeks and rivers, negatively affecting species that rely on them for hydration.

The map below demonstrates the extent of habitat loss for koalas and wombats caused by extreme and wide-spreading bushfires.

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly halted most recovery efforts in saving the wildlife. Despite the Australian government's identification of 119 species in need of urgent help, scientists cannot reach the imperiled animals' habitats due to travel restrictions and city lockdown.

Air Pollution from Bushfires

Bushfires produce particulate-matter pollution - airborne particles that are small enough to enter and damage human and animal lung tissue alike. The 2019 wildfire episode impoverished Canberra's air quality to the point where it was rated third worst among major global cities by AirVisual.

The Spread of "Black Carbon"

Open fires are a strong source of "black carbon", a major component of particulate matter and a product of incomplete combustion. Despite its one to two week lifetime, it has far-reaching effects on the climate. First, it absorbs and radiates heat from the sun 400 to 1500 times more powerfully than CO2. Second, wind currents carry smoke plumes over 7000 miles, allowing black carbon to create deposits on ice caps, reducing albedo by darkening the color and accelerating melt.

These small particles also interfere with cloud formation and stability, further exacerbating climate change driven weather shifts. Finally, with a diameter of ~2.5 micrometers (a human hair's diameter is 50 to 70 micrometers), black carbon easily infiltrates deep alveolar cavities in our lungs and hampers oxygen fixation.

Spectacular climate change-driven events like the Australian bushfires are a reminder that it is important to trust our scientists and take preventive action, rather than wait for the fireworks. Many other changes are happening gradually and discretely, and we cannot wait for visible consequences before taking the initiative.
You might also like: Pandemic Map: The Spanish Flu. This article was written by Monique Wong and Owen Mulhern.

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Climate Change and the Australian Bushfires: A Visual Guide | Earth.Org

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The 2019-2020 Australian bushfires, were concurrent with record-breaking temperatures, months of severe drought, and disastrous ecosystem and biodiversity loss. An estimated 186,000 km2 was burnt, nearly 3000 homes were lost and at least 34 people were killed in an ostentatious manifestation of climate change. - Australia broke its all-time temperature record twice in December.

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Aboriginal fire making techniques in South Australia

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Aboriginal fire making techniques in South Australia

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Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA's opinions and beliefs.

From The Native Tribes of Southeast Australia by Alfred William Howitt, 1904

The Dieri obtained fire by drilling with a straight- pointed stick on the edge of the shield. The shields are obtained from the tribes to the eastward by barter. I do not know what the wood is of which they are made. It is light coloured and soft. I frequently saw shields with a row of small holes burned in the side edge by this process. The same remarks apply to the other tribes of the Barcoo delta.

The Wurunjerri method of making fire was by drilling on a flat piece of the dry wood of the Djel-wuk, which grows plentifully in the gullies of the Dandenong Mountains and of the Yarra River. The drill-stick is one of the young shoots, about thirty inches in length, which is carefully dried. The thicker end is pointed, and is inserted in a small cavity in the flattened piece. A small notch is cut from the cavity to the edge of the lower piece. The drill is rapidly turned in the cavity, thus producing fine dust, which first turns black then falls on to some frayed bark fibre which has been placed below the groove to receive it. Finally the abraded dust takes fire, and being folded up in the fibre, is blown into a flame. I have seen fire produced in this way in a minute, and I once, and once only, succeeded in doing it myself in a minute and a half.

The blacks of the Manero tableland and their neighbours the Wolgal make fire after this method. A piece of grass-tree stem is laid down, and another piece is twirled on it. Two men work at it, and a little charcoal is put in as they drill, and when the dust ignites, teased-out bark is added. Another method is as follows. A spear- thrower is laid on the ground, and on it a piece of grass- tree flower-stalk with a flattened side. On either side of this a spear-thrower is put on edge, and between them vertically a piece of grass-tree stem, which is twirled. When smoke comes the two side spear-throwers are removed, their use only having been to confine the fire- drill stick. Twirling is continued until smoke arises out of each side of the horizontal grass-tree stem, and the dust and chips are turned over on to some teased-out bark which is blown into flame.

The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, by A. W. Howitt, MacMillan and Co., 1904, pp. 771-773.

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Southeast Australian Aboriginal Fire Making | TOTA

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Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA's opinions and beliefs.

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Explore this interactive diagram to learn more about the global carbon cycle.

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Lesson Task 1, Part A - Cultural Burning video

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Lesson Task 1, Part A - Cultural Burning video

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Indigenous fire methods protect land before and after the Tathra bushfire | ABC Australia

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Unprecedented bushfires continue to ravage south-east Australia, with at least 24 people confirmed dead so far and almost 2,000 homes destroyed.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in New South Wales and Victoria, in some cases only with help from the Australian navy.

Serious fires have also burned in South Australia, where three people have died, Western Australia and Queensland. By the end of the first week of January, more than 8.4m hectares (20.8m acres) had been burned across the whole country - an area bigger than the size of Scotland.

Satellite data from Nasa showed a stark increase in the number of fire detections in November and December compared with previous years. Satellites detect fire "hotspots" by measuring the infrared radiation emitted by the blazes.

In previous years, between 2,000 and 3,000 such hotspots were recorded each December in the south-east, while in 2019 the number reached 227,000.

The fires have had catastrophic effects on the local wildlife, killing millions of animals and threatening the survival of entire species.

Smoke plumes posed a significant health threat even to those living miles away, as the wind carried heavily polluted air to Sydney and Canberra, and as far as New Zealand.

Wildfire smoke contains poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide and fine particles known as PM2.5 which pass through the lungs and can harm virtually every organ in the human body.

A monitoring site in the Monash suburb of Canberra measured an air quality index of 5,185 on Friday, more than 20 times the level that is considered hazardous.

The devastation from the bushfires has been fuelled by the global climate crisis. Last year was Australia's warmest on record and followed a clear long-term trend. It was also the driest year on record.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded more than a decade ago that human-caused global heating was "virtually certain" to increase the intensity and frequency of fires in Australia.

"As a climate scientist, the thing that really terrifies me is that weather conditions considered extreme by today's standards will seem sedate in the future," wrote Dr Joëlle Gergis in the Guardian.

"What's unfolding right now is really just a taste of the new normal."

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Visual guide: how Australia's bushfires are raging across the country

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Unprecedented bushfires continue to ravage south-east Australia, with at least 24 people confirmed dead so far and almost 2,000 homes destroyed. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in New South Wales and Victoria, in some cases only with help from the Australian navy.

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Cultural burning is a contemporary term used to describe the long standing First Nations practice of using fire to care for Country. Read on to learn more and find out about some recent burns in SA.

For more than 60,000 years, Australia's First Nations people have followed cultural practices, including the use of fire to care for their Country (the term 'Country' in this context refers to the cultural connection that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have with the lands of their ancestors).

But the forced separation of First Nations people from their traditional lands, as well as European colonisation, has drastically altered the Australian landscape over the years. This has caused large parts of Australia to not be managed using cultural burning for many generations, resulting in unhealthy environments and increased fuel loads that cause a bushfire risk.

Cultural burning is used in some parts of regional SA and there is a growing awareness about its important role in urban areas.

Cultural burning, or its newer term 'Aboriginal land management practices', is used to manage land, plants and animals. Fire is used to expertly control weeds, regenerate plants, mitigate the effects of bushfire, increase food supply and improve access to areas for cultural purposes.

Cultural burning is different to western prescribed burning in that smaller, cooler and slower burning fires are used to manage the landscape. The practice is based on a deep cultural understanding of the landscape and its needs. It's also about the healing that comes from people reconnecting with their Country.

Local traditional fire practitioners are keeping this ancient, invaluable Aboriginal practice alive in SA. Here's two recent SA cultural burn stories:

1. Australia's first cultural burn in a capital city

A Kaurna cultural burn was held at Carriageway in Parkin Tuthangga (Park 17) of the Adelaide Park Lands on Friday 14 May 2021.

The burn was a powerful example of healing together. It was the first cultural burn in an Australian capital city and the first on Kaurna Yerta (Country) since European colonisation.

The Kaurna community with the City of Adelaide and Green Adelaide worked together to make this cultural burn a reality.

Kaurna are the original people of Adelaide and the Adelaide Plains.

You can read more about it on the City of Adelaide's website.

2. Narungga and Nukunu reignite restorative practice

Cultural burning returned to Yorke Peninsula and the southern Flinders in May 2022 with Narungga and Nukunu First Nations people reconnecting with the ancient practice.

They joined Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation's Lead Fire Practitioner Victor Steffensen, who shares his cultural burning knowledge through workshops across Australia.

The five burns were supported by the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board and National Parks and Wildlife Service, with funding from WWF-Australia's Regenerate Australia program.

Read more about it on the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board website.

Landscape boards of South Australia Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statement of Commitment

Landscape boards are committed to learn from and with First Nations partners, actively seek their ideas and support their aspirations. The Statement of Commitment seeks to genuinely honour the intent of reconciliation and the 'Closing the Gap' principles.

National Reconciliation Week

We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.

The dates for National Reconciliation Week are 27 May to 3 June, the same each year. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey - the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision.

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Landscape Boards SA | Learn about Aboriginal cultural burning in...

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For more than 60,000 years, Australia's First Nations people have followed cultural practices, including the use of fire to care for their Country (the term 'Country' in this context refers to the cultural connection that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have with the lands of their ancestors).

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Cultural burning is fire deliberately put into the landscape authorised and lead by the Traditional Owners of that Country