Australin_Bushfire_Essay/Essay-Question.txt

Topic – Climate Changes: Australian Bushfires
Format : MLA
Pages : 4 pages
Please Refer – Attached PDF
Everyone’s An Author, 2e for Florida International University
https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393431391

Question
This essay will help you progress towards your final assignment for this class –the fully researched Argument paper. For your 4-full page (or more) informative essay, due Modnay, you will spend time thinking, writing, and field researching about the problematic question you have already tackled in your Annotated Bibliography. You will follow Chapter 13’s Roadmap for “Reporting Information” (232-238), and the Chapter 18 guidelines for “Conducting Field Research” (395-399). Using personal experience, a bit of your library research, as an MLA cited source of information, and primary field research in the forms of either an observation or an interview (or both), write a 4-full page (or more) essay (plus brief Work Cited page), that continues to discuss the problematic question you have already asked in your Annotated Bibliography. Make sure your tone and style are suitable for a general audience. Imagine an audience of readers who hold a mistaken or overly narrow view of your topic; your purpose as a more informed person is to give them some new surprising information about the topic.
Professor Note:
The key to a successful paper is to go into your essay and research with the problematic question you already asked yourself: What surprised me? What did I learn that I didn’t know before? Is there new information that may surprise my classmates? Use your critical thinking skills from your personal knowledge, some brief in-text citation from one or two of your researched annotated articles, and an observation or informative interview (or both), to develop an understanding of what you think is especially significant about your topic.

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Fahjan 1

Ahmad Fahjan

Debbie Gyenizse

ENC 1102-006

17 February 2020

Australian Bushfire and climate change

Bushfires are common in Australia over the past century and it has been problematic because the underlying root cause of the fires is not clear. The topic is interesting because the unprecedented bushfires have continued to unfold and the principal causes of the fires are still a competing argument. In 2019, the temperatures in Australia was above average and the rising levels of the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere caused the lack of radiation balance on earth leading to less escape of heat. What are the underlying causes and negative factors that favour the occurrence of Australia’s bushfires? What is the role of climate change in relation to these devastating fires? To find an answer to the questions about the major causes of bushfires in Australia, I accessed the library search engines and discovered the following valuable articles related to the topic and formulated the following annotated bibliographies:

Brennan, Karl EC, Fiona J. Christie, and Alan York. “Global climate change and litter decomposition: more frequent fire slows decomposition and increases the functional importance of invertebrates.” Global Change Biology 15.12 (2019): 2958-2971. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

The article discusses the main effects that bushfires in the temperate forests bring along. The authors illustrate how the pace of decompositions has been slowed by the changes in global climate. Moreover, the authors elaborate how the global climate changes have modified the mechanisms by which ecosystems function. This article related to the research topic since gives an in-depth explanation of how the continued bushfires across different parts of the globe could affect the functioning of ecosystem in the coming years and elaborates the need for finding solutions to climate changes.

Bowman, David MJS, et al. “Forest fire management, climate change, and the risk of catastrophic carbon losses.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11.2 (2018): 66-67. Retrieved from https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/13.WB.005

In the article the authors illustrate how climate change has affected the overall composition of carbon dioxide in the globe. They elaborate the need for forest management as a way of reducing the occurrence of bushfires. The article gives insights on the research topic through explaining to the audience the effects that the people should expect in the near future due to the extended burning of the Australian forest and gives solutions to how we can manage the global forests to avoid such disasters. It relates to other articles since it concentrates on the climate changes which are occurring globally.

Dowdy, Andrew J. “Climatological variability of fire weather in Australia.” Journal of applied meteorology and climatology 57.2 (2018): 221-234. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/

Dowdy discusses the variations in the fire weather conditions for the last 66 years through discussing the numerous cases of bushfires that have occurred in this period. His discussion includes how climate changes have resulted in the changes in the fire weather condition. The article also forecasts the future of the Australian forests by elaborating the occurrence of bushfires in the future in relation to the increasing temperatures in the region. This article relates to the research topic in that it provides significant information regarding the predicted changes in the climate and how they will affect the occurrence of bushfires in the global forests. It relates to other articles through its discussion on forest fires and the climate changes caused by mismanagement of immediate environments.

Eckstein, David, et al. “Global Climate Risk Index 2020.” Bonn: German watch (2019). Retrieved from https://www.germanwatch.org/sites/germanwatch.org

The article discusses the major losses which have occurred as a result of climate changes in the last twenty years. It offers comparisons between the effects of burning forests in different regions in the globe. In addition, it offers recommendations for minimizing these effects through controlling the changes in the climate. Unlike other articles, this study offers information that is relevant to climate change by elaborating how each and every individual can take part in the efforts of reducing changes in the climate by helping to conserve their immediate environments.

Head, Lesley, et al. “Climate change and Australia.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 5.2 (2019): 175-197. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

In the article, the authors explain the changes in the Australian climate through illustrating the trends in increased rising of temperature and more rainfall in the tropical areas whereas the temperate areas are experiencing reduced rainfall amounts. It elaborates on the causes that have led to these changes in the climate in the region and the necessary solutions that could be applied to reduce the anticipated effects of climate change in the future. It relates to the topic of Australia bushfires and climate change in that it offer an in-depth information on what really caused the bushfires and how the continent might experience continued loss of forests due to the effects of climate change.

Hughes, Lesley, and Will Steffen. Be prepared: climate change and the Australian bushfire threat. Climate Council of Australia, 2020. Retrieved from

Home

The authors illustrate how the climate changes that the continent of Australia is experiencing and how these changes are affecting the manageability of the forests thereby causing increased cases of bushfires. In addition, they demonstrate the threat of climate change as a global threat that could wipe away the forests if solutions are not established quickly. The article seeks to illustrate the future of the forests and the anticipated changes in the climate. It provides a comparison between the current effects of climate changes and what the future will look like if people fail to take action of conserving the environment and managing forests.

Horton, Graeme, Liz Hanna, and Brian Kelly. “Drought, drying and climate change: emerging health issues for ageing Australians in rural areas.” Australasian Journal on Ageing 29.1 (2018): 2-7. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/

The authors illustrate how the changes in the climate of Australia are affecting the people living in the continent. In addition, they discuss how the climate changes have resulted in increased droughts and high temperatures in various parts of the continent which are causing more illnesses for people living in the rural areas. The article aligns with the topic of research by highlighting the major issues that people are experiencing as a result of climate change and how they are anticipated to increase in the future. Unlike other articles, the authors relate the changes in the climate and the increased occurrence of illnesses among people living in the rural areas.

Hope, Pandora, et al. “On Determining the Impact of Increasing Atmospheric CO2 on the Record Fire Weather in Eastern Australia in February 2020.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 100.1 (2019): S111-S117. Retrieved from

https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/

The article discusses the increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the globe. It indicates that most of the cases of bushfires across the globe are as a result of the increased amounts of carbon dioxide which are causing changes in the climate. The article is useful in pointing out the major causes of the fires in the forests and helping in understanding the best forest management methods to be used in order to prevent occurrence of similar disasters in the future. In addition, the article related to this research topic through offering insights on what the causes are and being able to provide solutions to this issue.

Morrissey, Shirley A., and Joseph P. Reser. “Natural disasters, climate change and mental health considerations for rural Australia.” Australian Journal of Rural Health 15.2 (2017): 120-125. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/

The article discusses the increased cases of natural disaster and linked them to the increased mental disorder among people living in the rural areas. It elaborates on how people are people affected directly by the changes in the climate and the natural disasters especially in Australia. The article is useful in pointing out the problems in the rural areas of Australia but does not related to the research topic directly as it fails to discuss the cause of climate changes and the bushfires in Australia. In addition, it fails to offer remedies to the problems that are emanating from changes in the climate.

Nicholls, Neville. “Comments on “influence of location, population, and climate on building damage and Fatalities due to Australian bushfire: 1925–2015”.” Weather, Climate, and Society 3.1 (2016): 61-62. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/

Neville explains in his article the major damage which has been caused by the continued bushfires in Australia and evaluates what other writers have to say regarding the issues. He pinpoints the challenges that the people in Australia should expected to face as a result of the widespread fires which are killing many species that dwell in the forests. The article related to the topic of research through examining the major cause of the bushfires in Australia, the causes as well as the probable solutions to this problem.

The research examines the link between Australia’s prevailing bushfires and climate change. To make this research more specific and focused, I will consider formulating well thought out research questions. One research question will be, “How has global warming contributed to Australia’s frequent bushfires?” The other research question I will formulate is, “Will the surging temperatures in Australia continue being witnessed in the years to come?” The sources I will use for my research will be scholarly articles from online scholarly databases, and newspaper articles. This is because scholarly journals are reliable and credible, and the information in news articles is reliable since these articles are compiled by professionals. I will avoid sources from the Wikipedia site as they are not credible. Articles from Wikipedia are crowd-sourced, meaning that the contributors to the articles may not necessarily be experts in that particular topic being analysed in the article.

References

1) Brennan, Karl EC, Fiona J. Christie, and Alan York. “Global climate change and litter decomposition: more frequent fire slows decomposition and increases the functional importance of invertebrates.” Global Change Biology 15.12 (2019): 2958-2971. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

2) Bowman, David MJS, et al. “Forest fire management, climate change, and the risk of catastrophic carbon losses.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11.2 (2018): 66-67. Retrieved from https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/13.WB.005

3) Dowdy, Andrew J. “Climatological variability of fire weather in Australia.” Journal of applied meteorology and climatology 57.2 (2018): 221-234. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/

4) Eckstein, David, et al. “Global Climate Risk Index 2020.” Bonn: German watch (2019). Retrieved from

https://www.germanwatch.org/sites/germanwatch.org

5) Head, Lesley, et al. “Climate change and Australia.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 5.2 (2019): 175-197. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

6) Hughes, Lesley, and Will Steffen. Be prepared: climate change and the Australian bushfire threat. Climate Council of Australia, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/ 

7) Horton, Graeme, Liz Hanna, and Brian Kelly. “Drought, drying and climate change: emerging health issues for ageing Australians in rural areas.” Australasian Journal on Ageing 29.1 (2018): 2-7. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/

8) Hope, Pandora, et al. “On Determining the Impact of Increasing Atmospheric CO2 on the Record Fire Weather in Eastern Australia in February 2020.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 100.1 (2019): S111-S117. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/

9) Morrissey, Shirley A., and Joseph P. Reser. “Natural disasters, climate change and mental health considerations for rural Australia.” Australian Journal of Rural Health 15.2 (2017): 120-125. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/

10) Nicholls, Neville. “Comments on “influence of location, population, and climate on building damage and Fatalities due to Australian bushfire: 1925–2015”.” Weather, Climate, and Society 3.1 (2016): 61-62. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/

Properly word your 4 full page (or more) informative report, your first-person observations and/or interviews, and your final paragraph as follows:

*Write the first part of your informative report to look like the one Ryan Joy wrote (245-248), and the student examples I already showed you in class. First, provide 2 or more pages of your first-hand knowledge, personal experience, and if you choose, some brief in-text citations from one or two of the sources you already annotated to convince your readers who have a mistaken or overly narrow view of your topic. Your purpose is to give them a new informed view.

*Then on top of your essay’s third page, in first person narrative, write your observation(s), in a few paragraphs that should be worded exactly like the required observation log(s) you must include in your folder’s left pocket, wording that should read similarly to what follows here:

To find out more information about the reason why (put your topic here), on (put the observation date here), I went to ??? which is a good location to observe ???, and to evaluate whether or not (put your brief problematic question here). Write about what you observed over a certain time period, then conclude the observation(s) with a statement, to substantiate that what you learned was relevant and worthy to be included, not only in your informative report, but will also be useful in your final argument paper. You can also use this same type of wording to observe a YouTube Video, Ted Talks, or other documentary related to your topic, to provide information to your readers as you continue your search for the answer to your problematic question.

*Your interview wording, should come directly from the typed actually transcribed questions and answers that you used during your real interview, the printed out transcripts you must include in your folder’s left pocket. The interview, that will come directly after the observation, should begin in the middle or end of your essay’s page 3, and that should end in the middle or end of page 4 or more, should read similarly to the wording below:

In addition to the information I have already provided through my interest and knowledge about ???, and my informative observation on this subject, I had the great fortune, on March ???, 2020, to interview (put the expert’s professional title and full name here), an expert in the field of (interviewee’s specialty). First, I thanked (ex: Dr. Perez) for taking the time out of (his) or (her) busy schedule to grant me this interview. * (Use gender specific pronouns please) Then, I asked (him) or (her)* about how (he) or (she)* became an expert on (put your topic) to which (he) or (she)* replied (“Use quotation marks for your expert’s directly worded responses”) and a parenthetical citation, ex: (Perez). I then asked (ex: Dr Perez) several important questions directly related to my topic. The first question I asked was “???”, to which (he) or (she)* replied, “???” (?). Based on (his) or (her) *first answer, I next asked this question, “…”. Dr. Perez responded that “…….” *(In your essay, only write the four best answered questions and responses). Then to end the interview, write… As our interview came to a close, I again thanked (expert’s title and last name) for agreeing to answer my questions about ???, to which (he) or (she) graciously wished me much luck as I continue to research my topic.

*Then, for your essay’s last few paragraphs, (bottom of page four or more), summarize your reported information, and include some brief summary of both your observation and/or interview, to show how well informed you have become on your topic, and how you have thoroughly researched your problematic question to successfully find the answers you have been looking for. These last paragraphs will bring closure to your research process, so you can begin to answer your question in the form of a thesis statement, and write your final argument paper.

Correction_Work/Friend_Work/first draft violent video games x
First and last name
Class title
University
March 10, 2020

The Impacts of Violent Video Games

Video games have been around for a very long time , however, are ever-changing. That is, different war-time scenarios are utilized and although that is true, there is one consistency in gaming. Which would be the fact that many games both in the past and to date have been increasingly violent. Yes, games that do not encourage violence still exist, however, these aren’t the games we will necessarily focus on throughout this paper. As research suggests, each individual is different in how they perceive games as well as how they react to them. Because of this fact both good and bad outcomes arise from the use of violent video games. And although efforts have been conducted to try and mitigate risks, one fact remains which is that these games will ultimately always exist in society. Violent video games have both negative and positive impacts on users, however, primarily the effects are geared more negatively by far.
One of the most common negative impacts that violent games have on individuals would be that these individuals lose interest in family and friend time. That is, instead of meeting and spending time with said people, the gamer will use most time in playing these games. Overall, it has been proven that video can lead to an addiction. There are many personal stories of individuals who have lost all social lives due to these violent video games. It was also found that said games can be very straining on romantic relationships as well. As more and more time of the addict is given to completing only one more match or game (Science Daily, 1).
Another major issue with these types of games would be the fact that many people claim violent games cause violence in real life. This is surely the most popular claim that is against these games. Although this is true , to some degree researchers cannot be too certain as to whether or not violent video games pose any real threats or not. Children more so than other groups are more susceptible tot the content and themes in video games. As revealed games such as Call of Duty ultimately have about 21% of gamers who are aged 10-14 playing (Stanton, 1). And although this may not appear to be a high value, these games are surely not intended for such age groups overall. There are various reasons as to why it is difficult to say whether or not games cause such violence as author Stanton explains throughout his article. One reason that is provided would be that many headlines in the media negatively reflect the reality of situations. Because of this and several other factors Stranton says that no one really knows these answers (Stranton, 1).

Works Cited

Science Daily. “Video Games Linked To Poor Relationships With Friends, Family.” Science Daily. 25 January 2009. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090123075000.htm

Stanton, R. “ Do video games make children violent? Nobody knows – and this is why.” The Guardian. 14 February 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/09/do-video-games-make-children-violent-nobody-knows-and-this-is-why

2

Correction_Work/Friend_Work/Outline For Video Game Essay x
First and last name
Class title
University
March 16, 2020

Outline For Video Game Essay:

I. Introduction:
a. Discuss prevalence of children playing video games, use statistics
i. 90% of children and 95% of teens play video games
b. Discuss the prevalence of violence in video games, use statistics
i. 85% of video games have violence in them
c. Talk about how media has pushed that there is a link between video games and aggressive behavior
II. Body Paragraph 1:
a. Topic Sentence:
i. Although there have been connections to aggressive behavior, there are many positive qualities that can be developed through moderate use of video games.
b. Discuss the positives of playing video games
i. Improves coordination
ii. Improves problem-solcing
iii. Enhances memory
iv. Enhances multitasking
c. Talk about how children use it to socialize and create healthy competition
i. Increases decision making
ii. Makes you less anti-social
d. Talk about how generally violence is not the main reason to play
i. Beating the game is
III. Body Paragraph 2:
a. Topic Sentence:
i. However, there are still scientists that have found connections between violent video games and aggressive behavior.
b. Possible Effects to discuss
i. Noticeable changes to behavior:
1. Aggression
2. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00384/full

ii. Ignoring or not prioritizing responsibilities
iii. Difficulty sleeping
iv. Declining grades
v. Social isolation
vi. Poor time management
IV. Refute Body Paragraph 2:
a. Topic Sentence:
i. Nevertheless, these negative effects are only noticed when excessive game play is used. In moderation children can gain the bountiful positive effects.
ii. https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/playing-video-games-moderation-benefit-kids-study-article-1.1891008

b. Talk about how the links to aggression are incorrect:
i. Most studies did not study cause and effect
ii. Studies did not link to real life aggression (violence)
iii. The crime rate for youth has decreased since 1996
c. Discuss that most things in excess are bad, video games are no different
i. TV
ii. Eating
iii. Sitting
V. Conclusion:
a. Discuss the main points from each paragraph
i. Positives
ii. Negatives
iii. Tie in why positives outweigh the negatives
b. Discuss how video games now reward those who are good, E-Sports
c. Talk about how it is now an important part of culture in this growing age of technology
i. We cannot ban children from playing, it is all around us.
ii. We need to learn how to develop moderation

Correction_Work/Friend_Work/Video games free write x
First and last
Class title
University
March 16, 2020

Free Write Exercise
Video games have only increased in prevalence over the last twenty to thirty years. Now more than 90% of U.S. children play some sort of video game. And when considering ages twelve to seventeen the figure increases to 97%. Considering the large amount of adolescents and children who play video games, 85% of video games contain some amount of violence in them. It is concerning to see whether there are harmful effects to violence in video games as it Is so prevalent in our society. The news and media often turn to video games to explain mass casualty events or acts of violence by teens. This coverage adds to the significance of this discussion and why the scientific community has been taking serious steps to create a connection. However, there are some important key points to remember. First of all, most of the research on violent video game use relies on measures to assess aggression that do not correlate with real-world violence. Some studies are observational and do not prove cause and effect. Secondly, federal crime statistics suggest that serious violent crimes among youths have decreased since 1996, even as video game sales have soared. Finally, parents can protect children from potential harm by limiting the use of video games and taking other common-sense precautions.

2

Correction_Work/My_Work/australia x
Surname 4

Name
Tutor
Course
Date
Australian Bushfire: Climate Changes

Bushfires are common in Australia over the past century and it has been problematic because the underlying root cause of the fires is not clear. The topic is interesting because the unprecedented bushfires have continued to unfold and the principal causes of the fires are still a competing argument. In 2019, the temperatures in Australia was above average and the rising levels of the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere caused the lack of radiation balance on earth leading to less escape of heat. What are the underlying causes and negative factors that favor the occurrence of Australia’s bushfires? What is the role of climate change in relation to these devastating fires?
After the devastation of fire in Australia several things were impacted. Billions of animals were dying as a result of lack of habitat and food. The bushfire affected the biodiversity and caused the population of animals and plants to reduce. The fire also caused smoke and caused air pollution which reduced the quality of air in the affected regions. This affected the human health and the living things in the region since they breathed contaminated air with too much smoke (Head 180). However, “Australia is prepared to debate radical changes to where people live and how land is used, the limits to adaptation imply the need for mitigation. This means supporting ambitious global greenhouse emissions reductions targets (Bowman 66).”
The researchers at the World Weather Attribution say that the climate changes had advanced the risk of the Australian’s weather condition which drove fire for about 30%. Climate change greatly contributed to the occurrence of fire in the country. According to several researches, since models have a tendency to underestimate the trends of extreme heat in the region. Looking at the bushfire, the scientists utilizing Fire Weather Index measurement method took into account humidity, temperature, wind and rainfall to realize the risk of fire.
Climate change is the major factor that caused the occurrence of the bushfire in Australia. According to most of the researchers, the drought condition left the land bare and dry that facilitated the spread of fire. Bushfire is explained to be intensified by the drought conditions as well as the unprecedented heat. Australia is known for division and climate denial and debate has erupted through the bushfire control as well climate change. Weather control might be an answer to the control change. “There is no single risk reduction strategy. Controlled burning remains key to control the condition in Bushfire in Australia (Brennan 2960).”
.

Work cited
Brennan, Karl EC, Fiona J. Christie, and Alan York. “Global climate change and litter decomposition: more frequent fire slows decomposition and increases the functional importance of invertebrates.” Global Change Biology 15.12 (2019): 2958-2971. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Bowman, David MJS, et al. “Forest fire management, climate change, and the risk of catastrophic carbon losses.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11.2 (2018): 66-67. Retrieved from https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/13.WB.005
Dowdy, Andrew J. “Climatological variability of fire weather in Australia.” Journal of applied meteorology and climatology 57.2 (2018): 221-234. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/

Eckstein, David, et al. “Global Climate Risk Index 2020.” Bonn: German watch (2019). Retrieved from https://www.germanwatch.org/sites/germanwatch.org

Head, Lesley, et al. “Climate change and Australia.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 5.2 (2019): 175-197. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

Hughes, Lesley, and Will Steffen. Be prepared: climate change and the Australian bushfire threat. Climate Council of Australia, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/

Horton, Graeme, Liz Hanna, and Brian Kelly. “Drought, drying and climate change: emerging health issues for ageing Australians in rural areas.” Australasian Journal on Ageing 29.1 (2018): 2-7. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/

Hope, Pandora, et al. “On Determining the Impact of Increasing Atmospheric CO2 on the Record Fire Weather in Eastern Australia in February 2020.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 100.1 (2019): S111-S117. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/

Morrissey, Shirley A., and Joseph P. Reser. “Natural disasters, climate change and mental health considerations for rural Australia.” Australian Journal of Rural Health 15.2 (2017): 120-125. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi

Nicholls, Neville. “Comments on “influence of location, population, and climate on building damage and Fatalities due to Australian bushfire: 1925–2015”.” Weather, Climate, and Society 3.1 (2016): 61-62. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/

Correction_Work/My_Work/AustralianBushfireandclimatechange x
Running Head: PEER REVIEWING IN EVIDENCE BASED PROJECTS 1

1

Student’s Name
Professor’s name
Course
Date
Australian Bushfire and climate change
Bushfires are common in Australia over the past century and it has been problematic because the underlying root cause of the fires is not clear. The topic is interesting because the unprecedented bushfires have continued to unfold and the principal causes of the fires are still a competing argument. In 2019, the temperatures in Australia were above average and the rising levels of the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere caused the lack of radiation balance on earth leading to less escape of heat. The above findings led to the desire to know what the underlying causes and negative factors that favor the occurrence of Australia’s bushfires are as well as the role of climate change concerning these devastating fires.
To gain clarity on the matter, I decided to carry out research. My research was divided into three sections. Section one involved me reading as much information as possible on Australian bush fires, Section two involved the visitation of one of the areas affected by the fires. The main purpose of the visitation was to confirm the negative effects of the fires as well as see if I can observe possible causes of the fires. The last section involved interviewing an expert on the Australian bushfires to gain insight on the bush fires.

Researching on the Australian bushfires

Upon conducting my study on the Australian bush fires, I was able to know four main things about the fires. The first finding was that the majority of the country’s bush fires ignited when there were record-breaking heatwaves. Before the fires started, the country was hot and dry. As much as there are various ways in which the fires started: some by arsons, some by lightning, it is the dry and hot climatic conditions of the country that supported the growth of the fires as well as their spreading.
The second finding was that climate change and weather variability can be held partly responsible for the fires. A look at Australia’s climate one cannot help note that the nation has been facing severe drought which has been spurred by three winter periods (Lesley et al., 2019 p. 183) The combination of the two extreme seasons has left the country with little precipitation (Dowdy, 2018 p. 223). Also, the country was hit by the Indian ocean dipole which pushed moisture gathering clouds further away from Australia making the country drier and more susceptible to heatwaves.
The third finding was that the continent is a biodiversity hotspot. The occurrences of bush fires are putting plants and animals at risk. The continent has close to 250 species of mammals however with the rise of bush fires, the number is bound to drop and this will put a strain on the country’s ecological system (Resnick,  Irfan, and Samuel, 2020). The fires either burn the animals and plants or destroy the foods that they depend on.
The fourth finding was that thousands of people’s lives have been disrupted by the fires. In the last Australian fires, about 4000 people in Victoria were forced to head to the beach as their communities were ravaged by fires. The fires made it impossible for rescue teams to get to the people via roads as the fires had closed them off. The only escape route they had was via the sea and air. The fires not only destroyed homes, but as well destroyed and interrupted food supplies, power supplies and even fuel supply (Berglez, Peter, and Lidsko, 2019 p. 386). The smoke as a result of the fires has also exposed many people to respiratory complications. Furthermore, farming has been interrupted creating a vacuum in terms of food supply.

My observations after visiting one of the areas affected by the bushfires

To find out more information about the reason why the Australian bushfires started as well as the impact of the bushfires, on 16th March I went to Kangaroo Island in South Australia which is a good location to observe the impacts of the fire and to evaluate the underlying causes and negative factors that favor the occurrence of Australia’s bushfires. I spent four hours in the area, combing through what remained of the famous park.
Over the four hours, I was able to notice three main things. The first thing was that the park was dry. The bushes and the grass were dry; the color of the vegetation was bordering between green and brown which is not usual of the park’s vegetation. When there is ample rain, the park’s vegetation is greenish. Also, I noted that the park was extraordinarily hot and dry. From the first observation, I was able to conclude that the park was extraordinarily dry and that is a potential cause of the bushfires that affected the park.
Besides, I noticed that there was a black smoke that filled the park, even though the bushfires that ravaged the park were extinguished a while back. Furthermore, the park was in black color which is a result of the effect of the fire on the park’s vegetation. I as well noted that the park was full of burnt flesh smell. Upon enquiring from those in the site with me at the time of the visit, I was told that it was the scent of burnt carcasses of Kangaroos and Koala bears. I was further redirected to an animal mass grave. The grave was dug to house the park animals that were burnt by the bushfires or that that died due to inhaling smoke. From the observation of burnt carcasses, I was able to identify the impact of the bushfires not only on vegetation but also on animals.

Interview with a climate expert

In addition to the information I have already provided through my interest and knowledge about the Australian bushfires, and my informative observation on this subject, I had the great fortune, on March 17th, 2020, to interview Ken Thompson, co-founder of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action an expert in the field of climatology. First, I thanked Thompson for taking the time out of his busy schedule to grant me this interview. Then I asked him what role climate played in the Australian bushfires since climatic changes had been identified as a contributor to the bushfires. He responded by saying that global warming more so due to greenhouses gases had raised the heat level in the country, thereby making Australia more susceptible to bush fires considering of its vegetative cover.
The second asked him was what the immediate effects of the fires are. He responded by saying “as you can see a lot of plant cover has been destroyed, some animals have died as a result of the fire and human activities have been disrupted.” I then asked him what the long term effects of the bushfires were. He responded by stating that “the bushfires had disrupted Australia’s ecological system and that would affect the climatic condition of Australia in a long time.” The last thing I asked him was what could be done to prevent future bushfires and he responded by stating that reforestation would help as well as adopting measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. AS our interview came to a close, I again thanked Ken Thompson for agreeing to answer my questions about bushfires and climatic change to which he graciously wished me much luck as I continue to research my topic.

Conclusion

Based on the research, I was able to note three main things. First, climatic and weather changes have played a significant role in the Australian bush fires. Secondly, the impact of the bushfires is not only immediate but also long term due to the disruption of the country’s ecological system. Lastly, for the country to prevent similar fires in the future, reforestation must happen as well as the adoption of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Works Cited
Dowdy, Andrew J. “Climatological variability of fire weather in Australia.” Journal of applied meteorology and climatology 57.2 (2018): 221-234. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/
Head, Lesley, et al. “Climate change and Australia.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 5.2 (2019): 175-197. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
 Brian Resnick, Umair Irfan, and Sigal Samuel. “8 things everyone should know about Australia’s bushfire disaster.”(2020). Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/1/8/21055228/australia-fires-map-animals-koalas-wildlife-smoke-donate
Berglez, Peter, and Rolf Lidskog. “Foreign, domestic, and cultural factors in climate change reporting: Swedish media’s coverage of bushfires in three continents.” Environmental Communication 13.3 (2019): 381-394. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2017.1397040