During the Blue Mountains fires in Australia, December 2019



We read in the local Australian media that the air is toxic, and the pollution levels are dangerous to our health. We read about the microscopic dust and PM2.5 particles. But what are these particles?

They are the koalas caught in the burning tree canopies, too slow to escape. The few remaining native animal species that have been able to survive in our transformed environment.

The smell of the smoke is the one hundred species of eucalyptus trees awarded World Heritage for their outstanding diversity. Along with the living laboratory of Blue Mountains ecosystems formed across millennia. Thankfully the Wollemi pines that have avoided extinction for over 100 million years were saved from the flames

Our smoke-induced headaches are the 20,000-year-old rock art destroyed in the flames. The Aboriginal sacred sites and songlines of the Dharug, Darkinjung, Gundungurra, Tharawal, Wanaruah and Wiradjuri people.