Australia Bushfires. Time to ask China for help.

Australia Bushfires. Time to ask China for help

Australia is no stranger to wildfires, but this season has been unprecedented in scale and intensity - and the summer is far from over.

The scenes this time round is horrific as the number of areas and the size of the fires have been beyond imagination. Sadly many people have died this time round. For others the destruction of  their properties  and losses of their possessions will be very difficult to be replaced. The economy will also be seriously affected as many farms, buildings and other infrastructure were destroyed.

Many people have blamed global warming as the cause of this disaster. However this catastrophic event has been building up for a long time. The aborigines of Australia have long known that this is a very dry land and bushfires are very regular events. They have master the technique of control burning to avert disasters. However the number of aborigines are very small. They also blend in with nature and live off the land.

Then the British discovered Australia and the rest is history. Australia was turned into a huge agricultural nation with more sheep and cows than humans. The climate was very productive and thus large wheat fields and any other crops you can think of grew well. Australia flourished and attracted huge numbers of migrants and large cities sprouted up.

The only problem is all these human activities require water and in phenomenon quantities. Non-of the rivers can supply sufficient quantities. So they resorted to digging deep artesian wells for new sources of water. Over the years they have suck up nearly all the water available underground. The land became even drier. This takes a greater toll on rainfall as local convection rains depend on surface moisture. The absence of this moisture evaporation makes the land hotter and affects even the outcome of seasonal rains.

All these new human activities have slowly but surely turn Australia into a desert

Now there is even talk of the whole of Australia being uninhabitable in the next 50 years.

Now how can China help?

Australia is a very lucky country. There is lots of water in Australia but not where they want it. Yes part of Northern territories have torrential rainfall of cyclonic proportions. The only problem is the source of water and the area it is needed is more than 3000 kilometres apart.

To the Chinese this is really not a problem.  Two thousand years ago they built the great wall which is now stands more than 21000 km. They also built the grand canal so that they can transport goods safely from pirate attacks and storms in the seas. This canal is just under 2000 kilometres. Amazingly they started building it more than 2000 years ago aorund 250 BC.

Beijing, China’s capital city has a serious water shortage problem too. Beijing is too important for the Chinese to let it fail. So what did they do? They build two water tunnels from 1800 kilometres away to supply Beijing with all the water they need. Surprisingly it was Mao ZeDong’s idea more than 50 years ago.  “The South has plenty of water, the north much less. If possible, the north should borrow a little,” he was once quoted as saying.

So isn’t it time for the southern part of Australia to borrow from the north?

This is the right time to make use of China’s capability. Recently they have completed the Power of Siberia gas pipe which is 3000 kilometres long and in an area of extremely harsh climatic conditions. So for the Chinese to build a water pipeline, it is really not that difficult..

Firstly they have the capability and the resources to build such a long pipeline. They already have the steel mills and production resources. Along the way to pump the water, wind and solar farms can be built to supply the needed electricity. These material is also abundantly manufactured in China.

In fact a project like this can tremendously boost the economy of Australia now and forever. In the short term Australia can require them to use only Australian material for the project. This will boost all the mining activities in Australia. In addition the amount of jobs created in the construction of the pipeline will be very significant. Then the transfer of production of the solar panels and wind turbine technology will enable Australia ram up the of use renewable energy to conform carbon emission numbers required.

In the long run the much needed water will heal Australia. Immediately it will help cool down the environment, recharged all the underground water, fill up the lakes and rivers.  Just this alone will save all the farmers and the farming industry. Also the recurrence of massive bushfires will disappear as any small fires will be easily put out with adequate water resources.

In the long run Australia will be turn into a green paradise with lush forests. It might takes years but it is really worth all the effort. With the teeming forests of Australia surely the world will look up to this country as the leader in reducing global warming. The Chinese have been changing their environment for more than 2000 years and they are still alive and kicking.

I remembered my kiwi friend’s joke when things were really bad during their severe recession many years ago. It reads like this. “Will the last Kiwi to leave New Zealand please turn the lights out. ?”

Inaction in Australia can be catastrophic.