Tributes flow for deceased US firefighters

Good morning, early birds.

Three American firefighters were killed yesterday when their waterbomber crashed in southern NSW, and Michael McCormack may need Bridget McKenzie’s support just as much as she needs his.

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THE COMMENTARIAT

Should we be worried about the new Wuhan coronavirus? — Ian M. Mackay and Katherine Ardern (The Conversation): “China was extraordinarily efficient and open in identifying the virus, a new strain of coronavirus, within just over a week. Chinese scientists sequenced the virus’s genetic code and, within days, shared that information with the world.”

Traditional charities risk being replaced by crowd-funding ($) — Gary Nunn (The Daily Telegraph): “It pains me to join the current backlash against traditional disaster relief charities. But join it I must. It’s happening because three major charities – the Red Cross, Vinnies and The Salvation Army – are squirrelling away funds donated for the bushfire crisis for future disasters.”

Transforming Australia’s Coal Country — Georgina Woods (Earth Island Journal): “The Hunter Valley’s history and its contested future are written in piles of coal buried since the swampy Permian period, when giant conifers fell and were pressed for hundreds of millions of years in layers of hard dark pages. Coal drew the English to Newcastle, but even before the English came, coal was part of the lives and stories of the Awabakal people of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.”

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