Australians should worry about skin cancer, ozone depletion and climate change
Climate change, the ozone hole, and skin cancer – they’re all connected, Online opinion, By Noel Wauchope, 30 Dec 13 As I watch the TV news on these hot summer days, I marvel, in a sort of shocked way, at the acres of bare human flesh exposed to the harsh sunlight.- Australians of all ages, frolicking at the beaches. Don’t they know about skin cancer? Don’t they care?
Like the mythical mass suicide of lemmings, do they frolic to their doom.?
In a slower sort of frolic, Australia under the Abbott government no longer seems to know or care, about climate change.
Science is finding new connections between global warming and the ozone hole, and skin cancer, especially in Australia.
Australia has just had its hottest year on record. Global warming is happening, whether or not one argues about the cause. The hole in the ozone layer is still there, even though talk of that has gone out of fashion. And there’s skin cancer on the increase 2 common forms, and the less common melanoma, and another nasty rare one, that is becoming less rare in Australia.
What are the connections here?………
This article is not attempting to say that by addressing climate change,we are going to prevent skin cancer, although it is pretty clear that the faster Australia heats up, the greater will be the incidence of skin cancer. (So, on that basis alone, it would be a good idea to get on to a global drive to fight climate change.)
No, what is bugging me is the lack of information, media and public concern in Australia, about UV radiation, about skin cancer, and also cataracts and eye cancers, which also are caused by UV radiation..
You see, although the effects of UV radiation are world-wide, Australia is a special case, and we should be more concerned than nearly any other country.
Mathieu Isidro explains this, in a recent article:……
these rather frightening connections between skin cancer, ozone depletion and climate change are surely more reasons for Australia to take a leading role in action to slow the rate of climate change. http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15873
This year – Australia’s hottest on record!
2013 Australia’s hottest year on record SMH, December 21, 2013 Peter Hannam 2013 is the year Australia marked its hottest day, month, season, 12-month period and, by December 31, hottest calendar year.
“We’re smashing the records,” said Andy Pitman, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of NSW. “We’re not tinkering away at them, they’re being absolutely blitzed.”
Global interest in Australia’s weather flared early. In January, when models predicted heat that was literally off the charts, the Bureau of Meteorology added colours to maps – a deep purple and pink – to indicate maximum temperatures of 50-54 degrees.
But for David Jones, head of climate analysis at the bureau, 2013’s stand-out event was a month largely overlooked by a media diverted by football finals and federal elections: “From a climate point of view, what happened in September was probably the most remarkable.” ……… http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/2013-australias-hottest-year-on-record-20131220-2zqpf.html#ixzz2o8JP6w00
Australian researchers find worrying connection between global warming and El Nino events
Climate change to make ‘Super El Nino’ events twice as likely, ABC 12 Dec 13 PENNY ORBELL The drought conditions brought on by extreme versions of the El Nino weather phenomenon are likely to happen twice as often as climate change takes hold.
AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHERS have found that extreme versions of the cyclical weather pattern El Niño — dubbed ‘super El Niños’ — will double in frequency under projected global warming scenarios, with repercussions for many countries across the globe…….”Our results show that a warmer climate will increase the probability for the occurrences of super El Niños, and lead to a higher probability for associated extreme weather.”
The most extreme scenarios of global warming modelled by the researchers predicted more intense El Niños, and are most frequently associated with water current reversals…….
If emissions continue to increase at their current rate, some researchers warn that extreme weather events caused by super El Niños will become more frequent, with those most at risk being fishermen in developing nations and farmers.
“El Niño events typically bring dry conditions for Australia. So an increase in the occurrence of extreme El Niños will mean more frequent droughts, which will have an impact on our water resources and agriculture,” said Santoso. http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/12/11/3908868.htm
Bernie Fraser calls on Australian to keep the Climate Change Authority
Bernie Fraser criticises axing of Climate Change Authority The Age Tom Arup 9 Dec 13, Former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser has called on the government to retain an independent climate advisory body as it unwinds Labor carbon policy. He challenged the government’s claims that it could get similar climate advice from other public servants.
The Climate Change Authority chairman said he was frustrated and disappointed that the government was giving up a chance to receive ”good, independent advice”.
The Abbott government wants to axe the authority as part of its repeal of the carbon tax. It also wants to shut the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation…….Mr Fraser said public servants did good work, but did not have the freedom and opportunity to deliver well-considered, independent advice in the manner of the authority, Reserve Bank or Productivity Commission.
”On a subject as complex as climate change, I would have thought every government – whatever its complexion – would want to get good independent advice,” he said.
”I find it a bit frustrating this opportunity … seems to be foreclosing a bit with the present government………….Mr Fraser’s comments follow those of Clean Energy Finance Corporation chairwoman Jillian Broadbent urging the government to re-think its plans to axe that institution. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bernie-fraser-criticises-axing-of-climate-change-authority-20131208-2yzey.html#ixzz2n0g3Af2Os a disappointment.”
Australia has hottest Spring on record
Australia records its warmest spring after blazing September, http://www.thebull.com.au/premium/a/42492-australia-records-its-warmest-spring-after-blazing-september.html Blair Trewin Climatologist, National Climate Centre at Australian Bureau of Meteorology. 1 Dec 13,
The spring of 2013 has been Australia’s warmest on record. Mean temperatures for the season were 1.57C above the 1961-1990 average, surpassing the previous record of 1.43C (set in 2006) by 0.14C. Daytime maximum temperatures were also the highest on record, coming in 2.07C above average and 0.24C above the previous record (also set in 2006), while overnight minimum temperatures were the fourth-warmest on record.
The warmth was most dramatic in September, which saw a mean temperature anomaly of +2.75C, setting a new monthly record by more than a degree. October was also a very warm month, 1.43C above average. Temperatures during November were closer to normal, 0.52C above average, but were still warm enough to complete a record spring.
The warmth was extensive, with virtually the entire country experiencing above-average mean temperatures for the spring. It was the warmest spring on record over an area covering most of western Queensland (sufficient to give Queensland its warmest spring on record), and extending into the eastern interior of the Northern Territory.
Records were also set on the west coast around Perth, on the east coast around Sydney, and on parts of the Nullarbor. The spring ranked in the 10 warmest on record over 83% of the country. The record warm spring leaves Australia on track to have its warmest calendar year on record. Mean temperatures for Australia for the 11 months ending in November were 1.23C above average and 0.18C above the previous record year, 2005.AUTHOR
Blair Trewin
Climatologist, National Climate Centre at Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Tony Abbott has trashed Australia’s international reputation on climate change
But over the next six months, Abbott intends to trash the very mechanisms that could deliver this increased ambition – the carbon price, the renewable energy target and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation – along with the independent advisory body, the Climate Change Authority, that could possibly counter the advice from his inner circle of mad ideologues to whom the words “climate change”, “green” and “clean energy” are as inflammatory as the names Fairfax and the ABC.
On the international stage, in the climate change arena, Australia’s reputation has been shattered
Australia backing into climate change corner, MacroBusiness, 29 Nov 13, Carbon Economyon November 25, 2013 Cross-posted from Giles Parkinson at Reneweconomy. Tony Abbott has some homework to do. Over the next 15 months he is going to have to figure out how it is that Australia will meet its contribution to a new treaty that aims to limit global warming to 2°C.
He’s not the only one. More than 190 nations associated with the UN climate talks agreed on Saturday on a series of milestones that will hopefully take the world to a meaningful climate agreement in Paris in 2015. As part of that agreement, ministers will meet in June next year, country leaders in September, and by the first quarter of 2015, they will need to lay their targets on the table.
For Abbott this could be quite a challenge. Firstly, Australia, as one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and the biggest emitter per capita of any industrialised nation, will be expected to pull its weight. Continue reading
Australian Industry Group not happy with the government’s climate plan
AUDIO: Ai Group urges changes to climate plan (AM)
Ai Group warns of flaws in Coalition climate change plan as Warsaw talks wrap up ABC Radio News AM By Lexi Metherell 25 Nov 2013, The Federal Government now has a deadline of early 2015 to set a target for reducing carbon emissions after nearly 200 countries reached a deal at the end of international climate talks in Warsaw.
But a peak industry body says a central part of the Government’s climate change policy will not always work.The Warsaw meeting ended with an agreement on a timetable for nations to name their emissions cuts before another meeting in Paris in December 2015. The Paris meeting aims to produce an international agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol that will come into place in 2020. The Government is proposing to pay polluters to reduce emissions under its $1.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund, which it wants up and running in July.
In its submission on the scheme, industry lobby group Australian Industry Group says companies are not always going to be able to deliver as planned. While the Government wants the fund to target domestic emissions, Ai Group is urging it also to include international carbon emissions. Chief executive Innes Willox says the Government should spend a portion of the allocated budget on the reserve of international carbon credits. “We need to get our emission reductions done at least cost,” he said…….
Australia’s current target is to reduce emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 and the Climate Change Authority is recommending that it be at least 15 per cent.Ai Group says its proposal is a “prudent fallback” in case that target cannot be reached or if the Government wants to go further than 5 per cent.”…..
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt was unavailable for interview. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-25/business-group-warns-on-climate-policy-as-warsaw-talks-wrap-up/5114192
Australia a fossil fool at the international climate talks
Australia left exposed on the climate front The Age, November 25, 2013 EDITORIAL So intense has been the focus on axing the ”carbon tax”, for which a repeal bill has passed the lower house, that this seems to have become an end in itself, divorced from the policy goal of averting dangerous climate change. The politics of the issue will dominate for some time, should the Senate block the legislation. Yet once Prime Minister Tony Abbott gets the result he promised – which depends on the new senators who take their seats in July – the policy question of how best to cut greenhouse gas emissions is likely to become ever more pressing. Experts doubt the Coalition’s ”direct action” policy can achieve even the minimum target of a 5 per cent cut from 2000 levels by 2020, especially as Mr Abbott insists funding will not increase to ensure it is reached. Where does that leave Australia if the required target increases?
The difficulty of answering that question may have prompted the government’s decision not to have ministerial representation at the latest UN climate conference in Warsaw. The minister would have faced embarrassment at being so out of step with other nations. This would also have drawn Australians’ attention to the actions economic giants such as the US, China and the European Union are taking to make deeper, earlier cuts to emissions………
Negotiators in Warsaw were dismayed that Australia, which once led the way, ”obstructs the process at every turn”, as one said. Coming from the world’s worst greenhouse gas emitter per person (and 15th in total emissions), this is seen as an act of bad faith. Australia won multiple ”fossil of the day” awards from environment groups at the Warsaw talks…….
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/australia-left-exposed-on-the-climate-front-20131124-2y43b.html#ixzz2lhO3sf2N
South Africa joins the critics of Australia’s anti climate action performance
South Africa adds voice to Australia critics at climate change talks SMH, November 22, 2013 Tom Arup Environment editor, The Age South Africa’s environment minister has joined the chorus of voices attacking Australia for being obstructionist at the latest United Nations climate change negotiations.In a speech on the conference floor in Warsaw, South African Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said her country was deeply concerned that Australia and Japan were reducing their climate change commitments. South Africa is part of a powerful negotiating bloc of developing countries, known as BASIC, that includes Brazil, India, and China.
Australia has also been blamed for a brief “walkout” by developing countries including China at a important meeting earlier in the week. The complaints ranged from Australian representatives moving to block any parts of the conference negotiating text to the delegates wearing T-shirts and giggling during the talks.
Australia did not send a minister to the conference, and observers say the delegation of diplomats have been forced to stick to a limited negotiating brief set down by Canberra. That includes not making any new commitments to financially help poor nations deal with climate change – a critical issue at the talks.
Countries have also been concerned about statements by Prime Minister Tony Abbott last week that appeared to narrow conditions under which Australia would adopt a more ambitious 2020 emissions target than the 5 per cent cut currently offered…….http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/south-africa-adds-voice-to-australia-critics-at-climate-change-talks-20131122-2y0yt.html
Australian delegation’s contemptuous attitude to UN climate talks the ‘last straw’ for developing nations
Developing nations blame Australia for loss and damage talks ‘walkout’ http://www.rtcc.org/2013/11/20/developing-nations-blame-australia-for-loss-and-damage-talks-walkout/ 21 November 2013, Delegation accused of wearing t-shirts and “gorging on snacks” during critical UN talks By Sophie Yeo in Warsaw Australia’s team at UN talks in Warsaw have been accused of lacking respect after delegates turned up to critical discussions wearing shorts and teeshirts.
The Australian delegation turned up in casual attire and “gorged on snacks” during negotiations on whether developed states should make reparations to vulnerable countries as the impacts of climate change become more severe, according to a spokesperson for CAN International.
Their behaviour caused over 130 developing nations to abandon discussions on the controversial issue of climate compensation at 4am last night. Continue reading
Australia a “rogue nation” on climate change – says Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands hits out at Australia and Japan over carbon target cuts http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-21/an-marshalls-climate-minister-lashes-out-at-australia-and-japan/5106838 21 Nov 2013, The Marshall Islands’ Climate Change Minister has lashed out at Australia and Japan for cutting their carbon reduction targets at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Warsaw. Tony de Brum says his country will be one of those that suffers the most from global warming and says Australia and Japan are setting a bad example.
The Australian delegation has already faced criticism from pressure groups for not taking the Warsaw negotiations seriously and attempting to derail the conference…….
Lack of leadership on climate change Australia’s plans to scrap the carbon price has won praise from the Canadian Government, but Mr de Brum has criticised Australia as a rogue nation.
“At a big conference like the UN you might expect one or two rogues to emerge, but never in our wildest dreams did we expect that those rogues might be our own big brother neighbours of Canada, Australia and Japan.” he said…..When the Pacific Rim is responsible for more than its share of world pollution it should be the Pacific countries that take the leadership vision in making sure the rest of the world follows.
“Instead we have Japan, Canada and Australia doing this number on us,” Mr de Brum says he has issued an open invitation to Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to visit the Marshall Islands to see the impacts of climate change first-hand, but she has not yet set a date for the trip.
Biggest polluter BHP is Australian government’s advisor on carbon policy!!!
BHP in talks with government to help formulate carbon policy
BHP Billiton reveals it is working with Abbott government on the development of carbon policy, and praises Coalition’s ‘direct-action’ policy for protecting companies that compete in the international arena.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bhp-in-talks-with-government-to-help-formulate-carbon-policy-20131121-2xyqa.html
Almost two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources can be traced to 90 entities, including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, a peer-reviewed study has found.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/bhp-billiton-ranked-in-top-carbon-polluters-20131121-2xyqi.html
Poor countries give up on Warsaw climate talks; Australia not taking them seriously
Poor countries walk out of UN climate talks as compensation row rumbles on Bloc of 132 countries exit Warsaw conference after rich nations refuse to discuss climate change recompense until after 2015 John Vidal theguardian.com, Wednesday 20 November 2013 Representatives of most of the world’s poor countries have walked out of increasingly fractious climate negotiations after the EU, Australia, the US and other developed countries insisted that the question of who should pay compensation for extreme climate events be discussed only after 2015……..
Australia was accused of not taking the negotiations seriously. “They wore T-shirts and gorged on snacks throughout the negotiation. That gives some indication of the manner they are behaving in,” said a spokeswoman for Climate Action Network……http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/nov/20/climate-talks-walk-out-compensation-un-warsaw
Australia’s role in wrecking the international climate talks
Australia turns into ‘anti-climate’ force at Warsaw REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 19 November 2013It has taken just 7 days, but already the reputation of Australia as a constructive force in international climate policy has been completely trashed – both in terms of its domestic actions and in the wrecking ball tactics it has sent to Warsaw.
Australia is now seen as an “anti-climate” nation that is actively working against any consensus at these talks, as its domestic policies are translated onto the international stage. Continue reading
Tony Abbott says “NO” to UN plan to help Pacific climate change victims
Tony Abbott rejects Commonwealth climate change risk fund SMH, November 18, 2013 Ben Doherty South Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media Colombo, Sri Lanka: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rejected a proposal from the 53-nation Commonwealth to establish a new fund to help poor and island countries to combat climate change.
As an extraordinary Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting concluded in Colombo, Mr Abbott joined with Canada in rejecting a decision by the summit to push for a Green Capital Fund to help vulnerable island states and poor African countries address the effects of rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, or catastrophic weather incidents, caused by climate change.
The proposal is for Commonwealth countries to work within the UN climate change network to build the fund for small and poor countries to access.
One of the key themes of the summit was the plight of low-lying, and poor states who are especially vulnerable to climate change, but don’t have the money for adaptation.: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-rejects-commonwealth-climate-change-risk-fund-20131118-2xplc.html#ixzz2l9bFQGcM
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