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Tag Archives: Climate Change

Antarctica’s ‘moss forests’ are drying and dying

The lush moss beds that grow near East Antarctica’s coast are among the only plants that can withstand life on the frozen continent. But our new research shows that these slow-growing plants are changing at a far faster rate than anticipated. We began monitoring plant ecosystems 18 years ago, near Australia’s Casey Station in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica. As we report in Nature Climate Change today, within just 13 years we observed significant changes in the composition and health of these moss beds, due to the drying effects of weather changes prompted by damage to the ozone layer. Living on the …

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Act now on health impacts of climate change: experts

Public health professionals welcome a state plan addressing the health impacts of climate change, but say national action is ‘urgently needed.’ The Queensland Government’s new Human Health and Wellbeing Climate Change Adaption Plan provides guidance to health, aged care and childcare services on ways to manage the threats that climate changes poses to human health through extreme weather, drought and increased disease outbreaks. Consultation with various stakeholders to inform the plan revealed concern among health professionals about the “policy gap” in the area. The Public Health Association of Australia says that Queensland’s plan is an example of the type of …

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Great Barrier Reef Foundation chief scientist: science will lie at the heart of our decisions

Much has been made of the federal government’s decision to invest A$500m into management of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), A$443.3m of it to be administered by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, of which I am the chief scientist. If my conversations with colleagues in the reef research field are any guide, there is still a lot of confusion over the intended use of these funds, the disbursement process, and whether big business will interfere with how the reef is managed. Filling funding gaps Over the past five years, the foundation has funded or managed multiple research projects that aim to support long-term …

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Why temperatures at night are going up around the world and what we can do about it

History was made in the Middle East on June 28 when the world’s hottest night on record was set in Quriyat, Oman with the overnight “low” dropping to 42.6 degrees Celsius. Oman’s hot night is just one of many temperature records to be smashed in the past few weeks. Individual location records have been broken in the US, Russia, Canada, Scotland, Armenia and Georgia. Africa could have reached its highest ever reliably recorded temperature of 51.3C in Ourargla, Algeria on July 5. The World Meteorological Organisation recognises 55C as the highest temperature for Africa, recorded at Kebili, Tunisia on July 7, …

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Marine heatwaves are getting hotter, lasting longer and doing more damage.

On land, heatwaves can be deadly for humans and wildlife and can devastate crops and forests. Unusually warm periods can also occur in the ocean. These can last for weeks or months, killing off kelp forests and corals, and producing other significant impacts on marine ecosystems, fishing and aquaculture industries. Yet until recently, the formation, distribution and frequency of marine heatwaves had received little research attention. Long-term change Climate change is warming ocean waters and causing shifts in the distribution and abundance of seaweeds, corals, fish and other marine species. For example, tropical fish species are now commonly found in Sydney Harbour. But these changes in ocean …

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Materials that make heat worse for our kids demand a rethink by designers

It is with some relief that Australians are leaving behind the excruciatingly hot days of summer. But did you ever stop to think about the role of design in making matters better – or worse? Spending all day in air-conditioned rooms before walking out to a car that has baked in the sun all day is an exercise in extremes that many of us have faced. It’s easy to forget these conditions are shaped and mediated by design. Campaigns warn us about the dangers of leaving children in hot parked cars. However, there are many more designed microclimates in the …

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Building a Successful Business Case for Climate Change Mitigation

The 2018 National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 March 2018 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Brisbane. Dr Rob Hales, Director – Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at Griffith University in Brisbane will join us at the conference to discuss ‘Building a Successful Business Case for Climate Change Mitigation’. The business case for climate change mitigation is not well understood. There is considerable literature, both scholarly and non-scholarly, that examines the business case for sustainability. Also, recent attention has been given to the business case for climate change adaptation. However, there is little or no literature that guides …

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Mental health and psychosocial impacts of climate change for rural Australians

Climate change is arguably the biggest global health threat of the 21st century (U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2016). The safe limit for temperature increase is 1.5oC, but if we continue with business-as-usual, global temperature will rise between 3.7o and 4.8oC, with catastrophic consequences (IPCC, 2014). Already we see climate disruption around the globe which will certainly increase: unprecedented heatwaves, severe drought, bushfires, flooding of cities and land, major storms. Climate change increases the severity or frequency of health problems already affected by weather factors, as well as creating unprecedented health problems in new places. Groups especially at risk include …

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Climate change linked to declines in labour productivity

By Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Charis Palmer, The Conversation Increases in humidity caused as a result of climate change are reducing labour productivity and it’s only likely to get worse over time, argue researchers from America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In an article published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, the researchers say humidity is already reducing people’s working capacity by 10% during peak months of heat stress around the world, and this is likely to grow to 20% by 2050. The researchers say even if the global community commits to active mitigation of CO2, there will …

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The Sustainability Conference – join us in Melbourne in 2013

The national Sustainability Conference “Sustainable Transformation 2 ” will be held in conjunction with the 6th Making Cities Liveable Conference, in a new era of collaboration, information sharing and professional networking. The conference is being held from the 17th – 19th June 2013 at Novotel Melbourne St Kilda. The joint meeting brings together National, State and Regional delegates to exchange ideas, discuss Business, Government  and Community initiatives and examine opportunities in the sector, we hope you will join us. Delegates will have access to an extensive range of topics with over 90 presentations across three days including Keynotes, Concurrent Sessions, Case …

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