Australia Bushfires: Everything You Need To Know And How You Can Help

You’ve probably heard about the bushfires raging across Australia, destroying land and communities and taking the lives of people and wildlife.

The fires have had a devastating impact on Australia. In fact, they’ve been burning so intensely that smoke from the fire made its way across to New Zealand which is around 2,600 miles across the Pacific Ocean. This week the smoke traveled across the Pacific Ocean to Chile, which is around 8,000 miles away from Australia!

Clearly this is a serious matter, with global impacts. To help you get your head around it all, we’ve broken down what caused the fires and how you can help.

What Have The Effects Of The Fires Been So Far?

Before we get into all the details, here’s a quick break down of the devastation the fires have caused so far:

• more than 12 million acres of land have been burned. This compares to 2 million acres burned in the 2018 California wildfires and 2.2 million acres burned in the Amazon Forest wildfires last year, 
• close to 2000 buildings, including homes and businesses have been lost,
• twenty four people have died because of the fires, including firefighters and locals, and
• over 1 billion animals have perished in the fires.

If you’re anything like us, you will be heartbroken and itching to help out in any way you can. As always, we’ve got you covered. We’re sharing different organizations you can donate money to if you are in a position to do so. Further down in this article, we’ve shared other non-monetary ways that you can help.

Where Can I Donate Money To Help Australia?

Wildlife

We are starting with the poor, innocent wildlife who have been severely injured or displaced in the fires. Animals in the states of New South Wales and Victoria have been particularly affected.

To help animals in New South Wales recover, donate to WIRES who are doing everything they can to rescue injured wildlife across Australia.  Their donation page is available here.

In Victoria, Wildlife Victoria are working around the clock to help and save as many animals as they can. You can donate to them here.

Alyssa also recommends BaluBlueFoundation and Mallacoota Wildlife Shelter

Families and Communities

The fires have destroyed people’s lives. To help them get back on their feet, you can donate to the Red Cross Australia or Foodbank Australia.

Firefighters

Did you know that most of the brave firefighters who have been battling the fires in Australia are volunteers?!

In addition to this, the non-volunteer firefighters that receive money from the government had their funding cut this year.

Bushfires have been burning across all of Australia, but the East Coast states have been hit the hardest. These include New South Wales (home to Sydney), Victoria (home to Melbourne), South Australia (home to Adelaide) and Queensland (home to Brisbane).

You can donate to firefighters across these states via the following links:

New South Wales – donate to the New South Wales Rural Fire Service

Victoria – donate to the Country Fire Authority Victoria

South Australia – donate to the Country Fire Service 

Queensland – donate via Givit

What Caused The Fires In Australia?

The short answer is climate change.

Australia is no stranger to bushfires. However, the fires this season have been unprecedented in scale and intensity, and summer has just begun in the land down under.

A combination of extreme heat, prolonged drought, strong winds and dry lightning have provided the fuel for the recent deadly fires. These hotter, drier conditions have led to fires that are so intense, they trigger their own thunderstorms!

Climate scientists all over the world don’t doubt that man-made global warming has played a big part in these fires. Australia is seeing longer bushfire seasons and can expect the season to last two to four months longer from now on. 

Is There Anything More We Can Do?

Absolutely. These fires have affected people all over the world. From those directly impacted in Australia, to those who have had to endure the smoke haze across Australia and beyond, to those who see images of the fires and their destruction and can see first hand the effects of climate change.

There’s so many ways you can help and take action, beyond donating money. Some actions include:

Keep the dialogue going – no matter where in the world you live, engaging in dialogue about what has caused these fires (climate change) and how we can and must do better will help lead to solutions, ideas and positive change.

Demand action from those in power – write to or tweet your local leaders and politicians and demand action on climate change. Our leaders are elected to represent the views of those in the community after all.

Be as sustainable as possible in your actions and activities – remember that no action is too small or too insignificant. Use reusable cups and water bottles, avoid plastic straws, repurpose or donate items that you no longer use, buy less things, travel sustainably.

Travel to Australia Once the fires are finally out, Australia will need to rebuild, and many areas are heavily reliant on tourism. Consider taking a trip there in the future to help contribute to their infrastructure!

Every little bit helps towards saving our planet, and will help Australia as it keeps battling the bushfires.