{"id":28207,"date":"2020-01-15T15:51:41","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T20:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=28207"},"modified":"2020-01-15T15:52:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T20:52:40","slug":"australian-bushfires-what-you-can-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/28207\/australian-bushfires-what-you-can-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian bushfires: what you can do"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My heart has been breaking watching the ecological catastrophe playing out in Australia over the past several months. Thousands of homes have been destroyed and dozens of human lives have been lost. And then there\u2019s the impact on wildlife. <\/strong>There are really no words to describe the magnitude of the loss \u2014 according to one estimate, a billion animals [1<\/a>] have already died or will die because of starvation or the loss of a safe habitat. <\/p>\n\n

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Australians on January 5 counted the cost from a day of catastrophic bushfires that caused \u201cextensive damage\u201d across swathes of the country and took the death toll from the long-running crisis to 24. \u00a9 SAEED KHAN\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

It\u2019s almost beyond comprehension. But one thing is clear: climate change is driving catastrophic bushfires in Australia. This is what a climate emergency looks like. <\/strong>[2<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n

By now the devastating facts and numbers are all over the news, as are harrowing personal accounts from those on the ground. If you\u2019re like me, you\u2019ve seen photos that you will never in your life forget. What many of us are still asking though is, what can I do from here in Canada? How can I help? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

That\u2019s the question we asked my colleagues at Greenpeace Australia last week. And yes, there is an important role for us to play here in Canada. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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A kangaroo jumps in a field amidst smoke from a bushfire in Snowy Valley on the outskirts of Cooma on January 4, 2020. \u2013 Up to 3,000 military reservists were called up to tackle Australia\u2019s relentless bushfire crisis on January 4, as tens of thousands of residents fled their homes amid catastrophic conditions. \u00a9 SAEED KHAN\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

For years, Greenpeace has been pushing the Australian government to get serious about climate change. Despite this, the government continues to act as though climate breakdown is someone else\u2019s problem [3] while stubbornly investing in coal. [4] <\/p>\n\n