Forbes flooding another example of 'yes' and 'no' climate change

Professor Trevor Hancock - it is important
 the we look upstream, rather than simply
concentrate on the immediacy of what's happening.

Is the flooding at Forbes in central west New South Wales direct evidence of climate change?

No, of course not as climate science illustrates that no one event can be attributed to climate change, rather it is the frequency and intensity of such moments that we need to be aware of.

The evidence of climate change is now obvious all around the world, so much so that things such as the flooding at Forbes are becoming “the norm”.

It is important we look beyond the immediacy of such moments, look upstream and identify the cause rather than being consumed by the symptom.

Speaking in Melbourne about a year ago, Professor Trevor Hancock from Canada’s University of Victoria explained, during a discussion about health, which was equally relevant to considerations about climate change, about the necessity to understand and acknowledge what was happening “upstream”.

He illustrated his point with a mind-picture of a small river town that was increasingly troubled by bodies floating by and so in response, the town set up a special team to extract the bodies and then created sophisticated morgue system to deal with the deluge of bodies.

However, he pointed out, it was not until a child suggested that the town looks “up river” that the difficulty was resolved.

That difficulty is similar with climate change for as our gaze falls on the immediacy of the difficulty we fail to raise our eyes and see that the troubles are coming from further upstream.

Read the ABC story - “NSW weather: Forbes warned to evacuate as Lachlan River nears unexpectedly high peak.”