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.
