Australian bushfires are burning an area the size of South Korea
I was listening to the radio news today and couldn't believe my ears. The area of the Australian forest fires, which I mentioned the other day, has now reached the size of South Korea. The area of South Korea is 26% of Japan, so if you think about it, it's equivalent to about 3% of Japan having burned, so it's easy to understand the extent of the damage. The smoke has apparently reached all the way to Chile. The area and the distance it has reached are beyond imagination.
This will generate a ridiculous amount of CO2, and the impacts will obviously go beyond the fires, as the forests will no longer absorb the CO2 they were meant to absorb after the fire is consumed.
It seems that this will increase global CO2 emissions by 2%. This will be a hindrance for several decades until the forests recover, so we are burdened with a huge handicap. If possible, we would like to reduce CO2 emissions to zero by 2040. If that is not possible, we will aim for a lower level of 2%.
I think it is really bad that something like this has happened in such a situation. There was a big fire in the Amazon not long ago, and it seems that it was on the same level as this one. It is said that these things will accelerate global warming, and I think that these things are probably included in the global warming predictions, even if to a different degree. If they are not included, the current severe predictions would become even more severe.
Either way, while trivial news is broadcast over and over again in the media, these truly important issues are given very little coverage in the Japanese media. It's a shame in many ways.
