Environmentalists responsible for much of Australia’s bush fire problem
By Tom Harris
Recent climate change has not caused Australian bushfires. Besides the fact that many of the fires are set by people, either intentionally or by accident, a major cause of Australia’s fire problem has been the high ‘fuel loads,’ underbrush that, left to accumulate over years, acts as a tinder box for bushfires. Craig Kelly, Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives (Hughes, New South Wales), told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on January 6:
“Now, we have record fuel loads on the ground, … and every single royal commission we have had from our past bushfires have said that we have to reduce those fuel loads. And that is the main issue. And yet we have failed to do so.”
Kelly went on to explain that the Royal Commission in 2009 “called for a minimum burning of 5% of that state’s forest in Victoria. That would amount, over the past two years of something like 770,000 hectares that should have been back burned and the actual number was something only about 200,000.”
Surrey, British Columbia-based forest microclimate specialist, Rob Scagel agrees and said, “Fuel load rules. Spending resources and intellectual capital on climate change considerations is as effective at mitigating bushfires as changing the colour of the paper used in reporting them.”
Later in the interview, Kelly pointed out that drought was also an important contributor to the bushfires but explained,
“If you look at … the long-term rainfall records in Australia, there is simply no trend. As CO2 has increased there has been no trend. The first 20 years of this century, we’ve had more rainfall in Australia than the first 20 years of the last century. “
Kelly was correct again. Here is the graph of rainfall from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
Arson apparently also plays a significant role in Australian bushfires. ABC (Australia) News reported in September 2019 that:
Dr Paul Read, co-director of the National Centre for Research in Bushfire and Arson, said the great majority of bushfires are deliberately lit by “cunning, furtive and versatile criminals”.
“About 85 per cent are related to human activity, 13 per cent confirmed arson and 37 per cent suspected arson,” he said.
“The remainder are usually due to reckless fire lighting or even just children playing with fire.”
And, of course, lightning strikes cause many fires. These strikes occur more frequently in areas where fires occur because of the type of clouds that form, cumulonimbus, and the precipitation they produce. Cumulonimbus are the only clouds that produce lightning.
In recent weeks, Australian bushfires have often been blamed on global warming supposedly caused by rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. But this is completely backwards.
Rising temperatures and increasing CO2 both act to increase soil moisture and so reduce the potential of fires. When temperatures rise, evaporation increases, causing more precipitation which increases soil moisture and so lessens fire risk. As CO2 rises, stomata, the pores in plant leaves, are open for shorter lengths of time. Plants therefore lose less water to the air and so more of it stays in the soil, again reducing fire potential.
A closer look at the issue reveals that fire has benefits as well as risk. Indeed, it is an essential part of the natural cycle. Fire clears off dead debris as plants go through their lifecycle. There is a special area of botany called Fire Ecology that studies the role and importance of fire in ecosystems. In most ecologies, especially forests, many plants require fire to soften or open the seeds to start life, although the seed shell must survive the fire first.
One example of such a seed occurs in the vegetation of what is called a Mediterranean climate. California is an example of this type. It is a unique climate zone because 70% of the precipitation occurs in the winter. All other climate types have either 70% in summer or an even distribution throughout the year.
A Mediterranean climate results in a unique vegetation called Maquis in Europe and Chaparral in California. The annual climate cycle that makes this an area that requires fire to be healthy has a hot, dry, summer that shrivels the plant but the seeds survive. At the end of the summer, lightning occurs as rain clouds begin to form, and that triggers fires that burn off the plants but leave many of the seeds intact. Mudslides follow as the rainy season progresses. Fortunately, the seeds germinate quickly and stabilize the soil.
The natural cycle of forest fires creates what are called crown fires. They move through quickly, burning off dead debris but leaving most of the plants still alive. When governments decided to stop forest fires, they upset the natural dynamics completely. The bureaucracies, now populated by graduates of the biased environmental education system, willingly allowed the environmental extremists’ demands to end the former sensible practice of cleaning the undergrowth. Activists complained that such forest tending was not ‘natural,’ when it was, in fact, a reasonable facsimile of ‘nature’. So, the debris built up, leaving the forest a tinder box ready to ignite.
Environmentalists have themselves to thank for much of Australia’s bush fire problem.
Tom Harris is Executive Director of the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC).
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Millionaire Money Moves word count: 532
to Make in 2020
By Chris Hogan
Ready or not, it’s here: 2020. I’ll bet you’ve already heard all kinds of speculation from the “experts” about the economy this year. How will the election impact the stock market? What about real estate trends?
No matter what happens, I want you to hear me loud and clear: The American Dream is alive and available to those who are willing to work for it. Anyone in this country can become a millionaire, but it won’t happen by accident.
The key is to start acting like a millionaire before you become one. And you can do that today. Kick-start your year by making one (or all) of these three millionaire money moves.
Double down on your mortgage payments. It takes the average millionaire 10.2 years to pay off their home. These folks understand a key wealth-building principle: Interest that you pay is a penalty, and interest that you earn is a reward.
Make yourself rich—not the bank or the mortgage company! Even if you can only increase your monthly payment by a couple hundred dollars, do it. Every dollar counts. Can you imagine how exciting it will be to invest your monthly payment instead of pouring it into your house? Of course, if you have consumer debt from credit cards, vehicles or student loans, knock those out first and then focus on the mortgage.
Increase your workplace retirement plan contributions. I’ve got some good news for you! The IRS is raising the annual contribution limits for employer-sponsored retirement plans (like 401(k)s) from $19,000 to $19,500.
It might sound boring, but consistent investing in a workplace retirement plan is the number one contributing factor to millionaires’ high net worth. If you’re debt-free and you get a raise this year, consider increasing your contributions instead of upgrading your lifestyle.
Open a Roth IRA. Over 70% of millionaires invest in both their company plan and in outside investments. You should invest at least 15% of your income in retirement plans—and up that number once your home is paid for. Unless you have a Roth 401(k) option at work, open up your own Roth IRA. Contribute to that after you’ve invested up to your company’s match. The beauty of a Roth IRA is that you invest after-tax dollars now, and that allows your money to grow tax-free. Even better, you can withdraw that money tax-free when you retire. Now that’s what I’m talking about!
You don’t have to have a lot of money or a finance degree to start investing. It just takes wisdom and consistency. I want you to win this race, no matter how long it takes. You can download my free investing guide to get started!
About Chris Hogan
Chris Hogan is a two-time #1 national best-selling author, financial expert and host of The Chris Hogan Show. For more than a decade, Hogan has served at Ramsey Solutions, equipping and challenging people to take control of their money and reach their financial goals. His second book, Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth—And How You Can, Too, released in January 2019. You can follow Chris Hogan on Twitter and Instagram at @ChrisHogan360 and online at chrishogan360.com or facebook.com/chrishogan360.
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Saudi oil attack underscores need for energy independence
By Michael James Barton
When drones struck Saudi Arabia's oil processing facilities in September, 6 percent of global oil production went offline overnight.
The intent was clear: create a massive disruption in the global oil market, sending prices soaring and leaving the United States and its allies reeling.
What happened next -- or rather what didn't -- was no less shocking.
As recently as a decade or so ago, knocking out 5.7 million barrels a day of Saudi crude production would indeed have roiled oil markets for months, if not years.
None of that happened. After the airstrike, global oil prices quickly rose -- but by only 15 percent. And within a week, they were back to pre-strike levels. There were no devastating gas lines in the United States and no escalation of conflict in the Persian Gulf.
Most Americans did not even notice. Why not? What has changed to make an attack on this scale almost a non-event in the global energy market?
America's energy boom.
In 2018, the United States became the world's largest producer of crude oil for the first time since 1973. While the attack compromised Saudi oil, America's oil and gas resources were unaffected and available to cushion the impact of the attack on the global market.
Domestic energy development may have just averted a war.
This massive geopolitical tilt in favor of the United States and its allies is thanks to fracking -- a drilling technique that breaks up underground rock formations to free oil and gas.
Soon, Texas alone could produce more oil than Iraq or Iran -- two countries whose oil assets have weighed heavily on our foreign policy deliberations for decades.
At the same time, we're importing less and less energy. Since 2008, our net energy imports have dropped 95 percent.
But what about the next unforeseen attack, embargo, quota, sanction, or natural disaster? There are a few things we can do to make sure that we will be ready for even worse to come.
First, we can stop blocking the wealth of energy lying off our own coastline. Offshore territories hold roughly 90 billion barrels of oil and 328 trillion cubic feet of gas. Right now, government bureaucrats prohibit energy exploration in nearly 94 percent of those areas.
Second, both state and federal regulators can use a common-sense approach for oil and gas pipeline approvals. By funneling affordable energy to American consumers, pipelines make us less reliant on foreign sources.
Unfortunately, terrorists are more likely to redouble their destructive efforts than to abandon them. With policies that encourage more energy production at home, we can weather the storm and avoid crippling gas lines.
Michael James Barton is the founder of Hyatt Solutions and previously served as the deputy director of Middle East policy at the Pentagon.
