Rather special Beneath the Wisteria on Saturday

A rather special Beneath the Wisteria is coming up this Saturday, November 11.

Professor David Karoly will be with us Beneath the Wisteria on Saturday.

A Professor of Atmospheric Science in the School of Earth Sciences and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of Melbourne, David Karoly, will join us.

Professor Karoly, who will be in Shepparton with his wife, Susan, will be speaking at a special session at the Shepparton U3A late on Friday afternoon (3:35 pm) and then that evening as the after dinner speaker following the “Cooking for a Better Future” at The Connection at the SPC/Ardmona Kids Town.

Then on Saturday morning, he will join us Beneath the Wisteria in Shepparton’s Maude St Mall at 11:00 am, where he will talk about the climate change discussion and answer questions.

Professor Karoly is an internationally recognised expert in climate change and climate variability, including greenhouse climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and interannual climate variations due to El Niño-Southern Oscillation. 

He was heavily involved in the preparation of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in 2007, in several different roles, and was a Review Editor of the chapter 'Australasia' in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report released in 2014.

Professor Karoly has supported Beneath the Wisteria since it was established in the last week of 2011, but this will be his first visit.

Some public seating is available for this free event, but those joining us, are encouraged to bring a folding chair. More details from the convenor, Robert McLean on 0400 502 199.

Australia emits mercury at double the global average

A report released this week by advocacy group Environmental Justice Australia presents a confronting analysis of toxic emissions from Australia’s coal-fired power plants.

Robyn Schofield.

The report, which investigated pollutants including fine particles, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, also highlights our deeply inadequate mercury emissions regulations. In New South Wales the mercury emissions limit is 666 times the US limits, and in Victoria there is no specific mercury limit at all.

This is particularly timely, given that yesterday the Minamata Convention, a United Nations treaty limiting the production and use of mercury, entered into force. Coal-fired power stations and some metal manufacturing are major sources of mercury in our atmosphere, and Australia’s per capita mercury emissions are roughly double the global average.

Read the piece by a Senior Lecturer for Climate System Science and the Director of Environmental Science Hub at the  University of Melbourne, Robyn Schofield, on The Conversation - ”Australia emits mercury at double the global average.”

Increasing temperatures hit poorest countries hardest

It’s the world’s poorest countries that are feeling the most heat from human-caused climate change, new research has found.

The world's poorest countries are feeling the
most heat from human caused climate change.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, based at UNSW, has found poorer countries have had substantially greater increases in hot days and warm nights as a result of human-caused climate change, compared to wealthy countries.

“We know that hot days at the extreme end of the spectrum can have significant health and economic impacts, particularly for those countries that can least afford to adapt,” said lead researcher Dr Nicholas Herold.

“What we’ve shown is that these hot days have been increasing at a substantially higher rate in the poorest countries compared to the richest countries for more than 20 years.”

Read the Keep It Clever story - “Increasing temperatures hit poorest countries hardest.”