Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/world/asia/australian-government-blames-climate-change-for-angry-summer.html?ref=science
Picture: http://www.sauer-thompson.com/archives/opinion/Drought1.jpg
Everyone in Reading has been used to the cold
weather and snow lately, but are we ready to face more extreme weather?
In the article that I read titled “Report Blames Climate Change for
Extremes in Australia”, Australian scientists have now found what may be a link
between the weather their country has been facing lately and our planet’s
growing temperatures.
Over the summer (January in Australia), a four-month heat wave caused bush fires that tore through the eastern and western coasts of the country, where most citizens live. The record-setting temperatures were then closely followed by torrential rains and flooding in the most closely populated areas of Queensland, and cost about $2.43 billion dollars in damage. Despite results like these, scientists were a little hesitant to name global warming as the culprit. Australia has a drought and flooding season which is already considered extreme when compared to the rest of the world.
However, the Climate Commission that released the report has argued that the frequency and ferocity of the summer indicates an acceleration that is unlikely to cease unless some serious steps are taken to help stop further changes to the Earth’s environment.
“I think one of the best ways of thinking about it is imagining that the base line has shifted,” Tim Flannery, the commission’s leader, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “If an athlete takes steroids, for example, their base line shifts. They’ll do fewer slow times and many more record-breaking fast times .The same thing is happening with our climate system,” he said. “As it warms up, we’re getting fewer cold days and cold events and many more record hot events.”
More than 123 weather records occurred during the 90-day period that the report had examined. This included milestones such as the hottest summer ever recorded, the hottest day for Australia as a whole and the hottest seven consecutive days. In the entire 102 years that Australia has been gathering national records, there have only been 21 days where the country has averaged a high of more than 102 degrees, and eight of them have been in 2013.
William Steffen, the author of the report, has said that his findings were consistent with global acceleration of weather factors such as rising temperatures and heavier rains, which is linked to by scientists to human caused climate change.
“Over the last 50 years, we’ve seen a doubling of the record hot days, we’re getting twice as much record hot weather than we did in the mid-20th century,” he told ABC. “In fact, if you look at the last decade, we’re getting three times as many record hot days as we are record cold days, so the statistics are telling us, too, that there’s an influence on extreme events — they’re shifting.”
I thought that this article had many good points on just how much damage the climate change is already starting to do. If this is only the beginning, then what will be able to expect in 5 or 10 years? In my opinion, we really need to focus on changing our environment and reducing global warming before things get out of hand. If we don’t figure out a way to significantly reduce our impact on the environment, there will be much more extreme weather in our future. Australia is already starting to experience the effects, and its only a matter of time before we do too.
Over the summer (January in Australia), a four-month heat wave caused bush fires that tore through the eastern and western coasts of the country, where most citizens live. The record-setting temperatures were then closely followed by torrential rains and flooding in the most closely populated areas of Queensland, and cost about $2.43 billion dollars in damage. Despite results like these, scientists were a little hesitant to name global warming as the culprit. Australia has a drought and flooding season which is already considered extreme when compared to the rest of the world.
However, the Climate Commission that released the report has argued that the frequency and ferocity of the summer indicates an acceleration that is unlikely to cease unless some serious steps are taken to help stop further changes to the Earth’s environment.
“I think one of the best ways of thinking about it is imagining that the base line has shifted,” Tim Flannery, the commission’s leader, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “If an athlete takes steroids, for example, their base line shifts. They’ll do fewer slow times and many more record-breaking fast times .The same thing is happening with our climate system,” he said. “As it warms up, we’re getting fewer cold days and cold events and many more record hot events.”
More than 123 weather records occurred during the 90-day period that the report had examined. This included milestones such as the hottest summer ever recorded, the hottest day for Australia as a whole and the hottest seven consecutive days. In the entire 102 years that Australia has been gathering national records, there have only been 21 days where the country has averaged a high of more than 102 degrees, and eight of them have been in 2013.
William Steffen, the author of the report, has said that his findings were consistent with global acceleration of weather factors such as rising temperatures and heavier rains, which is linked to by scientists to human caused climate change.
“Over the last 50 years, we’ve seen a doubling of the record hot days, we’re getting twice as much record hot weather than we did in the mid-20th century,” he told ABC. “In fact, if you look at the last decade, we’re getting three times as many record hot days as we are record cold days, so the statistics are telling us, too, that there’s an influence on extreme events — they’re shifting.”
I thought that this article had many good points on just how much damage the climate change is already starting to do. If this is only the beginning, then what will be able to expect in 5 or 10 years? In my opinion, we really need to focus on changing our environment and reducing global warming before things get out of hand. If we don’t figure out a way to significantly reduce our impact on the environment, there will be much more extreme weather in our future. Australia is already starting to experience the effects, and its only a matter of time before we do too.
Great job Chloe! After reading your article I was surprised that Australia has had 21 days with temperatures over 102 degrees, and that eight of them have already happened this year! I also liked how in the beginning you connected the article to the weather we have been having recently. I agree with you and think it is important that we need to focus on reducing global warming so we can stop the weather from getting out of control.
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