The House Is On Fire
Jerked awake with the fire alarm blaring. You tumble out of bed, grab your family, your pets, and head for the nearest exit. You escape the fire with your loved ones, then you call the fire department and hope they can save your house. That’s what you’re supposed to do, right? What if instead you and your family are running from the fire and you stop with the door insight, but you all start arguing with each other on what started the fire. Was it an electrical short, did someone leave a candle burning, was the stove left on, and your family begins to accuse each other of starting the fire while you’re still inside the burning house? Instead of escaping with your lives, you stay inside the fire and fight about whose fault the fire is instead of escaping.
You’re probably reading this and thinking, “Who would do that? No one would do that?”
Australia is on fire, literally(https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/australia-fires-deadly-wildfire-photos-2019-2020/). This is after California was on fire (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/california-wildfires). The Amazon was on fire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Amazon_rainforest_wildfires). Our house is on fire and we’re arguing whose caused the fire. We’re so busy pointing fingers and shouting at each other that it’s your fault, their fault, that we aren’t putting out the fire and saving as many lives as we can. Priorities, my fellow earthlings, priorities. Let’s put out the fires, lets figure out how to save the polar bears as the ice melts, lets save the bees and all the other insects. They’re food for birds as well as the major pollinators for our food crops. If we lose our insects, we are next, for so many reasons. But I’m not here to be all doom and gloom, I’m here to share some hope. We can do this. We can put out the fires both real and metaphorical. We can turn around or come up with new solutions for what’s happening to our planet, our home. I don’t believe that we have these great big brains for nothing, or that we have compassionate hearts for no purpose.
I’d planned on writing this blog last night, because the Australian government didn’t seem to be supporting their rural firefighters or rescuing the animals trapped in the fires. This morning the Prime Minister of Australia has promised two billion to support fire relief efforts (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/australia-commits-billions-dollars-wildfire-recovery-n1111021), so I thought I would skip this blog where I was going to list charities to send your money and mine to today, and then I realized that money promised isn’t money in the pockets of charities today. It’s a promise and eventually they will get the money, but no government gives out that kind of cash quickly. They want to be sure it goes to the right place, or where they think is the right place. The charities will have to jump through some bureaucratic hoops to get some of the funds, that’s just the way it works, so … here’s a list of charities. If you give a dollar today it will get to them quicker than the billions promised. If everyone who reads this blog gives a dollar, or five dollars, or whatever they can afford it will help.
See, there’s the hope to share. We can help each other. We can grab each other by the hand even if we are thousands of miles away and give hope and real help to each other. Give a dollar, send the donations that people are asking for, we are not helpless in the face of all this, if we work together to save each other and the other riders on this big, beautiful planet.
If we stop arguing about how we got here and start working to come up with solutions, we can all get out of the fire, and we can save our home, this planet at the same time.
These are Charites related to the fire that have been vetted by news sources, (CBS affiliated News) and the links are reputable.
These are vetted links to the fire fighters
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade
https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/about/supporting-cfa
https://cfsfoundation.org.au/donate
https://www.rfbaq.org/donate-to-rfbaq
Charities helping General
https://au.gofundme.com/f/fire-relief-fund-for-first-nations-communities
https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate#donate
https://www.communityenterprisefoundation.com.au/make-a-donation/bushfire-disaster-appeal/
https://donate.vinnies.org.au/appeals-nsw/vinnies-nsw-bushfire-appeal-nsw
https://frrr.org.au/cb_pages/supporting_bushfire-affected_communities.php
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/australian-wildfire-relief-fund/?rf=pr
Animal Charites
https://www.rspcansw.org.au/bushfire-appeal/
https://donate.wwf.org.au/donate/2019-trees-appeal-koala-crisis#gs.qwx2wb
https://donate.zoo.org.au/donation
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-thirsty-koalas-devastated-by-recent-fires
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-kangaroo-islands-koalas-and-wildlife
https://www.wires.org.au/donate/ways-to-help
12 thoughts on “The House Is On Fire”
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I saw on one of the FB sites that I belong to that also ppl are crotcheting/knitting pouches and things such as that to hold animals in (I believe as they are being rescued). If I find the link I can share with you if you are interested?
Please do!
They are also looking for booties , like dog booties to use for the animals who have burns on their feet.
Please send to my if you have it
bobbiefox2@gmail.com
Thanks,
Bobbie
Thank you so much. I am in Gippsland which is one of the areas in Australia dealing with the fires. I have family in NSW isolated and not yet evacuated from further fires. Sometimes just knowing that people care can make the day easier to face. It is a long slow fight but the community is pulling together.
Thank you Laurell K Hamilton for bringing the peril of not only the animals but bees and insects that we depend on for our very survival to light. Anyone who is paying attention must notice the decrease in not only the plague of bugs we USED to clean off our windshields, but also the secondary extinction of the small birds that many of us love so much that feed on the disappearing bugs. but also the noticeably more absent Fireflies/lightening bugs that used to light up the summer nights during our childhoods just 30 years ago and now you can go full seconds before you see the occasional flash. Our planet is dying and though the people of developing countries are feeling it now we will all feel it soon. Those of us not in denial hope that this planet’s humans wake up before we as a species go extinct.
As an Australian we can’t thank you enough for posts like this, donation are so important for the families and wildlife in the effected areas.
Let’s we wake up before it’s too late
God bl ss u for ur loving and compassionate ❤️. I had chills as I read ur wordsanr thought ” what a wonderful world it could be”…thank u for sharing ur awesome thoughts and ideas…I pray they catch on like the wild fires they are to help! Have a blessed night!
Thank you so, so much for writing and sharing this. Also for highlighting how to get donations into the hands of people who need funds today. Our country is on fire but the international response is incredibly positive and reassuring. I can admit, we need all the help we can get.
Beautifully said and SO true!! Thank you, Laurell ??
My friend sent me this link! Beautifully said. The house is on fire. We are activated as pediatricians in San Diego picking up plastic, donating directly, lobbying. Thank you for all you do to raise awareness!
I am in NSW and my state has been on fire since late September. Our health is affected with dirty air & you stay inside a lot. The distressing loss of human and animal lives, loss of so many homes & businesses, the massive loss of our wonderful environment and habitats is so distressing to us. We have lost species!!!! Shame on politicians who are climate deniers. Our hero’s are our volunteer fire fighters, everyday people who donate water , accommodation & food for people & animals, volunteer groups dropping food into burnt out areas for animals & seeking to help hurt animals. Thank you to all who are helping us. Your thoughts and actions mean so much. Sadly today is yet another high risk fire day. We as local community just temporarily stopped off shore drilling and I sadly just heard they are about to drill in 48 hours , in our largest salt water lake just 10 minutes away. This is for our precious resources with no care about our marine and coastal life. This is being done with no warning…. Sneaky government who approved this. Not even what we have been going through impacts on big business and government greed. My voice and everyone else’s must be heard. We cannot give up in trying to save our unique habitats and other nations also at risk.