1.#AustraliaBushfires: When Extreme Weather Becomes the Norm

The theme for the February 28th episode of Sekai e Hasshin! SNS Eigojutsu on NHK E-Tele was #AustraliaBushfires.

Bushfires have been a regular occurrence on the Australian continent for millions of years. The 2019-20 bushfire season has been unprecedented and catastrophic, the result of the highest average temperatures and the lowest rainfall on record, and strong winds—creating the ideal conditions for the rapid spread of fire. The fires began making heavy and widespread impact starting in September 2019, especially across New South Wales and the rest of southeastern Australia. In December, the arrival of a record-breaking heat wave pushed the fire into urban areas, and subsequently a state of fire emergency was declared in many localities across the country. The arrival of heavy rainfall in in eastern Australia would extinguish one-third of the fires by early February, but many of those regions would then be devastated again by flooding. As of late February, there are fires still burning in the southeast of the country. To date, fires this season have burned over 10 million hectares of land (a size larger than that of the Japanese island of Hokkaido), destroyed over 3,000 homes, taken the lives of at least 34 people, and killed an estimated 1 billion animals.

Australian Prime Minster Scott Morrison has been widely criticized for his lack of leadership over the past months. Morrison is a defender of the coal industry and has downplayed the effects of global warming in the past; when the fires were worsening in late December, he was photographed enjoying his Christmas vacation in Hawaii. Faced with the possibility of next year’s summer bushfire season being just as bad if not worse than this one, he has finally announced that the government will hold a national inquiry into the bushfire season. But his government continues to be criticized for its stance, which seems to be to batten down the hatches for more extreme weather, rather than take measures to curb global warming or prevent the rapid spread of fires in the future. Morrison’s policy appears to be to adapt, rather than to battle with climate change.

Certainly, the devastating bushfires have been exacerbated by global warming, and the losses have not only been quantitative—land area, houses, people, and animals—but qualitative, forcing Australians to imagine a new way of life, a new relationship with their environment. Australian summers have always been known for scorching hot weather, but they are also the time for barbies, spending time at the beach, taking in the sunset, and generally enjoying the outdoors. But this season’s bushfires have turned the landscape into a kind of hell on Earth—something that evokes sci-fi films like Mad Max.

Australians are famous for their friendly demeanor and easygoing outlook on life. But this bushfire season has traumatized the entire nation. No longer is climate change a far-off projection to panic about or ignore. It has already arrived at our doorstep, and is demanding our attention. In recent years, wildfires in California have similarly been worsening, while Japan has been repeatedly hit by damaging typhoons. Other parts of the world are having to deal with floods, draught, and heat waves. It seems extreme weather has become the “new normal".

In this column, I will write about Australian English and what it says about the Australian identity. As a native Californian, I would also like to take this opportunity to comment on what these bushfires and wildfires seem to be trying to tell us.

2.The Bush and the Outback

The term bushfire is an Australian expression that refers to an uncontrolled fire in the bush. The American/British English equivalent is wildfire.

The bush refers to a natural undeveloped forest or scrubland area in Australia or New Zealand. While sparsely-inhabited in terms of human presence, it is home to many types of indigenous flora—such as Eucalyptus trees—and fauna—such as kangaroos and emus. Often, the areas are designated protected areas. It is distinct from forests in Europe and the U.S., with its own smells and sounds, and is closely tied to the Australian national identity. What you would call hiking or trekking in America is called bushwalking in Australia.

The term outback is sometimes used as a synonym for the bush, but often refers to the more arid, remote, inland areas of the country. Some areas are used for breeding livestock such as sheep and chickens, while others are mined for iron ore, coal, and other resources. The outback is also where the indigenous Aboriginal tribes carry on the traditions of their ancestors.

The bush also tells the history of Australia. The continent is geographically isolated from the other major landmasses, which allowed it to remain untouched by Western civilization for along time. The indigenous Aboriginal tribes lived in harmony with the bush. (The term Down Under is used to refer to Australia—and New Zealand—because it is in the Southern Hemisphere “below" the other Western countries in the Northern Hemisphere.)

The Australian continent was "discovered" by the West when the Dutch arrived in 1642. Its colonial period began with the arrival of the first fleet of British ships at Sydney in 1788, which established a penal colony. The industrial revolution had led to severe unemployment and rising poverty in urban areas of Great Britain, resulting in increased crime. It didn’t help that the United States had declared its independence in 1776, forcing the British Empire to look elsewhere for a place to send their exiles. The arrival of British colonizers would be the start of the persecution and massacres of Aboriginal people, and the exploitation of the natural resources.

In the 1850s, the discovery of gold ore would start a series of gold rushes second in scale only to the concurrent California Gold Rush. While the local economy would rapidly grow as a result, the influx of immigrants would spark racial tensions, especially between white miners and Chinese miners, among other groups. The Australian colonies would be transformed.

While the indigenous Aboriginal tribes lived in harmony with the bush, the Western colonizers had an antagonistic relationship with it. For them, the bush was home to unfamiliar and unknown dangers, and their attempts to control it would come to define the Australian identity—specifically, the male “Crocodile Dundee" stereotype of the rough, gruff, adventurer/survivalist.

3.What Australian English Reveals About the Australian Identity

Australian English is based on British English. The convicts, and later, the gold miners who arrived on the continent came from all over the British Isles, and the mixing of different accents and dialects would lead to the development of a distinct “Aussie" variety of English. The influence of American English would begin to seep in starting the 19th century, and in the late 20th century Hollywood movies and imported American TV would have an even more pronounced effect.

That being said, spelling in Australian English mostly adheres to the rules of British English: color is “colour", center is “centre", and realize is “realise". But as the name of the Australian Labor Party indicates, that does not hold across the board.

In terms of pronunciation, American English is rhotic—where the “r" sound is pronounced before consonants and at the end of a word—whereas Australian English and British English are non-rhotic. In other words, a word like “card" is pronounced [kɑːrd] in American English and [kɑːd] in Australian and British English. (As Japanese speakers have trouble pronouncing “r" sounds, they may find the latter easier to speak.) Another distinctive trait is how “ay" sounds are pronounced “ai", as in “May" or “Sunday".

Australian English generally has a friendly, informal vibe on account of the frequent use of diminutives: barbecue becomes “barbie", and Australian becomes “Aussie". Also, words that end in “ing" lose the “g" sound: running becomes “runnin’", and singing becomes “singin’".

In terms of vocabulary, Australian English mixes British words and American words. They say “aluminium" instead of aluminum, and “petrol" instead of gasoline; meanwhile they say “soccer", not football, and usually “pants", not trousers. (Australian football is its own distinct sport—very physical, very competitive.)

The language also has many words that are distinct to Australia, such as the aforementioned “bushfire", and “esky"—what Australians call portable coolers. Many words are derived from Aboriginal languages, such as “kangaroo" and “boomerang".
(Kangaroo comes from an Aboriginal word that means “animal that jumps". The notion that it means “I don’t know" is widespread but false.)

Perhaps the most iconic Australian slang phrase is “no worries", meaning “don’t worry about that". It can also be used to mean “that’s all right" in response to a mistake or apology, or “you’re welcome" in response to a thank you, or “sure thing" in response to a request. The American equivalent is “no problem", and the fact that Aussies are concerned about the feeling of worrying while Americans are concerned about pragmatic issues like problems reflects the core fundamental difference between the two cultures.

That being said, there is a lot of overlap between the optimistic, easygoing nature of Australians and the positive, laid-back nature of Californians—perhaps because of their respective beach cultures, or perhaps because of their temperate climate.

4.Reflections on the California Wildfires

Another commonality between Australia and California has been the threat of wildfires.

Southern California is an arid region where warm summer winds (known as Santa Ana winds) exacerbate forest or brush fires. Such wildfires have long been a part of California’s ecosystem. In recent years, however, heavy rains have led to the growth of an excess of vegetation that becomes dry fuel for fires later in the year. Those fires have been burning bigger and longer with each passing year. Many localities have had to be evacuated, and firefighters have had to fight more and more battles over the course of a season. In 2018, about 770,000 hectares (about three times the area of Tokyo) burned in what became the worst fire season on record. About 100,000 hectares burned in 2019. While the scale is much smaller when compared to Australia, the fires—and the accompanying fear—have become the “new normal" for Californians. Whether its California or Australia, there’s nothing more shocking than seeing paradise burn.

The natural phenomenon of wildfire occurs mostly between summer and fall. In California in the northern hemisphere, that falls between June and October, while in Australia in the southern hemisphere, that falls between about November and March. This has allowed America and Australia to share fire management resources for decades now. The cooperation first started unofficially over 50 years ago. Then when the wildfire season in America was particularly bad in 2000, the U.S. requested urgent assistance from firefighters in places including Australia and New Zealand. Ever since, the cooperation has only grown more robust. Several years ago, the U.S. enacted a wild land fire-management agreement with the two countries to facilitate the sharing of firefighting resources. In 2018, 138 Australians and New Zealanders were deployed to the U.S. to help with the wildfires. This time, in return, more than 100 American firefighting personnel traveled to Australia to help with the bushfires. They were met with a standing ovation at Sydney Airport.

Now that the bushfire season is winding down in Australia, the task at hand is to prepare for the next one, and to do whatever is possible to prevent worst-case scenarios. In recent years, people have started looking to prescribed fires, also known as cultural burning. Prescribed fires are not meant to disturb nature’s cycle; instead, it involves burning off excess vegetation in order to reduce dry fuel buildup and reduce the likelihood of serious fires. Indigenous people in both Australia and Northern America have historically used cultural burning in order to minimize damage from wildfire. However, the arrival of Western colonizers would lead to such practices being forbidden—the wisdom of generations bottled up by a group who couldn’t understand the value thereof. However, in recent years, as the fires grown in size and intensity, more and more people are looking to those old indigenous practices.

While leaders like Scott Morison and Donald Trump twiddle their thumbs in the face of climate change, we have witnessed the rise of a new generation of environmental activists such as Greta Thunberg. In the long term, the reduction of CO2 emissions and the planting of trees are of vital importance. However, if we are to truly face the threat of bushfires and wildfires, it is imperative that we do more than take countermeasures—we must reassess our very relationship with nature. One of the keys will be how we apply the wisdom of indigenous peoples. In that regard, facing our future will necessitate that we face our dark past.

5.My Wardrobe This Week

Charcoal gray double-breasted suit by Global Style

Check out LANGUAGE & EDUCATION #002 for more about this item.

White dress shirt by KASHIYAMA the Smart Tailor

For more about this item, see FASHION & SHOPPING #030.

Gray socks by Brooks Brothers

Check out FASHION & SHOPPING #008 for more about this item.

Park Avenues by Allen Edmonds

Check out CINEMA & THEATRE #024 for more about this item.

Black glasses by Zoff

Check out FASHION & SHOPPING #006 for more info about this item.