As Co2 levels have increased the global area burnt has declined.
Firstly, the peer-reviewed science is clear - as Co2 levels have increased over past decades, the global area burnt has
declined. The exact opposite of Bandt’s superstitious rants.
* NASA has concluded that ‘’globally, the total acreage burned by fires each year declined by 24% between 1998 and
2015 - and over that same period of time Co2 levels increased from 366ppm (0.037%) to 395 ppm (0.039%)
https://www.nasa.gov/…/20…/nasa-detects-drop-in-global-fires
*In July 2017, a study by Nick Earl and Ian Simmonds appeared in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The authors
analyzed the Australian bushfire statistics from 2001-2015 and found a reduction in fires, noting;
‘’It is found that Australian fire activity is decreasing (during summer (December–February)) or stable, with HIGH high
temporal and spatial VARIABILITY. Eastern New South Wales (NSW) has the strongest decreasing trend (to the 1%
confidence level), especially during the winter (JJA) season. Other significantly decreasing areas are Victoria/NSW,
Tasmania, and South-east Queensland.’’
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/10.1…/2016JD026312
* On a global scale, fire emissions/burned area peaked in the 1910s, but then plummeted to “about 5% below year 1700
levels by 2010” (Ward et al., 2018).
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/10.1…/2017GB005787
* The decreasing trend in wildfires has continued unabated in the 21st century, as there has been “a strong statistically
significant decline in 2001–2016 active fires globally” (Earl and Simmonds, 2018).
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/10.1…/2017JD027749
* To summarize, there are “widely held perceptions both in the media and scientific papers of increasing fire occurrence,
severity and resulting losses“, and yet “the quantitative evidence available does not support these perceived overall
trends” (Doerr and Santín, 2016).
* On a long-term scale, “global biomass burning during the past century has been lower than at any time in the past
2000 years” (Doerr and Santín, 2016).
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/…/full/10…/rstb.2015.0345
Yet even if wildfires were increasing (which peer-reviewed science shows they are not) and even if this was directly
related to increasing to Co2 levels (noting that in the real world it’s the exact opposite) given that Australia emits around
1.3% of the global man made total, and the emissions from our electricity generation sector are 33% of that 1.3% - the
belief that we can reduce fire risk by buying more solar panels and wind turbines from China is a denial of the evidence
and the science - and to peddle this nonsense in the middle of this current bushfire disaster is a disgrace
"Exaggeration, manipulation, cherry picking and outright lies about covers all the evidence."
Professor Richard Lindzen
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