A Conversation With My Harshest Critics
A.K.A. The Kids
Future Fire: Welcome to Future Fire! It’s great to have you here today.
Miss Seven: Thanks for having me.
Miss Twelve: Pleasure to be here.
FF: Can I start by asking your names please?
MS: I’m Miss Seven.
MT: I’m Miss Twelve.
FF: Right. Anyway, let’s get right into it. What do you know about bushfire?
MS: Oh me! Me! I’ll answer.
FF: Go for it.
MS: It happens by lightning and also… um… campfires?
FF: Wonderful. Thank you. Miss Twelve is there anything you’d like to add?
MT: Ah, well, um… It’s very hot. And also it has the four components, you know the four things you need to make one?
FF: I think I know where you’re going with this…
MT: So it has like Sparky the spark, what was the other one’s name? The wood one? It needs fuel.
MS: It was like Phil the fuel!
MT: Oh yeah. So it needs a spark, fuel, hot, dry weather - that was like Wes
MS: Yeah that was Wes
MT: And then the last one was Deb or something?
MS: No it was…
MT: It started with D
MS: Yeah, Da-… Cause it needs…
FF: Let me help you. It was Des. Dryness. And FYI ignition is Iggy, not Sparky, but I like the name.
MT: Oh whoopsies.
FF: Never mind. I see that the full extent of your bushfire knowledge comes from a cartoon I helped make!
MT: No, well yeah, but also I learned things in school. Like you need to prepare for it. And there are the signs
FF: You mean the ones by the side of the road?
MT: Yeah. And they change them. So before they had four categories but now they have like… How many do they have?
FF: Before it was six, now it’s four.
MT: Oh. Well, yeah. Now they have the ‘no rating’. Before they didn’t have that. There was always some chance but now
FF: You mean like if it’s pouring rain, they might do ‘no rating’?
MT: Yeah. I guess.
FF: Alright, I’m impressed.
MS: I wanna talk!
FF: Absolutely, anything on your mind? Shall we switch the topic to climate change?
MS: Sure!
FF: What can you tell me?
MS: Um, well, climate change is when stuff happens and then it gets all hotter.
FF: Not a bad description
MS: It makes it all hot so like penguins can’t live because they gotta go in the water. And the ice caps melt.
MT: I think that it’s definitely a bad thing. And people don’t pay enough attention to it. So it’s not only getting hotter. There’s more, I guess, weather things
FF: You mean like extreme events?
MT: Yeah. There’s like more tornados and more drenching rain and more floods. You can see it on the news.
FF: I’m not sure about the tornadoes part. You might be right.
MT: I think I learned that in school but I can’t really remember.
FF: That’s ok, i forget a lot of stuff too. So let me ask you both, what about climate change and bushfire? When you put them together? Any thoughts there?
MS: Well, it would be really bad because there’d be a lot - wait, maybe it’ll be good. If climate change has a lot of floods, then if there’s a lot of bushfires the floods will put out the fires. Right?
FF: Hmm, maybe? Or maybe people just get burnt and then they get flooded. Double whammy.
MT: Yeah. Um well I think it will be really, really bad because it’s more extreme fires. Oh wait! There’s also more droughts. I read somewhere that floods can occur more when there’s droughts because the drought makes it dry and the earth presses together and it can’t soak up the rain. I just wanted to throw that out there.
FF: Brilliant. Well, look, it’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you both. Would you say that your friends have a similar understanding to you? Or are you both at the cutting edge here?
MT: Uh, I don’t know. I mean, probably, because we learn about this stuff. But also I learned more about it at my old school - which was in the bush.
MS: Nope, my friends don’t know about this stuff.
FF: I see. And what do you think about me doing this kind of work?
MT: [Hopefully] Do you work in like the labs or things, and set fires?
FF: [Sad} No.
MT: Oh, well then your job isn’t as good as I thought it was.
FF: Look, it has its ups and downs. Believe me, if I was in the lab setting fire to stuff it would probably get out of hand quickly. You know me, I’m not the most practical person.
MS: [Sarcastically] Really?
FF: Don’t you think it’s safer with me just sitting at a computer typing away?
MT: Sure, but it’s more boring.
FF: Ouch. Ok, well we’re going to have to wrap it up I think. Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of future fire?
MS: I wish you’d play with us more. You play sometimes. But more would be good.
FF: Yeah I’d like that too.
MS: It is good that you’re not in the lab because then you’d be burnt and you couldn’t play with us.
FF: Fair point.
MT: I just wish everyone would try and pay attention to climate change. Also, I’m awesome.
FF: That’s very true. So are you Miss Seven. Thanks so much for your time. I hope you’ll come back some time.
MS: I definitely will.
MT: Yeah, we will.
FF: Bye bye!
What a great interview!
Now, take advantage of not being burned in a lab, and go schedule some more play time with MS and MT!
:)