Why Down Under Is Burning Up

Bush fires have many causes. The climate-change narrative is a gross oversimplification.

By James Morrow. He is opinion editor of Australia’s Daily Telegraph. Excerpt:

"Australia is in the midst of one of its regular droughts.

Byzantine environmental restrictions prevent landholders from clearing scrub, brush and trees. State governments don’t do their part to reduce the fuel load in parks. Last November a former fire chief in Victoria slammed that state’s “minimalist approach” to hazard-reduction burning in the off-season. That complaint is heard across the country.

As for the proximate cause, anything from a lightning strike to a spark from a power tool to arson can touch off a conflagration. More than 180 people have been arrested for allegedly starting blazes since the start of the current bush-fire season.

Yet the narrative that has been built around the fires and broadcast around the world points the finger only at man-made climate change—and specifically at Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Activists insist that if his government had an effective “climate policy,” it would somehow help snuff out the flames. Never mind that Australia emits only around 1/77th of the world’s man-made carbon dioxide. The country’s complete deindustrialization wouldn’t budge the global thermostat."