2022 FLOODS - Australia's Latest Climate Disaster
PART ONE
THE FLOODS
This is a call out to my international community,
to tune into my stories sharing my beloved Northern Rivers, Australia (Byron Bay community) where record floods are washing away families’ homes, entire flocks of farm animals, artists’ life’s work, uninsured cars, small businesses, priceless heirlooms, even helpless elderly people unable to escape (heartbreak)–tragedy is sweeping yet again–but we do not have to sit apathetic behind our screens or freeze in despair or become gripped by scarcity & our own fears of loss.
This is a call out for support.
Another one.
This is an opportunity to cultivate generosity in our hearts.
This is a chance to begin bridging the divide of our extreme disconnection from community, from our neighbors, from our impact on our planet, from nature. <3
This is a reminder that this could happen to any of us.
That our climate disasters are here. Affecting us. Our friends. Our families. Our farmers whose food we depend on. Our favorite cafes. Our coveted travel destinations.
You may not know these people personally. But they are you. They are your bakers, your jewellery makers, the joy of your farmer’s market. They are your vulnerable grandparents. Your young families having a crack at sustainable living and entrepreneurship. Your proud friend investing all their savings to build their dream. Your favorite oldy running his decades old shop.
All lost! In a few days of extreme rain and wild waters. Swept in waves of brown sludge out to sea.
Donate. I have a humble fund going here & I have shared a number of links in my saved highlight for you to find one that aligns for you.
I am reposting stories, please go watch the devastation. Screen shot & share to spread awareness & increase donations.
Protect yourself, your family, your community from such disasters by voting out the fossil fools & electing climate warriors.
Research disaster relief, learn survival skills, set up plans for various disaster scenarios. Learn what flood disaster response looks like (a lot to learn in my stories).
We should be in shock, in awe, & hopefully taking action. If not for the Northern Rivers, then for your community. Because these disasters are comingl.
We can donate some cash now from the safety of our comforts. We can find our local climate campaigns to support and work on preventative measures. And if wild weather finds us, perhaps we will be so fortunate to experience the generosity of this beautiful, compassionate world that takes care of each other. <3
DONATE HERE: GOFUNDME LINK
Footage by Flood Rescue Hero instagram.com/your.mate.benny
PART TWO
While the emotion is raw, the anger rages, the heart aches–I urge those of us who are far from the unprecedented floods impacting QLD and NSW to not let this emotion pass. Donate what you can, even $5 can help. Reach out and comment love on the pages of people suffering, sometimes words of support can really help someone's emotional state. AND let us work on holding governments accountable for these inevitable results of weak and lazy climate policy.
VOTE OUT THE CLIMATE CRIMINALS, VOTE IN THE CLIMATE WARRIORS
If you’re not usually involved in politics, I urge you to schedule in some time to figure out who in your electorate has the strongest climate policy and check in with yourself how willing you are to accept a small or significant personal cost to support climate action . Acknowledging that low income people are most vulnerable to climate disasters, fossil fuel extraction, and it will be a long road to climate proof or world requiring urgent, aggressive action NOW–I have become a single-issue voter. In the last federal election (2019), about half of Australian voters (52%) said climate change was important when deciding their vote; however, climate was the most important issue for only 14% of voters. Almost 30% of Australian voters wouldn't make any personal sacrifices for the climate in a poll of 2k+ Australians conducted by the Independent.
Here are a few resources:
AUS ON CLIMATE
Australia had the world’s 15th largest greenhouse gas emissions in 2015 and its citizens’ per-capita contribution is around three times the global average. It is the world’s second largest coal exporter and in 2019 became the top exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG), a fossil fuel. Its electricity system remains heavily reliant on coal, despite ramping up the use of gas and renewables, especially rooftop solar. It is also highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including extreme heat, drought, bushfires, agricultural impacts, and floods. (https://www.carbonbrief.org/the-carbon-brief-profile-australia )
SCOMO NEGLIGENCE
The Morrison government sends $7Billion to Ukraine while his constituents suffer under his flippant authority–ten lives lost (that I know of), thousands of homes washed away, tens of thousands of residents ordered to evacuate and he does not touch the $4.7 billion disaster recovery fund. Citizens are raising money for relief and even shameless governments have set up gofundme pages instead of using designated government funds. This fund was set up three years ago to aid bushfire victims & communities & has since earned $800m in interest–NOT A CENT HAS BEEN SPENT. Outraged, yet?
Current policies exacerbate the risk, frequency, and intensity of these disasters. The Prime Minister should be held accountable for his negligence and climate crimes. We must vote in climate savvy committed Earth warriors and the Australian government must declare a climate emergency. Justly transition out of all fossil fuel operations & invest heavily in jobs in renewables.
Instead Scomo refused disaster relief and claimed that Australian’s have already received relief–this was Covid relief, not flood relief. Scomo continues to ignore the climate warnings and advice from his own departments. He pointblank REFUSES to implement climate policy to prevent further civic, economic, and environmental catastrophes. Not to mention, his appalling climate negligence impacts not just Australia but also the rest of the world. Primarily vulnerable & low income communities that rarely see funding, relief, support, & certainly are last on the list when allocating budgets for preventative measures.
UPDATE: After much criticism, Scomo has offered a one-off payment of $1000 for every adult and $400 for every child that qualifies for help, up to 13 weeks income supplement, & is ONLY sending disaster support teams to electorates held by his party.
These are areas notorious for flooding, yet Lismore (not an electorate of Scomo’s party) was removed from the list qualifying for Federal flood mitigation funding just 3 prior to these devastating floods.
ECONOMIC LOSSES
Floods made up the greatest proportion of economic damages from extreme weather in Australia over the last decade, followed by tropical cyclones and droughts. If GHG emissions continue at this rate, floods could cost the Australian economy $40 billion per year by 2060. As we are seeing, the government is slow and stingy to pay even while these catastrophic, even fatal disasters strike, yet the property damage, destruction of crops and livestock, clean up costs and emergency response still must be paid for. As another costly cleanup begins, funded in part by generous community and independent funding campaigns, it seems wise that the government invest in preventative measures (ie AGGRESSIVE CLIMATE POLICY) instead of constantly and begrudgingly chasing it’s tail on these great humanitarian and environmental blunders.
NEEDED CLIMATE ACTION
We know that the soils are depleted & cannot absorb the rains like these lush subtropical regions used to before they were stripped of trees to be trampled & grazed by commodified cattle. The land is further wasted by monoculture & mining–in particular for climate warming fossil fuels, leaving the soil dry & dead–unable to absorb water. Even in manageable rains, all of this topsoil is swept out to sea, where it wreaks havoc on vulnerable marine ecosystems.
The climate scientists have been warning us for decades. The research has long been in on how to protect communities from the more devastating effects of climate disasters. We know we need to reform the old systems of agriculture, development, and town planning to co-exist in alignment with nature’s systems. The soil experts have been reminding us we need regenerative agriculture to restore diversity to our soil & thus foster greater absorption of rain water to prevent flooding, to store water to protect against wildfires, & to sequester carbon! Regenerating land is not a quick signing of a check, it’s SLOW LIKE NATURE, it takes many hands in the dirt, it takes many scientists comparing notes on natural systems, it take crop rotation, it takes permaculture & diverse plants & roots in the Earth. I hope you hear JOBS from this.
AUSTRALIA’S CHANGING CLIMATE
The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported this week that much of Australia has already lost 20% of its rainfall and the country's fire risk has gone beyond worst-case scenarios developed just a few years ago when record bushfires devastated the country. Australia's hottest and driest year on record was 2019 which resulted in catastrophic wildfires. The fires directly killed 33 people and another 400 people were killed by the smoke. The fires destroyed more than 3,000 homes and 19 million hectares (47 million acres ) of farmland and forests. Two La Nina weather patterns have since brought above average rainfall to the same regions.
As we know, the burning of oil, coal, and gas is warming the climate. A warmer climate means the atmosphere holds more moisture. For every degree of warming the atmospher can hold around 7% more moisture. More moistures means more rainfall comes in short, intense downpours which can lead to flash floods. Extra heat in the atmosphere means more energetic weather systems that generate intense storms and heavy rainfall.
In general, the water systems of our planet are being changed. We are seeing wet regions get wetter and dry areas get drier. Currently, we are watching heavier rains, more intense coastal floods, exacerbated further by sea level rise.
CURRENT NEEDS
Right now the flood affected regions need financial support, donate through my campaign here, or visit my saved highlight for a range of fundraising opportunities from indigenous support to individual family funds to community funds. The need for physical things is huge, yet most homes are still needing to be stripped of the ruined furniture and carpets and deep cleaned thrice over. If you have goods, be sure to arrange for storage of these as the need will grow in coming days and weeks.
Many people are stranded without food or clean water, roads have washed away, and fuel is hard to access. If you are in the area, tune into local civic centers (info in my saved highlight) to bring food, bring water, bring tools, wear gloves, and chip in for the huge clean up happening in the coming days. There are offers for people–both flood victims and cleanup volunteers–to be housed on my saved highlights if needed.
As mentioned in the update, the federal government is offering relief via the below link, do get in touch if you need assistance applying for this. https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/floods/financial-assistance
The most recent IPCC report highlighted that repeated exposure to extreme events, like flooding and bushfires, is associated with decreased mental wellbeing in many ways. These mental health effects include loss of sense of identity and place, heightened anxiety and risk of depression, along with post-traumatic stress disorder and other adverse outcomes. (https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/climate-change-floods/) If you have capabilities to support people emotionally and mentally, do consider reaching out and offering these services in coming weeks and months.
Please consider donating to the gofundme page I have set up. This will be for anyone from the northern rivers who slips through the cracks of government funding, does not get access to funds raised elsewhere, and who just plain needs help rebuilding. This clean up of homes, businesses, communities, and psyches will take years. The damage to many people’s livelihoods may never be repaired.
For all of us who hope to return to Byron some day, to bask in her beauty, and drink in her magic–take a dinner out off your list and give that cash to the Northern Rivers community right now.
If we don’t invest back into this place we love so dearly, where do you expect the local produce to come from? Where will you sip your frothy coffee? Where will you venture into hinterland for adventure or to farmer’s markets for soul reviving community? This is the local spirit that makes the region surrounding Byron Bay so iconically magic and ecologically renowned.
The land needs your donations. The people need your support. The northern rivers needs us, once again.
More imagery and information visable HERE
