Don’t believe in climate change? Then come over to Europe

Just how hot does it have to get before the global frog understands he’s cooking?

Hundreds of people have been urged to evacuate affected areas. 

Having become used to Australia’s run of record-setting or near-record annual temperatures, it’s somehow been surprising to spend the past month in a dry and increasingly hot Europe.

At the start of July, it was amusing to witness the English carrying on about a London “heatwave” with the temperature hitting 28 degrees Celsius.

I picked up a copy of The Times boarding the plane on Thursday morning. The front page reported Britain expected to set its highest-ever recorded temperature of 38.5 degrees Celsius. Britain’s temperature records go back to the 1600s.

Read the story from The New Daily by Michael Pascoe - “Don’t believe in climate change? Then come over to Europe.”

Make sure you check out the eternal optimist on the ABC's Q&A

David Karoly understands what our future will be like and yet despite that, he is the eternal optimist, happy and positive and always seeing the good in people.

Professor David Karoly -
don't miss him on Q&A.

A former professor from the University of Melbourne’s School of Earth Sciences, Professor Karoly is presently the leader of the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub in the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program, based at the CSIRO. 

And on Monday, June 17, he will be one of five scientists - Particle Physicist and TV Presenter, Brian Cox; Marine Ecologist and TV host, Emma Johnston; Astrophysicist and Science Communicator, Kirsten Banks; and Astrobiologist and Geologist Martin Van Kranendonk  - appearing on the ABC television’s Q&A program.

Q&A is hosted by Tony Jones.

Professor Karoly is a member of the National Climate Science Advisory Committee. During 2012-2017, he was a member of the Climate Change Authority, which provides advice to the Australian government on responding to climate change, including targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

He was involved in the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2001, 2007 and 2014 in several different roles. He was awarded the 2015 Royal Society of Victoria Medal for Scientific Excellence in Earth Sciences.

So, don’t forget Q&A on Monday evening, June 17, on ABC television, and should you miss the program,  it can be accessed later through iTunes.

Hans understands

From the Melbourne Age:

How Much Does Climate Change Cost? Try $1.5 Trillion (and Counting)

The Trump administration, and its allies in Congress, are fighting a losing war. They continue to press forward for the development of oil, gas, and coal when the rest of the world understands the implication of that folly. Global warming is the most pressing issue for our time. Period.

The thing is governments really have two choices when it comes to managing the impact on its people from global warming: spend money on trying to reduce the problem or spend money on cleaning up the catastrophes.

Firefighters clear debris from a mudslide in Los Angeles,
California on January 9, 2018. The deadly rain storm claimed
 the lives of 13 people in Santa Barbara County. Flash
flooding also occurred in the recently burned areas
of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

The Trump administration is on the hook for the catastrophe. A report released Monday by The National Centers for Environmental Information pegged the total cost this year at $1.5 trillion, including estimates for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. (And that doesn’t even begin to count the human toll, lost lives, lost jobs, lost opportunity.)

I witnessed firsthand the impact of Hurricane Maria on the island of Dominica last month. We keep hearing stories about the power grid being down (similar to Puerto Rico) and you think, Why? It’s been months. Why aren’t the lights on? Then you see nearly every electrical pole on the island sideways. The entire grid needs to be rebuilt (or better, rethought) and that’s decades of infrastructure. So the figure of $1.5 trillion is far short of what will be needed. Nearly every electrical line, every other house, the damage was so widespread it’s impossible to overstate. And that’s just one island. Multiple the effect across the region. The planet.

Read Mark Trahant’s story on Yes! Magazine - “How Much Does Climate Change Cost? Try $1.5 Trillion (and Counting).”