The Guardian view on climate change: a global emergency

Climate change is an existential threat to the human race. This may seem an absurd or alarmist statement, since we have been conditioned by unparallelled growth to expect that there are no catastrophes that are insurmountable. Even apocalyptic science fiction deals with bands of survivors who have, by definition, survived. And we always imagine ourselves as among the survivors.

The Amazon rainforest in Brazil. ‘The deforestation of
tropical regions, is doubly dangerous, because
it converts carbon sinks into producers of carbon.’

But the threat is real. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us that there are only a dozen or so years in which to change our economies radically if we are to keep the effects of the warming already under way to manageable proportions. That would require the countries of the world to live up to the most ambitious of the goals of the Paris climate change agreement, and keep the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. A rise of even half a degree above that, to 2C, will have effects that are very much worse. Already this seems much more likely. All corals will disappear, as will many insects and plants.

Read the Opinion piece from The Guardian - “The Guardian view on climate change: a global emergency.”

‘Winter is coming ... eventually' but June forecast to be dry and mild

Melburnians can leave their umbrellas at home this June with a dry and mild start to winter, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

Some sunny winter days ahead in Melbourne.

The bureau's forecast is based on current weather patterns, although for the next fortnight Victorians can expect the clear skies and sunny days to be accompanied by crisp mornings.

Senior forecaster Keris Arndt said the days are expected to average 16 to 17 degrees, with cool and light winds.

“Rug up though with cold mornings expected, dropping down to 5 degrees overnight,” Mr Arndt said.

Read the story from The Age by Emily Pearson - “‘Winter is coming ... eventually' but June forecast to be dry and mild.”

Slipping in climate change amid the daily weather on TV in Colorado

Television meteorologist Mike Nelson has two-and-a-half minutes each night to recap the day’s weather and inform viewers of Denver’s KMGH-TV what to expect in the hours and days ahead. Rarely does he have time to mention the changing climate.

Mike Nelson.

Nelson, though, does speak up when he can. “It’s not just about polar bears. It’s about our children and our grandchildren,” he said on a recent Saturday morning in downtown Denver as he showed a picture of his own grandchildren. “This is really important stuff.”

A handful of representatives from TV stations in Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction were at the session held on the Auraria campus. Nelson, chief meteorologist at Channel 7, had helped organize the program with the Natonal Weather Service, bringing in two climate scientist to talk about how greenhouse gases are warming the planet and changing the climate.

Read the story by Allen Best from Mountain Town News - “Slipping in climate change amid the daily weather on TV in Colorado.”

A ‘perfect storm’: extreme winter weather, bitter cold, and climate change

World-renowned climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann explains why the bitter cold and snowy conditions gripping the US are “an example of precisely the sort of extreme winter weather we expect because of climate change.”

The US East Coast is experiencing an “old-fashioned” winter, with plenty of cold weather and some heavy snowfall in certain places. Listening to climate contrarians like President Donald Trump, you might think this constitutes the death knell for concern over human-caused climate change.

Yet, what we were witnessing play out is in fact very much consistent with our expectations of the response of weather dynamics to human-caused climate change.

Read The Climate Reality Project story - “A ‘perfect storm’: extreme winter weather, bitter cold, and climate change.”