Professor Karoly wants us to understand the risks of climate change

Professor David Karoly.

Every day, we make decisions based on risk assessments. When we get into a car, we put on a safety belt. We take out insurance to avoid the possible costs of our home burning down. What chances would you accept that our society and our planet will experience dangerous climate change?

When we make life or death decisions for our family members, we seek to minimise the risk. Would you put your children onto a plane if you were told there was a one in a hundred chance that it was going to crash? What chances do you want our government to take that will expose you and your family, or other people around the world, to dangerous climate change?

“Australia has the highest emissions of greenhouse gases per person of any developed country so it is making a disproportionately large contribution to global warming.”

Governments from 195 countries are meeting this week in Paris to reach a new global agreement to avoid dangerous climate change. They know the science and they're are trying to agree on targets and processes for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from our activities that are causing global warming. They are also trying to manage the unavoidable impacts of climate change that have already occurred or are locked in place.

Read the comment in today’s Melbourne Age by University of Melbourne Atmospheric Scientist and member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, Professor David Karoly - “Global warming: what level of risk would you accept?”