Feel The Burn

Hey kids, Australia is on fire.
I know that I spend a lot of time gazing at the collective navel of the United States, but this is a continent we are talking about. You could drop a map of this island nation on top of that of our lower forty-eight, and it would cover that space. Side to side. Up and down. New South Wales has been hit the hardest with one hundred thirty individual fires burning across the east coast of Australia. More than one thousand three hundred homes have been destroyed, and thousands have been evacuated as efforts to contain the blaze continues.
For those of you who may not have figured on science playing a part in all of this, let's start with something easy: It is currently summer in Australia. Hard as it may be to believe that while we struggle with winter storms up here in the northern hemisphere, below the equator fires are being fed by oppressive heat and winds. While I understand that this theory flies in the face of a flat earth and is not nearly as amusing as toilets flushing in the opposite direction, it is the reality in which an entire continent is being consumed.
How do we battle this crisis? How about cute? Koalas, mascots of airlines and lugubrious emissaries from down under, are threatened. Scientists project that half a billion animals are affected with millions already dead. Koalas not cute enough? How about kangaroos? Herds of the hoppers can be seen bouncing out of the way of advancing smoke and flames. The lucky ones. Millions more have not been as fortunate.
Did I mention science? Scientists, whose job it is to illuminate the world of science for the rest of us, have stated that climate change is making fire season longer and more dangerous in Australia. Meanwhile politicians, whose job it is to ignore the world of science for the rest of us, continue to insist there is no connection between fires raging across their nation and climate change. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, say Australia does not need to cut carbon emissions more aggressively to limit global warming, even after a three-year drought and unprecedented bushfires. On the last day of 2019, Taylor wrote, “In most countries it isn’t ­acceptable to pursue emission­reduction policies that add substantially to the cost of living, ­destroy jobs, reduce incomes and impede growth.” 
If this sounds familiar, it could be that it was a page from the current administration here in the frozen north. On the first day of 2020, our "president" said, “While the goals of NEPA remain the same as they did fifty years ago, the environmental review process designed to improve decision-making has become increasingly complex and difficult to navigate.” The view from both hemispheres suggest that the environment can be put on hold while money is made, and if there's anything left after that, we can protect what is left. 
If there's anything left.
Want to help save some koalas?