Climate Change minister, Penny Wong insists that Australia’s cut in emissions will be somewhere between 5 and 25 percent in reduction of 1990 levels. That is quite a ranging figure. It seems to me that Australia is not seeking to go any further than the bare minimum to make a change. However, it is Tony Abbott that seems to be holding Australia back on any progress with his opposition to much of the suggestions.
A new report released only days before the deadline for nations to announce their emission cuts, indicates that climate change could increase catastrophic bush fires by up to 300 percent. The report written in collaboration with Greenpeace and the Fire Brigade Employees Union states that the temperature, rainfall, wind speed and fuel of the fire are important when calculating the fire danger of a community. With the introduction of climate change, these factors can be changed to influence increased chances of a fire. For instance, temperature, a major factor for fire danger days has been increasing. According to the Bearu of Meterology annual climate statement, the last decade has been the hottest on record for Australia.
The report on fire and climate goes further stating that there are three scenarios depending on our choices that we make in relation to acting on the climate.
- FEAR - The first such scenario is that if the current pledges by the government are followed through. This would mean a 2 percent rise in temperatures, and a 50 percent rise in bush fires.
- CATASTROPHE – The second scenario is what would be the case without any treaty, or in other words the current path to destruction. Temperature would rise by about 2.8 percent in Australia which would see a the number of devastating fires rapidly increase.
- HOPE - The last scenario is one they label as “hope”, that the current government would increase its aims to cut the emission significantly. However this scenario is quite unlikely. There would still be an increase, but the increase would be a lot less than that of the other scenarios. For instance, fire danger around Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra would increase by between 8 and 17 percent, but without great emission cuts this figure would be 200 percent.
In many ways, the governments conservative approach could cost more in the long run.
However, by failing to treat the root causes of increased
fire danger, we are knowingly placing more lives and
property at risk.
- Future Risk – the increased risk of catastrophic bushfires due to climate change, 2010.
Australia should be setting an example for the rest of the world. The country is in the position to be able to harvest sustainable resources such a wind and solar, it doesnt need to invest in coal.
Sources;
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=australia-faces-worse-bus
Haha I’m literally the only reply to your great article?!
If only more than 43 people could hear this.
eco-otaku.com’s done it once more. Great article.