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Re: Sydney's fires - a short story




At 02:03 PM 12/27/01 +1100, Pacific Edge Permaculture + Media wrote:
>HOW AUSTRALIAN FORESTS END UP ON NEW ZEALAND SNOWFIELDS
>
>As I sit writing this message in a southern suburb of Sydney, Australia, a
>fallout of cinders and burned eucalyptus leaves continues to descend on the
>city, just as it has these past two days.

I hope that you are safe where you are.


>Here in the south-east, a vast biome dominated by eucalypt forest, the fire
>season comes in summer - late December and January.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, half a world away, the very same 
eucalyptus was one of the main contributors to the big Oakland fire in 
October of 1991 - hundreds of homes destroyed - and for many of the same 
reasons.  We also have a fire/flood ecology here...but eucalyptus isn't a 
native species here; it was brought over by people who saw how fast it grew 
and figured they could use it for something - initially for railroad ties, 
for which it was poorly suited.

Amazing how many things we can have in common across so many miles.  I hope 
that things don't go as badly there now as they did here a little over ten 
years ago.

Take care,

Loren


Loren Davidson        Permaculturist, philosopher, writer
loren@farwalker.com   http://www.earthspring.org/loren/
AIM: loren334     ICQ: 65291610
"We have to create the future, or others will do it for us" - Gen. S. 
Ivanova, ret.