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Ecos Magazine examines the vulnerability of Australia's islands
Fires the deadly inevitability of climate change
- Freya Mathews
- February 10, 2009
- http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/fires-the-deadly-inevitability-of-climate-change-20090209-8289.html?page=-1
The disaster challenges the Government to accept evident truths.
IT IS only a couple of years since scientists first told us we could expect a whole new order of fires in south-eastern Australia, fires of such ferocity they would simply engulf the towns in their path. And here they are.
The fires we saw on Saturday were not "once in a thousand years" or even "once in a hundred years" events, as our political leaders keep repeating. They were the face of climate change in our part of the world.
These fires are simply the result of the new conditions that climate change has introduced here: raised temperatures, giving us hotter days than we have ever experienced before combined with lower rainfall giving us a drier landscape. Let's stop using the word "drought", with its implication that dry weather is the exception. The desiccation of the landscape here is the new reality. It is now our climate.
Perhaps we can adapt to this new climate by completely rethinking and reprioritising our fire defence.
But can we adapt to it if it gets worse? It was only by chance that a cool change came through on Saturday. What if the pattern of the heatwave that occurred in the last week of January had been repeated? If instead of the cool change on Saturday evening we had had three or four days of above 40 degree temperatures? How much of our state, how many of our towns and outer suburbs, would have been engulfed?
People are comparing last Saturday to Ash Wednesday and Black Friday.
But this misses the point. We should be comparing these fires to the vast and devastating fires of 2002-03, which swept through 2 million hectares of forest in the south-east and raged uncontrollably for weeks.
They have been quickly forgotten because, being mainly in parks, they did not involve major loss of human life or property.
But it is to this fire regime, the new fire regime of climate change, rather than to the regimes of 1983 or 1939, that the present fires belong.
Saturday showed us the terrifying and desolating face of climate change.
The heat was devastating in its effects even without the fire.
In the fruit bat colony at Bellbird on the Yarra, hundreds of bats died as they had during the heat wave a week earlier.
Wildlife carers reported many incidents of heat stress and death among native animals generally.
This means, of course, that out in the bush, unreported, vast numbers of animals were suffering.
We can all see the trees and other plants dying in our gardens and parks. Our local fauna and flora are not adapted to these extremes.
With wildfire, this heat death becomes a holocaust, for people and for animals and plants. Yet we are only halfway through summer. How many more lethal episodes of extreme heat will we have to endure in the coming weeks, let alone the coming years?
Meanwhile, the Federal Government is wondering how to inject stimulus money into the economy, how to get rid of the surplus accumulated over years of boom times.
It is planning simply to give much of it away, as hand-outs. It has made the usual little token allocations to climate change mitigation, allocations that will in no way deflect the coming holocaust.
The Prime Minister weeps on television at the tragedy of Saturday's events. He looks around uncomprehendingly, unable to find words, unable to find meaning.
But there are words. There is meaning. This is climate change. This is what the scientists told us would happen. All the climatic events of the past 10 years have been leading inexorably to this.
Yet this is just the beginning, the beginning of something that will truly, if unaddressed, overwhelm us.
As the events of Saturday showed, the consequences of climate change will make the financial crisis look like a garden party.
But there is a synchronicity here that must not be missed. The extraordinary economic measures for which the financial crisis is calling provide a perfect opportunity to fund the energy revolution for which the crisis of climate change is calling.
If the Government does not seize this opportunity, if it persists in its self-serving refusal to name the truths of climate change, then the terrifying world into which we were plunged, momentarily, on Saturday, will become the world that we will have to inhabit.
Freya Mathews is a research fellow in the philosophy department at La Trobe University.
December 2008
President-elect Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore discuss repowering USA with clean Energy
November 2008
WMO reports increase in Greenhouse Gas levels.
See this report in The Australian Saturday November 29th
October 2008
The Garnaut Final Report:The Final Report was released on 30 September 2008.
On this web site, you will find all materials released by the Review to date, including reports, papers and transcripts from public addresses. Submissions to the Review are also published on this web site.
September 2008
Abrupt Climate Change Focus Of U.S. National Laboratories. Report from Science Daily
ScienceDaily (Sep. 23, 2008) — Abrupt climate change is a potential menace that hasn’t received much attention. That’s about to change. Through its Climate Change Prediction Program, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) recently launched IMPACTS – Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions – a program led by William Collins of Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division (ESD) that brings together six national laboratories to attack the problem of abrupt climate change, or ACC.
Chemistry for the climate
Chemists claim that by mimicking photosynthesis in the lab, they could revolutionize fuel production within five years. Katharine Sanderson reports for Nature.com
The production of geopolymer cement generates just one-third of the carbon emissions associated with the standard grey powder. But regulatory obstacles stand in its way to becoming the world’s 21st-century concrete.
Hundreds of new species found on Australia reefs
/wildlife/article/38225
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian scientists have discovered hundreds of new coral and marine species on the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef which they say will improve monitoring reef.
September 2008
Arctic sea ice at second lowest extent ever recorded
/ecosystems/article/38224
Arctic sea ice has reached the second lowest extent ever recorded, according to the US national snow and ice centre, and a new map shows how far the 2008 melt has receded compared to the historical average.
September 17th 2008 Land Clearing in Queensland ABC Rural Report
While Australia grapples with the challenge of reducing carbon emissions, one area coming under scrutiny is land-clearing.
September 5th 2008
August 22nd 2008The Garnaut Review released its supplementary Draft report today. It may be viewed here.
Some have welcomed the report and its recommended action in Australia to mitigate climate change, whilst most critics have expressed reservations about the inadequacy of the targets recommended. The links below view a number of different opinions.
Conservation Council of NSW
Lavartus Prodeo Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective.
Green Left Australia- Response to Garnaut: Immediate Action not handwringing.
August 20th 2008New Scientist journalist debunks myths on Climate myths: Global Warming stopped in 1998
August 5th 2008 Australian Forests enlisted in fight against Climate Change - ABCAustralian Government website releases facts on likely impacts and costs of climate change in Australia
National impact- here
Tasmania-here
Other States-here
The Arctic Challenge for Australia- Philip Sutton -Perspective-ABC
July 30th 2008Giant chunks break off Canadian ice shelf
Source: CBC NewsGiant sheets of ice totalling almost 20 square kilometres broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic last week
and more could follow later this year, scientists said overnight. Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen
far faster than the global average in recent decades,
a development that experts say is linked to global warming.The ice broke away from the shelf on Ward Hunt Island, a small island just off Ellesmere Island
in one of the northernmost parts of Canada.
It was the largest fracture of its kind since the nearby Ayles ice shelf broke away in 2005.
Reuters
July 24th 2008
Many Countries "Unable to Save Reefs"
July 18th 2008
Greenhouse Green Paper's Costs
AIR DAILY - 17/07/2008
July 16th 2008
Australian Government releases a Green Paper on Carbon Trading to combat climate change.
July 14th 2008
Try the 100 Mile Diet. A great idea to reduce spending on transport of food.
July 10th 2008
The Future of Natural Gas in Australia CSIRO Report
July 8th 2008
Top climate scientist blasts G8 climate pledge
June 3rd 2008
Inspector General Report Confirms Distortion of Climate Science at NASA
January 21st 2008
Science Daily ArticleScreen-printed Solar Cells In Many Colors And Designs, Even Used In Windows
May 28th 2008Tim Flannery says sky may need to change colour to fight climate change. ABC Report
Australian Species & Climate Change - A WWF special Report
March 3rd 2008
Tasmanian Premier Announces new measures to reduce the State's contribution to Climate Change-
March 12th 2008
Perspective ABC
When Food Makes Fuel: The promises and challenges of biofuels for developing countries
Joachim von Braun Download Audio .mp3
Garnaut issues climate change wake-up call
Source: 7.30 Report Published: Thursday, February 21, 2008 5:09 AEDT Expires: Thursday, March 20, 2008 5:09 AEDT Economist Ross Garnaut's study on the effects of climate change has warned Australia could be
the biggest loser among developed nations if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Play video link here View Transcript
21st March 2008. ABC Lateline Interview with Ross Garnaut. Tony Jones Reports. pdf
Expert urges action on global warming
Source: 7.30 Report Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 6:41 AEDT Expires: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 6:41 AEDT Kerry O'Brien discusses more compelling evidence that climate change is rapidly getting worse with Dr Bill Hare from the Intergovernmental Climate Change Panel.
Play the video link here View transcript here
Congratulations to Mypower.org.au for their inspirational action in cycling around
Australia to promote sustainable living
Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple
action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need
for action on global warming.
This simple act has captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world. As a result,
at 8pm March 29, 2008 millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities,
including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane and Tel Aviv will unite and switch off for Earth Hour.
March 4th 2008
Thinking About Climate Change: a guide for teachers and students is now available for download at www.theweathermakers.org/tacc
A joint initiative between Professor Tim Flannery, the Purves Environmental Fund and Text Publishing,
This guide is constructed for students between years 7 and 10 across the curriculum
disciplines of Maths, Sciences, the Humanities and Information Technology.
Adapted from Tim Flannery’s seminal book, We Are the Weather Makers,
Thinking About Climate Change offers lesson plans, research aids and
discussion suggestions to allow teachers and students to explore the implications and complexities
of climate change and to learn and practice relevant skills. The guide has been compiled
and tested by curriculum professionals and practising teachers and fact-checked by respected climate experts.
pdf.
Lennon Push for Green Cars. Hobart Mercury report
February 21st 2008. Australia has the most to lose from Climate Change Transcript of ABC Report. pdf
Wind energy can provide base-load power - Mark Diesendorf February 14th
...Some controversial challenges that may stimulate debate in your classroom or
around your dining room table.
January 22nd 2008
Philosophy of climate change inaction
By Kellie Tranter
We will look for leaders who "pretend to act" so that we get moral satisfaction of saying
what we know to be right, without the discomfort of doing it. George Monbiot.
January 17th 2008
Bali Conference Article Photos
Emma Brrindall reports on the Bali Climate Change Conference.
Dr Angus Friday, Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), gave an impassioned speech in which he said that for people from small islands around the world, “the outcome of Bali is a matter of survival”.
January 1st 2008
New Zealand considers how to reduce its methane contribution to climate change.
China's rising methane output from poultry and livestock production
December 20th 2007
Climate Solutions WWF's vision for 2050. Read this excellent comprehensive document on
the action that needs to be taken within the next 5 years for this vision to be achievable.
December 9th 2007
Divorce Toll- Increasing Divorce rates around the world have a negative impact on the environment.
December 5th 2007
Meat the Challenge- Agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than cars and air travel.
Climate Change could diminish ground fresh water supplies more than originally thought.
(Report from research at Ohio State University)November 17th 2007
Read here the synthesis report of the IPCC's 4th Assessment
Visit the interactive map on changing climate at the National Geographic site
Read about the latest efforts to make biofuels from algae
Read from a number of exciting projects reported by CSIRO magazine ECOS
The Bulletin December 4th 2007
Top climate scientist blasts G8 climate pledge
PARIS -- One of the world's most respected climate scientists on Tuesday slammed the G8 summit's goal of halving global warming emissions by 2050 as "worse than worthless."
Leaders of the world's richest nations, meeting in Japan, "are taking actions that guarantee that we deliver to our children climate catastrophes that are out of our control," US expert James Hansen said in an e-mail to Agence France-Presse.
Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, was one of the first climate scientists to sound an alarm about the threat of global warming.
In a landmark study published in 1981, Hansen predicted that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activity would accelerate climate change far more quickly than previously thought.
At their summit in the resort town of Toyako, the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- agreed Tuesday to "consider and adopt" the goal of achieving the 50-percent cut in worldwide emissions by mid-century.
But they made no targeted pledge for action next decade, nor did they mention specific action against coal, which Hansen characterized as the greatest peril.
"A statement of any goal for percent reduction is worthless. Indeed, it is worse than that: it is a pretence that they understand the problem and plan to take needed actions," said Hansen.
The only way to avoid climate catastrophe, argued Hansen, was to halt the emissions of coal, the most abundant and highly polluting of all fossil fuels.
He reiterated a call for a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants and for existing ones to be fitted with technology to capture the CO2 and store it deep underground.
"Otherwise we are sending a death sentence to uncountable species and are leaving our children with an ungodly mess," he said.
Sky-rocketing oil prices have spurred energy-efficiency plans in many countries but at the same time have intensified the use of coal around the world, especially in developing juggernauts China and India.
Testimony by Hansen on June 23, 1988 -- a day of record-breaking heat -- before a US Congressional committee made headlines around the world when he said "the Earth is warmer in 1988 than at any time in the history of instrumental measurements."
His intervention helped spur the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Nobel-winning committee of climate scientists.
His now-famous "hockey-stick" graphic predicting a sharp rise in world temperatures provoked a backlash among climate skeptics.
