Australia could be at the beginning of a new "epoch of fire", driven by humans and climate change.
Fire historian Stephen J. Pyne told RN Breakfast humans were pushing the planet to the opposite of an Ice Age — a new age of fire that he calls the Pyrocene.
"I think Australia is on one hand part of the leading edge of this new fire epoch, the Pyrocene," he said.
Yesterday, the bushfires royal commission started public hearings with a focus on climate and resilience.
Mr Pyne, an emeritus professor at Arizona State University, said Australia had been a fire continent for millions of years but that the Black Saturday fires in 2009 and the most recent 2019-2020 fire season marked a new era.
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/australia-is-in-a-fire-era-pyrocene/12282274
