The last few days has seen some of the worst fires in Australia’s recorded history. That’s in the South East of the country. Meanwhile in the north we’ve had extensive flooding. Not so well covered in the Australian media has been the snow storms enveloping the Northern hemisphere in places like the UK.

So is climate change the cause of these extreme weather events?

The ABC’s Lateline last night addressed this issue bringing in Professor David Karoly, a lead author in the for the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). According to Karoly, it’s hard to directly pin extreme weather events such as Hurricane Katrina and the recent ones in Australia on climate change. But the scientists are pretty certain climate change means more intense events, more often. He likened it to the rolling of a dice and the increased likelihood of our number coming up.

Here are some of the other key points from my digging around on this issue:

• Australia is the developed country most at risk from the effects of climate change.

• Even if we can turn climate change around it’s going to take some time to do – because we’re stuck with the greenhouse gases we’ve put up there for decades.

• Scientists have expected these kinds of effects from global warming but they say it’s happening faster than expected.

• Weather records have been broken recently by unexpectedly large margins e.g. Melbourne’s hottest day on record was broken this last week by almost a whole percent when normally records go by 0.2%.

• Records have been broken not just for highest temperature but also for the duration of the recent heatwave which preceded the fires.

• It’s not just hotter days, lower rainfall also means a drier landscape and increases the possibility of larger fire events.

• The scale of disasters is also increased by the fact there’s more people on the planet, and more people living in danger areas.

• Many people think global warming means small temperature increases. The reality is small changes in climate increase the likelihood of large changes in weather.

You’d think these disasters would be a wake up call.

A week ago two and a half thousand people encircled Australia’s Parliment House to demand we do more about global warming. There was not one article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the protest. Instead we got pages on the global financial crisis and the economic stimulus package.

I don’t think I can put it any better than Freya Mathews who did manage to get an opinion piece in the Herald today:

…. the consequences of climate change will make the financial crisis look like a garden party.

But when the embers die in rural Victoria and the next media story blows in, will we go back to business (or worrying about business) as usual?

Audio:
David Karoly discusses the role of climate change in Victoria’s bushfires (ABC Radio National)

Transcripts:
Quite fortuitously climate experts from around the world have gathered in Melbourne this week for a conference on global warming. The link below provides Lateline’s interviews with leading climate specialists Kevin Hennessy of the CSIRO and Andy Pitman from the Uni of NSW about extreme weather. Transcript of the interviews from the Melbourne extreme weather conference.

Here also is the transcript of the Lateline interview with Prof David Karoly, the Victorian Government’s chief climate change adviser.

Related articles:
Why global warming may be fuelling Australia’s fires (Time)
Australian fires a climate wake up call (Reuters)
Fires will increase in intensity as climate changes (Herald)
Records smashed – heatwave registered unprecedented highs (Herald)
An analysis of 2008 – a record year of extreme weather events (Herald)

Useful links:
Environmental Defense Fund site on extreme weather

Photos:
Sydney Morning Herald’s multi-media on the Victorian bushfires
Photos on flickr of the bushfires in Australia

More video:
Another video tracing emerging news on the fires in Victoria

2008 – a not so hot year compared to the last few, but ….. it looks like the only way is up! This is the global temperature trend since the industrial revolution.

Maybe we’re so used to hearing about global warming, the 7th warmest year on record doesn’t sound so bad. But remember most of the other warmest years have all occurred since 1998 – as you can see in the chart above.

These figures have been compiled and were released yesterday by NASA’s Goddard Institute and the World Meterological Organisation.

According to James E Hansen of the Goddard Institute, we’re building a blanket of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which will take a long time to turn around. Hansen is a campaigner for immediate and significant cuts in emissions. Otherwise he says we run the risk of the Earth becoming “a different planet” from the one humans have experienced for thousands of years. (Source: The New York Times ‘Dot Earth’ blog.)

Hansen is the guy who testified before the US Congress 20 years ago and explained that the world was heading toward dangerous climate change and we needed to do something about it.

Video:
And what response have we had from politicians since 1988? This Greenpeace TV commercial sums up two decades of our leaders leading on climate change.

Here’s a short ABC news story on the outspoken James Hansen.

And check out this more detailed doco from the PBS TV network in the US Frontline: ‘Global warming – is it getting warmer?’ Yes, the science is in, but there’s still skeptics. (Not sure the IPCC has convinced Barnaby Joyce.)

Recent related articles:
Glut of hot years a coincidence? Fat chance (New Scientist)
‘Believe it or not, this was the tenth hottest year (in the UK)’ (The Independent).
2008 colder than previous years but world still warming (Yahoo Green)

The ‘Walk Against Warming‘ is on again this Saturday the 15th of November. It’s organised by a coalition of green groups and it’s no small thing. Last year there were 80,000 people in Sydney and Melbourne alone and thousands more in other places around Australia.

Yes people are aware of global warming already, but this is a chance to let the pollies know now is the time to transform our economy into a clean, green one. And be amongst heaps of other people who feel the same way.

Useful links: Walk Against Warming website shows where and when it’s on.

Video: Watch this 2007 Walk Against Warming video, including speech by Bob Brown. Shows the mood for change on the issue of climate change – two weeks before the ousting of the conservative government.

Photo: The Walk Against Warming in Sydney, courtesy of Erland Howell from the Nature Conservation Council.

And we have these videos from the Garnaut Forum. In fact you can even rate what he has to say. In this video, the good professor lashes out at the sceptics (in his own gentile way):

Here’s what Ross said when asked why Australia should act when other countries aren’t:

And here’s what Professor Garnaut had to say about compensating the coal industry:

It seems the two majors parties are heading for a showdown on the shape of it. And thrown into the mix is a newly configured senate. A strange assortment of new powerbrokers – The Greens, Family First and Mr X – may well determine the new scheme’s fate.

This segment came out of our regular review of key environment news. Each week we speak to one of the country’s leading environmental journalists to find out what’s happening. This week, we talk to Ben Cubby, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Chief Environment Reporter. Listen to The Environment Show’s interview on the latest carbon trading scheme news.

We also have a number of other media channels on the go:

Check out The Environment Show’s online community and social network. The site allows you to meet other like-minded souls, create your own groups, post ideas on the environment, ask questions, put up photos of pristine natural environments you’ve travelled to, and promote your environmental cause or enterprise. Like facebook, only better.

(Actually, we have an Environment Show facebook group for the diehard facebook fans, but we think our official site (on ning) may be better. Check them out and decide for yourself.)

And at the Environment Show, we’re interested in visuals as as well as audio. You’re welcome to join our community site and post photos directly to it or join the Flickr site for The Environment Show Community. Show off the pristine, natural places you’ve been to. And any shots to do with environmental issues or innovations.

Catch you on the airwaves. The first shows cover peak oil, planning cities for people and permaculture. And we’ve lined up a weekly check-in with Ben Cubby, environment reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald. Hope you can join us. Cheers, Phil.

But the Japanese deny the claim. Read more.

For more on whaling and Watson, check out past Environment Show stories.

Meanwhile, there’s talk of Japan halting its “scientific” whaling in the Antarctic in return for a resumption of commercial whaling off its own coast. Read more.