OP-ED: Australian Wildfires: Who’s Helping and What You Can Do To Support

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A Koala almost burned to death by the Australia fires.

A nationwide fire that has killed 24 people and burned down 2,000 homes is nowhere near the end. The air in Australia is almost unseeable with orange skies, not from the sunset. As fires are normal in Australia due to their warm and dry climate, this fire season is hitting harder than the rest. With continuous amounts of wildlife and habitats dying, we look to our upper class to donate in order to stop it. 

Twitter has been up in arms about this wildfire, backlashing celebrities on their minimal effort and participation. After all, they have enough money to last the and their family lifetimes, can’t they do a good deed? After Kylie Jenner posted a photo with Louis Vuitton slides, made out of mink fur, she received an outrageous amount of hatred on twitter. She later deleted the post and donated $1 million to the wildfires. Just as Kim and Kanye are shamed for not donating, Kim released a tweet saying “nothing gets me more heated than to see people think they know what we donated to and to think we have to publicize everything”. After this tweet, it was confirmed that her and her husband Kanye West donated $500,000 to the wildfires. Khole Kardashian also showed her support by going to local CVS pharmacies and picking up supplies for Australian firefighters.  

Our favorite well-known environmentalist, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Earth Alliance donated $3 million to the wildfire. Chris Hemsworth pledged to donate $1million, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban donated $500,000 to Rural Fire Services, and Elton John donated $1million to Australia. Not to mention Pink donated $500,000; while Shawn Mendez and Ellen had already donated too. 

More celebrities and civilians are finding ways to support Australia. If you are wondering what you can do you help, you can always donate money to the Red Cross or Australia’s fire departments in Victoria and New South Wales