David Bowman Professor of Environmental Change Biology

#41 EXPLORING FIRE, LANDSCAPES & HUMANS
WITH PROFESSOR DAVID BOWMAN

"This is what climate change looks like."

In this podcast episode, David Bowman explores the relationship between fire, landscapes and us, the human population. Co-author of the book 'Fire on Earth – an Introduction', David is now leading the pack globally in this very complex field.

Tasmania has just had the most unprecedented fire event and whilst these large-scale fire emergencies are not new to the State, the increasing frequency is what is shaking our confidence & safety. In 1967, a huge fire event destroyed vast regions of Hobart and its surrounds, then in 2016 another dramatic fire event wiped out large areas of Gondwanan forest & pencil pine populations in the central plateau. Now, three years later, we faced fire on an unprecedented scale, where multiple vast blazes created a ring around Hobart and once again burnt deep into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. This event scattered resources and made protecting assets, such as lives, property & our wilderness, a huge challenge. Months on and the fires are actually still smouldering today.

Fire is fundamental to life. However, bush fires seem to be happening more frequently, with each fire increasing in intensity. I knew that I needed to beg and grovel with the highly demanded David Bowman; to sit down with him to once-and-for-all understand what is at play here. What do we know about the impact the climate is having on fire behaviour around the world? Why was it so hard to fight these fires and what can we learn from this? What can I do, as an individual who loves our wild regions, to help?

This podcast was a series of amazing monologues. It is essential for you to listen right through to the end, where David turns the tables, transforming what was personally becoming a deep sense of doom & gloom into something so powerful and uplifting that I have come away even more sure-footed about how I can make a difference on this planet. This is powerful listening at its finest!

MAIN POINTS

We are moving into a phase of more fire events and more fire crises. This is due to the changing nature of our climate - 'This is what climate change looks like'.
Why fire is now beginning to effect regions never previously affected, such as Tasmania's alpine & rainforest vegetations.
The changing climate and what to expect as the future unfolds.
The increasing incidence of dry lightening, and what makes a thunderstorm 'dry'.
Why fire fighting in remote, wilder areas, such as Tasmania's South-West Wilderness World Heritage Area, is so problematic.
The use of fire retardants and surfactants in fighting fires.
What needs to happen at a governance & research level to assist us in fire management.
What needs to happen at an individual level, a local level, to help avoid the collision course that our planet is currently on.
How to stay positive in the face of such adversities and traumas.

I hope you enjoy this episode! I know that what I am taking away from it is the knowledge that each and every one of us has a responsibility to live consciously and humbly. To consider that each and every action we take will have a consequence or a benefit. And to move towards a lifestyle of localism, sustainability and gratitude for every gift that we have... to strive to 'be wilder'. We need to be!

"What I believe is that we are going to go back to localism. At the moment we are in a global phase, but eventually we will go back in the end to what we are good at is localism and local solutions. It has to be this way to find the solutions that we need to find."

Links mentioned in the conversation:

- DAVID BOWMAN'S UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA PROFILE

- DAVID BOWMAN'S RESEARCH CENTRE - THE BUSHFIRE & NATURAL HAZARDS RESEARCH COOPERATIVE CENTRE

- FIRECENTRE.ORG.AU

- FIND YOUR FEET TOURS

- FIND YOUR FEET AUSTRALIA

"At the end of the day, I have been through the fear and trauma of all this, and have come out the other side even more focussed on sharing my knowledge. That is the only option."