"S. McLaren" wrote in message
...
Is there a credible solution to the drought and bushfire problems we
experience regularly?

Or is it a situation of simply sucking it in and taking the
"punishment"
whenever it comes?

--

There have been many magic cures proposed to water the dead heart. Send
the water from the east coast back over the mountains to the
Murray-Darling, dig a channel from the ocean up to Lake Eyre.......
nothing that is really feasible. Even if such schemes could be built
are we sure that in the long run the change would be beneficial? Look
at the side effects of parts of the Snowy scheme or of irrigation from
the major rivers - these were all hailed as the best thing since sliced
bread when they were shiny and new.

As for the fires have a look at an aerial map of Sydney, it looks like
an octopus with roads, rail and houses radiating out in a series of arms
along the ridges and bush in the valleys between. The Blue Mountains
are the same in a fish-bone pattern. Short of Agent Orange followed by
concrete how will you stop the fires running through the valleys?

The posturing about more hazard reduction burning is just that. If you
were to perform the level of clearing required to really stop the fires
the outcry would be huge, probably lead by those who suggested the burn
in the first place. Of course the people who choose to build in those
leafy green suburbs, the blocks backing on to the bush are the most
prized, will tell you that when the fires come through it's just really
bad luck. The fact that you cannot get flood insurance if you build on
a flood plain but you can get fire insurance anywhere tells us something
about how well risk has been identified historically.

I think there is more future in learning to live with the land that we
have than trying to transform it to something else. Until we have a
political system that rewards those who take the long view it will be
convenient to blame 'nature' rather than accept that too often we have
made poor decisions about our use of the land. I should live so long.

David