Australian Bush Fires - A Fiver for Australia

Last April, I posted about the Notre Dame blaze in Paris.

At the time I remember being astounded by the outpouring of money being pledged to rebuild the iconic church.

A whopping 700 million Euros was pledged in 48 hours. The entire church was not even destroyed. Nobody died. Nobody was displaced. It was sad but it was NOT devastating.

As of today, “24 people” have lost their lives in the Australian bushfires. Thousands have lost their homes. An estimated “480 million animals” have perished. That is devastating.

Since September, 5 million hectares have been destroyed by bush fires across Australia. To put that into perspective: that’s more than the whole area of Japan, or Switzerland. In the province of New South Wales — 3 million hectares have burned. That’s more land mass than countries such as Eygpt, Sweden, Greece, Finland, Denmark, Columbia, etc. even contain.

“Eight thousand” Koala bears have died.

The poor creatures aren’t capable of moving fast enough to escape the flames.

So where is the support and outpouring of love for Australia? Where are the big dollars? Pink and Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban have stepped up. Celeste Barber, the comedian, has raised over 25 million in support of firefighters. It’s a good start. But still a far cry from the 700 million Euros donated to rebuild a church. Australia needs way more help. An entire continent is burning and brave souls are dying as they fight against the inferno. Whole ecosystems are at risk of extinction.

The British Royals have sent thoughts and prayers. Hmm, right? We all know my feelings on that.

How to Really Help

We obviously can’t rush Down Under to save the koalas. Nor can we summons up the “Rain Gods” with a dance. Most of us would be entirely useless to a local fire brigade. But that doesn’t render us helpless. By skipping your Starbucks fix for a day, or two – you can help. There is an initiative called: #fightfirewithafiver. It’s a brilliant concept and with enough participants – a few dollars can make a huge impact.

Donate and spread the word. Here are a couple of links to local State Fire Services: