It is time to reframe the climate change debate. Inadvertently, climate and environmental scientists have created an intellectual ecosystem that has created opportunities for contrarians like Lord Monckton…
Australians are largely under-prepared for the threats posed by future global warming.
AAP Image/Raymond Keyworth
As with the federal elections of 2007 and 2010, climate change appears set to feature again in the forthcoming September poll. Yet one of the most important aspects of the issue, that of adaptation to…
Climate adaptation has to keep poorer people cool too.
Chris Riebschlager
In a summer that has so far seen unprecedented heat followed by unprecedented floods across large parts of the country, it’s hard for those of us researching climate change impacts not to say “I told you…
Adapting to future disasters is complicated and expensive, but might be more cost-effective than endless clean-ups.
AAP Image/Paul Beutel
Following several years of devastation in Queensland, the state’s premier believes it’s time to “flood and disaster proof” as many towns and communities as possible. In Mr Newman’s words: “We can’t accept…
Many people flooded out in 2011 went back and suffered the same fate in 2013.
The 2013 floods show a striking resemblance to the weather system that generated the 2011 floods. A small cyclone in North Queensland (Tasha in 2010, Oswald in 2013) moved down the east coast bringing…
The rush to rebuild is understandable, but our attitude to bushfires will bring us more trouble in the long run.
AAP Image/Rob Blakers
It’s just a week into the new year and here in Tasmania we are already licking our wounds after disastrous fires in the state’s south. Mainlanders are facing similar events as extreme weather conditions…
No one really wants to think about getting old, or about how climate change will affect us. But we can prepare for both.
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For most of us, preparing for the future means having a retirement fund and health coverage, choosing our preferred tree change or sea change option and keeping on the good side of the relatives who will…
As climate change continues to affect our infrastructure and society in unpredictable ways, we’ll just have to keep adapting.
Justin Lane EPA
Besides the recent polarised debates about the carbon tax, another response to climate change is underway in Australia. It’s much quieter, less contested, and it seems to attract support from across the…
Extreme weather events, including heat waves, floods and cyclones, are projected to become more frequent.
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As Australia prepares for a season of heatwaves, bush fires and other extreme weather events, experts have urged disaster-hit communities to learn from past mistakes and resist the rush to rebuild things…
The World Bank says we’re heading for more heatwaves, so why are we unravelling efforts to protect vulnerable communities?
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Turn Down the Heat - a new report from the World Bank - stresses “no nation will be immune to the impact of climate change” and argues compellingly the necessity to hold warming below 2 degrees. It paints…
Scientists need to feel confident to speak out about the dangers of coming extreme weather.
Ramin Talai/EPA
Last week the global landscape of mitigating and managing disasters changed forever. We heard the news of six Italian scientists charged for manslaughter and jailed for six years each for failing to predict…
We don’t know what the Australian landscape will look like in 50 years, but we know it will change.
Tezza #
Within decades, environments across Australia will be substantially different from those that currently exist. CSIRO research released today suggests that, by 2030, climate change stress on our natural…
CSIRO’s ‘Our Future World’ report predicts more conflicts over scarce resources, including water.
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Humanity will find new ways to do more with less, climate change will have a far-reaching impact, and personal experiences will trump products according to CSIRO’s latest global megatrends report. CSIRO…
Unconventional tactics, including using shade cloth to protect corals from heat stress, must form part of future ocean management and conservation plans, argues a scientist from the University of Queensland…
Little penguins are among a number of species that are threatened by climate change.
AAP/Rick Stevens
Fish are on the move in Australia’s waters. In southern Australia, scientists, commercial and recreational fishers, divers and beach-goers are reporting the presence of new species. The movement of species…
Victoria has entered a critical decade in the race to adapt for the stresses of climate change, according to a new report from the Climate Commission. Following the release of Victorian climate impacts…
Sometimes even the clearest signs of change are ignored.
Flickr/baldeaglebluff
With increasing global greenhouse gas emissions, and no clear internationally-agreed path for emission reductions, we are faced with a global climate that will be at least two degrees warmer than today…
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and African Climate and Development Initiative Research Chair, University of Cape Town