Australia fires: what's happening and how you can help

How the global travel community can help Australia right now
Australia fires how you can help and where to donate
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Australia is on fire. Millions of acres razed to the ground. Half a billion animals killed, some species now close to extinction. Thousands of homes destroyed, lives lost, people missing. Many hotels closed – potentially permanently – and countless conservation projects wiped out. Plus millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide are being released into the atmosphere. How can the rest of the world help, in the short and long term, at home, and through our travels?

Bushfires are not unusual – the difference this time is the scale, intensity and impact. New South Wales and Victoria are worst hit, but fires are raging right now across all states. Experts believe this will continue for weeks and weeks. Extreme weather is ravaging the planet, with global warming fanning the flames in a country where 2019 was its hottest year ever on record. A lack of rain combined with serious heat and wind has created a perfect storm, leading to an unprecedented disaster.

A significant way to support Australia is by booking a holiday there later in the year to contribute to the local economies hardest hit. Choose hotels and tour operators with strong links to conservation. The challenge for your conscience might be that flying long-haul means fuel-guzzling and a footprint to consider. Personally, I offset all my flights through TreeSisters, which supports projects in which women plant trees in deforested areas, providing much-needed income. Experts say it will take a century at least for all the gases released from these bushfires to be reabsorbed. This is a harsh reminder that we all need to be kinder to nature every step of the way and more considerate about our impact on earth.

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How you can help right now

Ensure you are donating to official charities as there are already bogus accounts taking advantage. Donations are being centralised by state authorities so that funds can be evenly spread across the communities affected.

Red Cross Australia runs evacuation and relief centres for people seeking refuge from a fire-impacted area. redcross.org.uk

The Intrepid Foundation is matching donations up to a total of £105,000, with all funds going to the Red Cross Bushfire Emergency Appeal. theintrepidfoundation.org

Find a Bed has been set up to connect humans and their animals displaced by the bushfires with a place to sleep. Thousands of Australians and landlords from abroad with property in affected areas are volunteering their homes and paddocks for evacuees. findabed.info

Comedian Celeste Barber – who usually grabs our attention with her Insta pic parodies of scantily clad posers – has been bringing in a huge amount of financing for the NSW Rural Fire Service through Facebook. A photo of the view from her her in-laws’ sitting-room window, showing an ominous vivid orange horizon, has gone viral. facebook.com

NSW Rural Fire Service has a page for direct donations too. NSW Rural Fire Service

The lives of koalas are among those being claimed at a heart-breaking rate – some of these cuddly-looking critters are rare species crucial to biodiversity, and some are now nearing extinction. Watching footage and hearing the whimpers of these scorched marsupials clinging to trees will undoubtedly make you want do what you can to help the survivors. Adelaide Koala Rescue is tending to South Australia’s burn victims and attempting to find them somewhere to live. akr.org.au

WIRES Wildlife Rescue desperately needs a boost so its volunteer rescuers and carers can save more animals, as these devastating events are seriously stretching already limited resources. The charity is also providing instructions on how to make pouches for small marsupials, which you can send to PO Box 7276, Warringah Mall, NSW 2100. wires.org.au

Wildlife Victoria’s bushfire appeal is distributing donations to wildlife shelters and carers to help rebuild enclosures and equipment that has been lost in the fires, so that they can continue their life-saving work and cope with the enormous number of animals that will need care in the coming months. wildlifevictoria.org.au

Victorian Farmers Federation’s disaster relief fund has been set up to assist farmers impacted by the bushfires in Gippsland and the Upper Murray. Donations will be used to help farmers and and provide emergency fodder for livestock. vff.org.au

Givit in Queensland asks you to contribute funds so they can buy essentials for those affected. Or you can coordinate a drop-off if you’re in Australia and you have goods to donate to those who have lost all their belongings. givit.org.au

The CVS Foundation of volunteer firefighters in South Australia is a worthy direction in which to steer your support – many of these volunteers have been working non-stop, unpaid, putting their own businesses on pause and their own houses in danger to do so. They desperately need more assistance and equipment there on the front line. cfsfoundation.org.au

Fundraising sites have also been set up for the families who have lost individual firefighters. rfs.nsw.gov.au

Ron Lilburne

Looking ahead...

As thoughtful travellers, we can try to ensure our trips contribute positively to the environment through making considered choices when choosing accommodation and tour operators. Go for businesses that pay directly into local economies to benefit the communities whose homes you are visiting. When booking, check the web address, and if it ends in ‘com.au’ there’s a stronger likelihood your money is going straight to an Australian business.

We all need to educate ourselves and think more deeply about sustainability and accept that it’s a complicated issue and that there are no silver bullets. There’s a responsibility to consider our long-term impact on our climate, and engage more in intelligent, factually accurate debates. It’s heartbreaking to think of all the conservation work by hotels such as Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island being reduced to ashes. Going forward, it’s up to all of us as individuals to do our homework about which businesses we support and where our money is going to be spent.

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