Australia Burns

Recent temperatures in Australia have reached such incredible heights that railroads have buckled from the heat. Following a record drought, the nation is experiencing a record-breaking heatwave, with a three-day period last week in Melbourne reaching 109.4F (43C), the first time in history this has occurred.

The heatwave has led to bushfires, crop failures and at least 37 deaths. Trees are dropping their leaves just to survive. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called his country "a tinder box." It is their worst heatwave in 150 years.

Officials are blaming a lot of the current situation on global warming -- Australia emits more carbon dioxide per capita than any other nation, and also the Earth's driest inhabited continent.

"It will get worse as global warming increases," write Geoffrey Lean and Kathy Marks in an article in The Independent. "Even modest temperature rises, now seen as unavoidable, are expected to increase drought by 70 per cent in New South Wales, cut Melbourne's water supplies by more than a third, and dry up the Murray-Darling system by another 25 per cent."

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photo: sensesmaybenumbed