How Long Will Australia Be Livable?

If "we" can live on Mars, we can live in Australia despite inhospitable temperatures and an unbreathable atmosphere.

Conversely, if we can't live in Australia, with at least some naturally occurring water, then we need to give up on the pipedreams of fleeing to a new unspoiled planet and start to seriously address what's actually happening here.

> like the ANZACs at Gallipoli, we have to rethink our strategy

Alternatively, like most military disasters, the arrogant leaders that were thousands of miles from the frontline will learn nothing and continue to make decisions that get people killed. While using nationalism to bolster their support.

It's hard for me to put this in a way that doesn't make me sound like a climate change denier, but the climate related events in Australia, not just the fires, are a combination of poor policy and climate change. The drought conditions and unprecedented heat notwithstanding, we have also pretty poorly managed the forests and water stocks, at times for the benefit of corporations. This year could have gone a lot better than it did is all I'm getting at.

To address the article: The will for any community to remain in place will be stronger than we anticipate I think, as this is a long term issue it's hard to imagine people thinking far enough ahead to start dismantling communities now. The impetus needed to overcome the inertia of moving a community is enormous, and as harsh as this year has been it is still the same flavour of challenges we currently deal with so it's easy to feel complacent. Once these fires go out, watch as Australia marches through the year like nothing happened and headlong into next summer. We might be lucky and some smart cookies will pass some more funding to the fire services so we can protect our communities. Repeat until unrepeatable.

In the short term I think we'll see changing management of forests and communities surrounded by them. We need to think hard about communities and homes living at the interface between bush and mankind. We need to get better at separating community from bushland, so we can let these fires burn and keep the fuel in the forests at non-catastrophic levels and the vegetation and fauna healthy.

The VOC declared it unlivable right after its discovery and the Dutch never tried to settle there. Much later the English decided that they would love to settle there, suppose you can settle anywhere if you want to settle everywhere.

That depends on an accurate figure for Australia's carrying-capacity.

The Aborigines have lived here for 60-odd thousand years without too much trouble by the look of it. While European settlement is hitting hard limits after a mere 250 years.

And will the next absurd question be how long will the Sahara be livable?

Good heavens. Next year, these same clueless wonders will be writing about the 'miraculous rebirth' of forests and wildlife. Pro tip: forests evolved to burn regularly. Nature!