Capturing Change: Australia's Black Summer Warning | Witness

“What does climate change look like?” asks Australian photojournalist Matthew Abbott. His apocalyptic image of a kangaroo fleeing bushfires captured the world’s attention.
After Australia’s hottest and driest year on record, the 2019-20 bushfire season was unlike anything the modern world had seen.
An unprecedented 18.6 million hectares (46 million acres) scorched, three billion animals killed or displaced and thousands of homes lost.
As his images go viral, Matthew returns to the deadly flames battling toxic smoke and fatigue to photograph exhausted firefighters, overcrowded animal sanctuaries and traumatised victims. Matthew does not want to just record events, he hopes to inspire change.

[@stopdeforestation]

Scenes like this are the earth crying.

[@fishtolizard3930]

Absolutely Terrifying and Heartbreakingly Sad. Many Thanks for Sharing!

[@casbot71]

Well… the next time massive bushfires return, at least everyone will have mask. [Seriously, is was hard to breathe in Sydney and all the stores ran out of any type of mask, but by the time Covid came round we had a good supply in place].

[@first2dollarman]

You are a positive person I like it.

[@ashp2503]

Born and bred in Goulburn and very familiar with alot of these places shown, this is kind of scary it randomly came up on my youtube.. scary seeing the force of the fires and even more scary that it can easily happen again and again. Please be safe and get your fire plans ready everyone!

[@TheDogsboddy]

Eye opening and mind boggling, thx

[@sonnyjimm23]

I mean you're in it for the shots and fame, not the message. Running left and right in and out of the fires, crossing lines and entering private property to - get the shot. This wasn't about the people, it was about you.

[@btakesa]

Stupid background music drowning out narration

[@Akacja-333]

May 22, 1937. The heat is so intense today that it is difficult to bear. We are all thirsting for rain, and still it does not come. For several days the sky has been overcast, but there is no rain. When I looked at (35) the plants, thirsting for the rain I was moved with pity, and I decided to say the chaplet until the Lord would send us rain. Before supper, the sky covered over with clouds, and a heavy rain fell on the earth. And the Lord let me know that everything can be obtained by means of this prayer. /Diary Saint Faustina - 1128

[@joshr24]

I live in Australia and it's been raining more than ever, the grass keeps getting too high 😹

[@phil-anthrophist3960]

Yeah and guess what will happen when it stops raining so much, won't be to this extent for awhile but it'll still happen

[@bobbritten5673]

@@phil-anthrophist3960 not enough back burning allowed? Greens seen to that ! Not Enough fire management in place!so thay sit back and watch And winged About all the fires that happen ? Yes it is sad to see But A lot of this could be a voided by better fire 🔥🔥🔥 management . So in the 1930 s when Victoria got burnt out ? How much 2/3 rds of the country!the news media don't talk about it?this is about the Ajender 21 30 system is alive an well as you can . climate change !what a load of B.S. look at past history??!further back than 25 years ? Stop making people feeing guilty!we all know that it is a problem! So manage it ???

[@tuggaworsley4281]

More about you than fire !

[@Christian-Roots818]

I have a bad feeling about this one !

[@aussie.clippa]

It was scary I was on road too

[@fortytwo244]

BLACK SUMMER??! Omg 😱 😬 😟 🤬

[@phil-anthrophist3960]

Thats what we call big fire disasters,, main reason is because the colour of the burnt area is black and grey, its also a very accurate description of the situation,, its a dark, black day in history, black summer was called so because it wasn't just one day it was literally 5-6 month's of black days

[@rosiebarsby6134]

@@phil-anthrophist3960 aye and in total that bushfire season went on for 10 months and started in June 2019 in Queensland and ended in March 2020

[@Sharper22802]

Black summer, dark winter. These demons are up to something

[@fortytwo244]

Demons don’t exist

[@PalleRasmussen]

@@fortytwo244 I dunno, you sure Scott "Coalfondler" Morrison is not one?

[@dr.sagarguru9356]

Thanks aljazera for this type of video....respect from India....actually in India we also have a media ....we call them godi media ( or modi media)....never in life , they can create these type of videos, I bet🙏

[@antonio7497]

BTW they hate indian .

[@eriknephrongfr8847]

Are we just gonna ignore this guy’s anemia? If so, why’d you tell us about it?

[@geoffmccoll4640]

This is about to happen again.

[@neoliberalerneandertaler9347]

Ignorance became before the fall

[@mrkekman9526]

Its crazy to think people believe this was the worst bushfires Australia has ever seen. People often forget the 2003/2004 Gippsland bushfires or the Black Saturday Bushfires. Victoria is the 3rd most fire prone Area in the World. Bushfires are a normal part of living and life. I've lived in East Gippsland for 30 Years and its a yearly occurrence, maybe not to this magnitude. I was also are fire fighter for 15 years, both Volunteer and Professional. The number one reason this occurs is because we don't allow large scale fuel reduction burns. Some of the land that was burnt in these fire hasn't been burnt for 20-50 years. But people will keep blaming climate change agenda's and political opinions. Not any self respecting firefighter will blame climate change for this. Its sad to see this whole thing was a political stunt. Also Don't expect emergency services to be happy to see media on active fire grounds, because at the end of the day your just another person we have to worry about.

[@koharumi1]

Sco mo actively said that the fires were not due to climate change. (He Also used the fires as a political stunt to try and get more votes by using the announcement that the army was being sent to help.) Then you have Canada government saying their own fires are the result of climate change. -------------------------------------- Climate change is actually the nature of the extremes becoming more intense. Which over the past few years here makes sense. Think like a swing with rainfall on one side and heat on the other, with higher height of the swings representing more extreme weather event. Climate change is like pushing the swing with more force making the swing going higher. In this analogy, it means more devastating droughts and/or flooding. (Disclaimer: This is just an analogy so isn't perfect representation of weather as it is possible to have non-extreme years of weather after an extreme one)

[@sonnyjimm23]

Yeah you sound like an idiot with all the answers.

[@mattabbottphoto]

Bollocks. Ex chief of NSW Fire and Rescue and 22 other senior emergency services chiefs were fobbed off by Scomo when they tried to warn him about the impending fires and catastrophic weather conditions predicted in 2019. As for media on the fire ground, we are usually welcomed by both the RFS and Fire and Rescue - who largely appreciate our efforts to show people what is happening.

[@korrof7]

🌎

[@geoms6263]

Mollo 👹 showed himself to the servants.

[@first2dollarman]

May be middle east will benefit in long term

[@TheUneducatedTeacher]

Mad Max times .. here we come. KM Hemmans The KZbinr

[@puspavaliapselvam1265]

🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍No burning🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

[@wumaobot]

Australia be like : we don't care, we dont care, we will keep mining coal and sell it to other country

[@phil-anthrophist3960]

Let's get something straight, its the GOVERNMENT not the general public who only care about coal sales

[@mrkekman9526]

It crazy to think that climate change is the main cause of this. Considering its not. Educate yourself.

[@firethatburnsfire2619]

Project Popeye?

[@strongbelieveroftheholybible]

Psalm 148:8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds , stormy wind , fulfilling His Word. Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon 🙏🏼❤️🕊REPENT, believe in the Gospel, Be Born Again

[@fishtolizard3930]

No, Thank You Very Much.

[@denisesansom7076]

The most high hand is on everything Australia has done wickedness to the original people of that country if isn’t fire 🔥 it’s spiders or bats 🦇 praise the lord 🙏🏾💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

[@fishtolizard3930]

No. Praise the Spiders and Bats instead!

[@flossyraven]

Don't forget their mice plague 🤢🤮

[@johnkeyte407]

a video mainly about him - poser.