Climate warning issued to Australia
By Aussies2007
@Aussies2007 (5336)
Australia
September 27, 2007 10:44am CST
A climate change report has painted an alarming picture of the effect on Australia if global temperatures increase by more than an average three degrees Celsius.
Under that scenario, heat-related deaths would triple, people would be displaced en masse from the coast and national icons like the Great Barrier Reef would almost certainly be lost, according to the analysis by the former head of the CSIRO's Climate Impacts Group.
The frequency of bushfires would double and there would be major extinctions of animal and plant life, Dr Barrie Pittock says in the report commissioned by WWF Australia.
"On an even more serious note, such a rise in temperature would almost certainly trigger an unstoppable climate tipping point - which may occur with a global warming of two to three degrees Celsius," Dr Pittock said.
"If warming reaches three to four degrees Celsius then the thresholds for irreversible change will almost certainly be crossed."
The analysis is based on greenhouse gas emissions rising 60 per cent above 1990 levels by 2050.
WWF chief executive Greg Bourne said the report was a wake-up call for the federal government.
"We can't afford to pretend anymore. This report proves that it is contrary to the national interest for the Australian government to negotiate any (international) deal which is not intended to cut global emissions in half," Mr Bourne said.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070927/2/14jfb.html
2 people like this
3 responses
@ZimaMcHotpants (63)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Global climate change is an extremely serious problem. It has already affected us so much. Storms like Hurricane Katrina will soon become commonplace, when for the US it was a suprise before. The USA ignores the ever-increasing instance of natural disasters around the world, only paying attention when something extreme happens here. And when it does, everyone wonders how it could have happened, saying it came out of nowhere. Well, it didn't. And news to a lot of people: global warming doesn't mean that the overall temperature will warm everywhere. In fact, quite the opposite. As the polar ice caps melt, the currents in the ocean that bring WARM water to the east coast and Europe will slow down, potentially stopping eventually. That will make the temperatures frigid, causing record lows during wintertime particularly. That's why we have had record cold temps during winter on the east coast these past few years. The west, however, will be exposed to different climate change.
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
2 Oct 07
Nice to know that I am not the only one who understand this.
The two poles have a direct effect on the currents in the Pacific and the Atlantic.
And those currents determine our weather.
@Zmugzy (773)
•
27 Sep 07
I just don't think people realize how bad it's going to get. Action needs to be taken now but the rich countries and emerging developing economies just aren't getting it together. A rise of 3 or 4 degrees in average temperatures would be a catastrophe for us all.
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
28 Sep 07
I think our Prime Minister is in complete denial.
He now has found a new word as a substitute for climate change. He calls it "climate shift" meaning that it is a temporary situation.
But then we have a contradiction in term...
Coughlan, of the Bureau of Meteorology, says: "We can say with some confidence that the length of this drought is not unprecedented, but its severity is unprecedented."
The intensity of the drought is, at least in part, a result of the trend in temperatures. And, says Coughlan, "the persistent above-average temperature for many years, we can tie that back to global warming.
The effects of global warming are already at work on Australia's farms.
The Howard Government's drought relief package this week acknowledged that some farmers will want to leave the land, and the package provides up to $170,000 in payments to allow farmers to "exit with dignity."
The Government has budgeted for 1000 farmers to take up this option. This was not based on any survey or scientific assessment or other empirical data, says a senior official, but was based on "a working assumption."
At the same time, the Government has commissioned Senator Bill Heffernan to lead an inquiry into whether Australian agriculture should consider relocating to adjust to the likely future pattern of rainfall in a warmer world - moving farming from the drying south of the continent to the wetter north.
In this last paragraph... John Howard seem to accept that the world is getting warmer.
@cblackink (969)
• United States
18 Oct 07
Regardless of the impact of global emissions, I think we all need to accept the fact that there are parts of our planet that probably will become uninhabitable in the somewhat near future. Humans will have to adapt and live elsewhere, in places that are inhabitable.
