Act now to keep the love in a cleaner air

Perhaps even Hugh Grant gets gloomy
 when he thinks about climate change. 

And so another Love Actually season has come and gone. How we loved the movie, the devilishly cute Hugh Grant and his optimistic "whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport". The excitement in our friends' voices as they related their plans for a three-week overseas trip was similarly infectious.

But then it was back to reality: eating plum pudding on the hottest Christmas day in 18 years. Like Grant, I try to be happy with holidaymakers' good fortune but it is hard not to feel churlish when you do some calculations. My friends' white Christmas in London, along with the international flights nine million Australians make each year, all make a small but significant contribution to global warming.

Read Lesley Walker’s piece in today’s Melbourne Age - “Act now to keep the love in a cleaner air.”

Melbourne heat to ease by New Year's Eve, BOM says, but showers for Boxing Day Test

Hundreds flocked to Melbourne's St Kilda
 beach to cool off after celebrating
Christmas Day.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is assuring Victorians their New Year's Eve celebrations will be a lot cooler after Melbourne roasted through its hottest Christmas in 18 years, but there may be some showers around for the cricket.

It reached 36 degrees Celsius in city on Sunday, and it was even hotter in the north-west, with some areas reaching 40C.

Across the border, Adelaide sweltered through its hottest Christmas Day in 70 years.

It was a hot and sticky night in the city, and the temperature was already hovering around 28C at 7:00am today.

Michael Halfpenny from the BOM said it would not heat up too much, with the mercury reaching the mid-20s in the afternoon.

Read the ABC story - “Melbourne heat to ease by New Year's Eve, BOM says, but showers for Boxing Day Test.”