The genesis of this work occurred in the spring of 2019, as Australians witnessed record-breaking temperatures and drought right across their country. Experts warned that the fuel load of debris from years of drought was at the point of combustion. The wildfires started to appear so early in the season that by the time it got to mid-summer, we were experiencing out-of-control burns and fire fronts of record-breaking sizes across much of Eastern Australia. Although fire is an integral part of the ecology of Australia’s landscape, fires in recent years have increased in frequency and severity, culminating in a record-breaking summer in 2019/20. The country was burning for months on end, shrouding cities and towns in smoke. Authorities were issuing health warnings, asking people to avoid exercise outdoors due to hazardous air quality. People camped out in their cars along major highways for days waiting for a chance to escape, as most thoroughfares were covered in impassable and falling logs stretching for kilometers. Others were seen driving their vehicles into nearby lakes to avoid the flames. In the federal election following the fires, voters in most electorates hit by climate-fuelled disasters, like the Black Summer Bushfires and the 2022 floods, swung away from the Coalition and towards those championing stronger climate action. It speaks for itself that events of magnitude are unfortunately what it takes to change people’s perspectives. This work investigates the lasting impact of climate change and poor land management, and the scarification of the landscape as time passes. It explores the impact on the ecosystem and on our society, highlighting how it took a disaster of this magnitude to start to influence many peoples’ political and moral views on our natural world.