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| This video explains the features of the climate as well as the wildlife of Australia in detail. |
Australia's wildfires are only getting worse. Climate change is a factor in making the fire season start earlier and last longer. |
This section explores the environmental aspects in Australia.
The population of Australia's iconic koala has been rapidly declining in recent decades, and this year the Australian Koala Foundation declared the marsupials "functionally extinct." But one Queensland zoo is using proven breeding strategies to protect the animals, and starting a live genome bank to tackle some of the biggest threats to koalas. Find out more in this video.
At least 350 koalas are feared killed as bush fires continue to burn in the eastern part of Australia. As of November 19, 2019, the fires had also taken at least four human lives, and torched about 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of farmland and bush in New South Wales and Queensland. More than 300 homes have been destroyed by the fires, which are also blamed for heavy smog in nearby cities including Sydney.
Australia's beaches are filled with plastics. Find out in this video about this environmental concern.
Plastic pollution is having a detrimental affect on our marine species. For endangered green sea turtle hatchlings, ocean plastics now stand in their way from reaching the ocean, making them even more vulnerable to predators.
Plastic pollution poses one of the biggest known threats to the ocean, influencing all ecosystems from beautiful coral reefs to abyssal trenches, eventually accumulating in our own food. Learn more about how to upend the current system of produce-use-discard, and transition to a system which promotes reuse and repurposing of plastics.