Lesson one: bushfires and heat are part of summer

Your story (“Bushfire crisis fuels student activism”, 27/12) exposes the weak and flawed arguments by those who continue to fuel the climate-scam arguments which are founded on baseless evidence, in my view.

Many of the bushfires that have been experienced over the past few months represent the legacy of many decades of pandering to the extreme green movement by successive Labor governments, state and federal.

It started when Bob Hawke sought to bully the High Court into terminating the Gordon-below-Franklin dam in Tasmania and has since gathered pace when the carbon tax was pushed through parliament by Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

Bushfires and heatwaves in Australia are a product of summer; it’s this the school-student movement should comprehend.

Angus Moody, Turramurra, NSW

If schoolchildren get around to actually learning anything they might find that the relatively tiny amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does not cause fires.

Most are either deliberately or accidentally lit. They are then fuelled by millions of tonnes of foliage, branches and waste accumulated over decades due to vast tracts of land being locked up by state governments and councils.

On my quarter-acre residential block in Canberra alone, I accumulate trailer loads of tree and plant waste each year.

Brian Whybrow, Wanniassa, ACT

The school strikers for climate change are all for encouraging conversation to promote its activism. It appears to me they would do better to volunteer with those who are fighting the bushfires.

Peter Haggarty, Cranebrook, NSW

The school strike for climate change and Tim Flannery’s Climate Council have shown a rare outbreak of common sense in organising student activism for the school and university holidays.

It gives the kids something to do. I have always thought it silly to take them out of class during a school day when there are so many days that are not school days. A little riot in the streets on a holiday will carry more weight than a big one on a school day. Well done, Tim and friends.

Frank Pulsford, Aspley, Qld

What bad timing for the school striking mob. Don’t they realise the school holidays are on? I would have thought, considering the number of children who have been caught starting bushfires, it would be more appropriate to educate them about the consequences which, apart from the environmental damage and loss of homes, includes the death of people, livestock and native animals.

And this bushfire conversation and action guide was written by a student-run network; perhaps their energy would be better put to use working out how young people could become activists in doing something constructive to help people rebuild their lives.

Glenys Clift, Toowoomba, Qld

People naturally seek something to blame for these bushfires and expect action. Many have concluded that the problem can be solved by the federal government restricting carbon dioxide emissions. This is not based on scientific evidence or sound logic. The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage report listed many causes of bushfires including fuel, weather and ignition.

Humans have increased the amount of fuel by preventing clearing and burn-off and are also responsible for ignition in many cases. Weather affects humidity, heat and wind which relate to the intensity of fires and is far more variable than climate change.

Climate change also has many causes. Satellite evidence suggests that carbon dioxide has a small but diminishing contribution to climate change. That explains the failure of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change models to account for recent temperature changes and suggests that other causes are driving climate change.

Therefore, reducing Australian emissions would have little if any effect on climate. The reduction would be replaced by increasing northern hemisphere emissions in a matter of weeks anyway. Restricting coal exports would also be pointless as other countries would meet the demand.

Ian Wilson, Chapel Hill, Qld