A leading investigative journalist claimed that Australia and New Zealand would be the only places where a global nuclear war could be survived.
American author Annie Jacobsen published a work of post-apocalyptic non-fiction, titled ‘Nuclear War: A Scenario’ earlier this year.
He spent years interviewing former defense secretaries, the former deputy nuclear commander, members of the secret service, nuclear academics and examining hordes of declassified documents before reaching a terrifying conclusion.
The book, which lays out the ramifications of a hypothetical missile attack on the United States by North Korea, concludes that 72 minutes after the first attack, five billion people would have been killed.
Steven Bartlett, host of the hugely popular “Diary of a CEO” podcast, suggested to Ms Jacobsen that Australia and New Zealand would be a viable place to turn for the three billion survivors.
“That’s exactly where you would go,” Mrs. Jacobsen responded. “They are the only places that could support agriculture.”
A video of the interview was shared on TikTok where social media users were quick to make jokes about Australia and New Zealand being a safe haven.
‘3 billion in Australia. “We can’t even house all of our 30 million,” one wrote.
Australia and New Zealand would be the only places where a global nuclear war could be survived, according to prominent investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen.
“We are sorry, due to the impending nuclear war, New Zealand will be closed for the foreseeable future.”
A third added: “The property market is already too competitive in Australia.”
Some New Zealanders were quick to suggest that Australia could be home to most of the remaining population.
“On behalf of New Zealand, we would like to offer our brother in arms, Australia, to anyone who needs a home,” one wrote.
Ms. Jacobsen based her hypothesis on a 2022 academic journal article published in Nature that described the likely impact on the global food supply in the event of a nuclear winter.
It found that, unlike other countries, Australia produces enough wheat, which provides almost 50 per cent of the country’s caloric intake, to feed its population.
“After we closed international trade, wheat contributes almost 50 per cent of caloric intake in Australia, and rice, maize and soybean production in Australia is less than 1 per cent of that of wheat,” the report said. peer reviewed. academic article fixed.
‘Therefore, wheat’s response to simulated nuclear wars largely determines calorie intake in Australia.
His book, which lays out the ramifications of a hypothetical missile attack on the United States by North Korea, concludes that 72 minutes after the first attack, five billion people would have been killed (pictured: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un ).
“Because spring wheat is used to represent wheat, and simulated spring wheat shows increasing or small reductions in nuclear war scenarios in which more favorable temperatures for food production occur, calorie intake in “Australia is bigger than other nations.”
Researchers said New Zealand would also suffer smaller impacts than other nations.
However, they warned that such a scenario could see both nations inundated by “an influx of refugees from Asia and other countries experiencing food insecurity.”
Researchers found that massive fires and soot in the atmosphere would lead to food shortages and famine.
In almost all other countries, livestock and aquatic food production could not compensate for reduced agricultural production.
If you live in Britain, the chance of dying of starvation would be 90 percent.
The study found that even a war on a regional scale would devastate the world’s food supply and cause a decline in food production of seven percent over several years.
Ryan Heneghan, from the school of mathematical sciences at the Queensland University of Technology, was part of the international team that examined scenarios ranging from regional conflicts to global holocausts.
“A relatively small nuclear war would be a global catastrophe in terms of food supplies,” he told AAP.
The team used computer models to simulate the impact of smoke from fires generated by nuclear war on climate and crops.
The research article concluded that most countries would have calorie intake lower than resting energy expenditure, with Australia and New Zealand being exceptions.
“Australia has enough food to be self-sufficient…although while we can produce enough food for our own population, it is another matter to be able to get it to major urban centres,” Dr Heneghan said.
“We (Australians) would eat wheat, so we could still grow enough wheat to sustain ourselves,” he said.
Ms. Jacobsen was at pains to point out that her meticulous research revealed how terrifyingly real nuclear war is.
“We are one misunderstanding away from the nuclear apocalypse,” he said on the podcast.
‘And yet there are presidents who threaten nuclear war. In fact, the president of the United States does not need to ask anyone to launch a nuclear missile.