While most people now understand that the enhanced greenhouse effect means a much warmer planet, communicating regional shifts in weather remains a significant challenge.
As with most complex science…
One of the benefits of using the health frame is that it makes the issues more tangible – here and now and about people, not just polar bears.
Roderick Eime/AAP
Climate change is a complex problem but appears to many people as lacking immediate impact on their lives. Reconceptualising it as a health issue may allow for both better understanding of the issue and…
Cows' methane emissions can be measured with lasers, but it's not that easy to measure emissions from an extinct sauropod.
Mark Witton
Last week my colleagues and I published a paper showing how methane emitted by dinosaurs could have affected the world’s climate. The media response was huge, with 100+ interviews by email and phone, and…
Courageous dissent? "The MTC is patting itself on the back for staging The Heretic. But the MTC is not being bold … it is being cowardly."
Flickr/Carlton Browne
Who would have thought the Melbourne Theatre Company would get into bed with Andrew Bolt?
The MTC’s new play The Heretic, which premieres on 17 May, tells the story of climate scientist Dr Diane Cassell…
We need to know more about how ice sheets interact with the warming oceans and warming atmosphere.
Greenpeace/ADavies
Satellite and in situ observations show sea level is continuing to rise.
In the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, earth system model projections indicated global sea-level rise by…
Knocking down forests and planting palm oil makes sense in Asia. Providing alternative income sources for villagers could make it less attractive.
Simon J. Rowntree
Reducing poverty in developing countries through economic development is often contrary to addressing climate change. In countries like Indonesia, many of the strongest drivers of the economy – palm oil…
People put up all kinds of psychological barriers to changing their minds.
Thomas Galvez
By Ullrich Ecker, University of Western Australia and John Cook, University of Queensland
Last night’s ABC documentary I Can Change Your Mind About Climate was about two people — conservative former politician Nick Minchin and youth activist Anna Rose — exposing themselves to information that…
Choose your experts carefully, lest they make you look foolish.
Pete Prodoehl
Last night the ABC premiered the fascinating documentary “I can change your mind about climate”, in which Nick Minchin, the recently retired Liberal senator, and Anna Rose, the co-founder of the Australian…
Lovelock's recent statements on climate change don't seem to take account of the latest data.
Jonathan Cobb
Recent statements by James Lovelock, the distinguished physicist, are not easy to reconcile with his statements, writings and books over the years, including The Vanishing Face of Gaia; The Revenge of…
Across Asia, climate change could cut agriculture in half by 2030. What will Australia do to help?
Gabriele Quaglia
AUSTRALIA IN THE ASIAN CENTURY – A series examining Australia’s role in the rapidly transforming Asian region. Delivered in partnership with the Australian government.
Here, Dr Tim Stephens looks at how…
A successful gamble on climate will require more than a lucky guess.
kfergos/Flickr
Imagine a six-sided die with four red faces, one green face and one blue face.
I am going to roll the die, and before rolling I will ask you to predict which colour it will land on: red, green or blue…
Tiny humans would consume less and emit less, but who's ready to genetically engineer their kids?
Dylan Luder
You know the situation is getting desperate when three bio-ethicists propose genetically modifying humans to reduce our environmental impact. In a bizarre paper titled Human engineering and climate change…
Humanity's control of fire has led to a vastly changed atmosphere.
Jason A Samfield
The evidence for a rapid shift in state of the terrestrial atmosphere-ocean system over the last two centuries (see figure 1) requires a deep time perspective, beyond events of the day. Tracing the original…
Questions of planetary power: a mere 0.3% of transnational corporations control 40% of global revenue.
Flickr/paul (dex)
The Planet Under Pressure 2012 Conference was held in London a fortnight back and released the first State of the Planet Declaration. The conference aim was to set out the science (in a broad sense) in…
Their jobs may not be as glamorous as digging up ore or building cars, but public servants' work on protecting Australia from climate change is even more important.
Natural Step Online
Yesterday’s announcement that one-third of jobs in the Department of Climate Change will be cut is yet another step back in the ALP’s half-hearted dance with climate change policy.
Former Prime Minister…
Who's responsible for this? Better disaster law could answer that question.
AAP
On 28 March the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its full report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX).
The IPCC’s…
Studies of prehistoric climate change in Victoria's western lakes imply that future changes might not be smooth.
Dacre Smith's painting of Lake Gnotuk, from Views of Victoria in the steps of von Guerard.
Step changes in warming of a few tenths to 1°C can produce rapid changes in risks such as extreme heat and fire danger. Yet, adaptation-planning that follows the dominant model of smooth climate change…
Our teeming attack on the natural world threatens to turn the wilderness into a fetish item.
AAP/The Wilderness Society
Elephants in the room, part one
For all our schemes and mantras about making this or that part of our lives environmentally “sustainable”, humanity’s assault on the planet not only continues but expands…
The ALP should be talking about getting a headstart on the industries of the future.
AAP
One of the arts of politics is storytelling, establishing a narrative that people can engage with. It is why politicians often talk about great teachers when explaining education reform, cancer patients…
The long-term warming trend has not changed.
Guillaume Brialon
Australia’s land and oceans have continued to warm in response to rising CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
This is the headline finding in the State of the Climate 2012, an updated summary…
Climate change is coming - do we plan to just carry on regardless?
AAP
When thinking of the challenges we face in responding to climate change, it is time to admit that our political focus has been fairly narrow: limiting emissions and moving beyond carbon-based energy systems…
When it comes to addressing climate change, the Green Climate Fund falls drastically short.
AAP
By John Mathews, Macquarie Graduate School of Management
If no-one argues against the proposition that it was capitalism that created the global warming problem, then no one can argue that it must therefore be capitalism that will solve the problem. But how…
Australia's revised dietary guidelines must consider environmental sustainability.
Wonderlane
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is currently revising the Australian Dietary Guidelines. Yet, despite expert advice from public health and environmental sustainability groups…
For whom the bell tolls: a Little Penguin.
Belinda Cannell
Little Penguins off the coast of Perth are being found dead – starved, battered, and in some cases almost completely beheaded – as elements both natural and manmade conspire against them.
Penguin Island…
You have to go back to the time of the dinosaurs to see where Earth is heading.
Mr Kimberley/Flickr
Why have mass extinctions of species occurred since the late Proterozoic (from 580 million years ago) and repeatedly through the Phanerozoic? Integral to these extinctions were abrupt changes in the physical…
No one said it was going to rain like this… or did they?
AAP
Recent wet weather and flooding across eastern Australia has caused many to ask, wasn’t climate change supposed to cause more droughts, not floods? Critics of climate change science have suggested that…
Uncertainty exists – but that's no excuse for a lack of action.
@Doug88888
These are painful times for those hoping to see an international consensus and substantive action on global warming.
In the US, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney said in June 2011: “The…
Art reflects back the crisis we've created.
Simon Hennessey: Sunset over Metropolis
“Artists are shape-shifters and in this there is a perennial, ferocious hope; the hope which transforms, which whispers of possibility, of vision, of change and radical healing. Existing art about climate…
Warmer temperatures mean more female than male turtles, but it's not all good news for the guys.
Dave Scriven
Many species have dubious futures in the face of climate change. But sea turtles have a particularly pressing problem: their sex is determined by temperature.
Australia has ecologically and culturally…
More fossil fuel is out there, but if policy doesn't stop us, physics will.
EvolveLove/Flickr
In his recent Quarterly Essay, Man-made world: choosing between progress and planet, economist Andrew Charlton presents technological innovation as the solution to climate change and the route to unbounded…
It's time to pay attention to warnings from the Arctic.
NOAA Photo Library
We are seeing the first signs of dangerous climate change in the Arctic. This is our warning that humanity is facing a dire future.
The Arctic region is fast approaching a series of “tipping points” that…
'Concerned scientists' say, relax, climate change not so bad after all.
Yukon White Light/Flickr
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal published a letter from “16 concerned scientists”, telling the world we don’t need to worry so much about climate change. Unsurprisingly, the opinion piece has been picked…
Shouldn't we try harder to stop runaway climate change?
AAP
In the month and a half since the Durban climate change conference it has been said that the “international climate process” has been “strengthened” and that Durban resulted in “the means and the ends…
If speaking up helps avoid devastating bushfires, scientists should take the risk.
AAP
Scientists are increasingly expected to engage with the media to communicate their findings. My research leads me to believe Hobart is at risk from a severe bushfire disaster – but what are my responsibilities…
An ice-free world isn't impossible – even though it seems the stuff of science fiction.
Alistair Knock
Last December’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union featured three of the world’s leading climate scientists: James Hansen (NASA’s chief climate scientist), Elco Rohling (National Oceanography Centre…
We should decide how to act based on how risky something is, and how bad the consequences will be.
dybarber/Flickr
A popular misconception in the public mind is that science “proves” things by turning them from ideas and theories into absolute “facts”. This more or less confuses science with mathematics. Mathematical…
We know Aboriginal fires affected Australian vegetation, but now we have evidence they altered the monsoon too.
ciamabue/Flickr
For thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians burned forests to promote grasslands for hunting and other purposes. Recent research suggests that these burning practices also affected the timing and intensity…
As the days get warmer, cool-climate wineries like those in McLaren Vale SA, are bound to struggle.
Dave Clarke
As the climate gets warmer, growing conditions and ripening times of crops will be affected. This raises all kinds of challenges for food security, but as we hit the festive season you may also be wondering…
Forest agreements were among the positives from Durban.
CIFOR
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Amongst the general brouhaha of the Durban Climate Change Conference, progress of sorts on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, plus measures…
The Green Climate Fund needs to attract developed countries' money with a few nest eggs.
CaptPiper
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: One of the main achievements of the Durban climate change conference was establishing the Green Climate Fund. This is expected to channel a fair amount of the US$100 billion…
Removing CO₂ from a power station is very different from removing it from the atmosphere.
ianrthorpe
In his latest article for The Conversation Dr. David Karoly reports on the proceedings of a recent Canberra symposium on “Geo-engineering the Climate”. In his article, Dr. Karoly presents an insightful…
It takes just two generations to adapt to warmer ocean temperatures.
Jennifer Donelson
The average temperature of the oceans has already increased significantly due to global warming and will continue to warm rapidly in coming decades. If we are going to effectively manage and conserve fish…
A Green Climate Fund could help African livestock farmers.
International Livestock Research Institute
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: With a backdrop of global financial woes and the European Union’s debt crisis, the Conference of the Parties at Durban convened with lower expectations but high stakes…
In northern Australia, the state of the environment has improved.
pallotron/Flickr
Every five years the Australian Government must report on how our environment and heritage are fairing. The 2011 State of the Environment Report gives Australians the clearest and most comprehensive assessment…
Climate change will mean more natural disasters: let's not be cynical about planning for them.
AAP
Much of the commentary surrounding the Prime Minister’s new-look cabinet has focused on the promotion of her loyal lieutenants, Bill Shorten and Mark Arbib, and Nicola Roxon’s elevation to the Attorney…
The conference is over, but has anything changed?
AAP
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Occasionally international treaties conflict with each other. The last days of the Durban climate talks was one of those times. The United Nations’ Convention on Climate…
Protesters have a point: big polluters' approach to patents isn't helping developing nations clean up.
Tck, Tck, Tck
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: In a global day of action for climate justice, thousands of protestors complained about the slow progress in international debates on climate change at the United Nations…
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Do the 10,000 or so delegates at Durban, and those whom they represent, fully accept that their mission constitutes no less than an attempt to reverse the suicidal course…
Could more plantations help reduce emissions? It depends if they're done right.
esagor
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: One of the topics under discussion at Durban is the role carbon farming and other forestry measures could have in reducing emissions. With the possibility that negotiations…
Eleven FA Cups is good news for the Red Devils, but is it bad news for the climate?
freefoto.com
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: With the UN Climate Conference underway in Durban, climate “sceptics” have been particularly active in the media and blogs.
Many climate “sceptics” claim that alternate…
Energy production worldwide has become even more reliant on coal.
Joost J Bakker IJmuiden
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: A paper published yesterday shows global industrial emissions of carbon dioxide, overwhelmingly from fossil fuels, jumped by 5.9% from 2009 to 2010. This is a big increase…
New climate institutions are finally putting Australia on track to meet its Kyoto obligations.
amandabhslater
By Bill Hare, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Australia’s new climate legislation is a historic breakthrough reform for the nation. Putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions ranks alongside any of the “big” reforms…
Australian newspapers took a largely negative view of carbon pricing.
avlxyz/Flickr
While corporate media often criticise the poor communication of others, they are reluctant to critique their own power to influence public opinion and debate. Today the Australian Centre for Independent…
With the number of days over 35 degrees expected to rise, Australia can expect a rise in heat-related deaths and illness.
Miki
Climate change is already harming Australians’ health and poses a significant threat for the future, according to a report released today by the Climate Commission. The Critical Decade: Climate Change…
No new climate dawn at Durban? It's not the end of the world.
Andrew Roos
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Progress towards a binding international agreement on targets to tackle global warming has been more than glacial. Yet despite growing alarm among the climate science…
In his 2011 ASSA Cunningham Lecture this month, food policy expert Professor Tim Lang suggested that we “experiment” with alternative diets to reduce our meat and dairy consumption. Lang suggested that…
Geo-engineering should be a last resort; there are better steps we can take first.
Truthout.org
A lack of global action to combat climate change is forcing scientists to explore measures that might have been considered unethical a decade ago.
With carbon dioxide emissions tracking at the high end…
The scandal isn't the emails, it's the hacking.
UN Climate Change
Emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit have once again been hacked and released on the internet. The timing is similar to the “climategate” scandal of 2009, with emails published…
When it comes to weather, scientists and the media have different understandings of risk.
Ameel Khan
The “reasonable person” would agree that disaster risk is best avoided. Under a changing climate, how exposed people are to risk and how socially and physically vulnerable they are affects how often disasters…
Increasing population and climate change will make it even harder for the world to feed itself.
Gates Foundation
The world’s population has just hit seven billion and nearly one billion people do not get enough to eat. Agricultural land is being degraded at the rate of 12 million hectares a year and the world faces…
Politicians who try to act on climate change face a gargantuan struggle.
Truthout.org
Roy Neel is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University and a long-time staffer for former Vice-President Al Gore. Roy is in Australia as a Visiting International Fellow at the University…
The industry we already have is locking us in to a path of extreme warming.
Andreas Photography
Last week the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its much-anticipated World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2011. Most notably, it warned that our chances to keep the world to 2°C of warming are fast slipping…
Environmentalists are getting off the streets and into the courts in an effort to stop coal.
Takver
The bill creating the carbon price has passed through Parliament. However, the campaigning efforts of the environmental lobby will not pause. More than ever, the coal industry is in its sights, with court…
There's a lot of detail in the carbon price legislation, but it comes down to six key points.
Australian Government
Australia’s carbon price mechanism has become law. But how does it work? There are six key points:
1. Australia’s emissions trajectory
Australia has committed unconditionally to reduce its greenhouse…
The media can't get enough of the controversy whipped up by climate sceptics.
Mat McDermott
When announcing the media enquiry in September this year, Senator Conroy committed to regulatory processes that support “a healthy and independent media that is able to fulfill its essential democratic…
Passing the carbon price through the Senate is a victory, but there is plenty yet to be done.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
At long last, the Gillard Government’s carbon price is law. On July 1 next year, approximately 500 of our biggest companies will start paying the government $23 for every tonne of greenhouse gas they emit…
Coral bleaching is a serious issue, but we're learning how reefs can best recover.
AFP/Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
Coral reefs around the world are under pressure from multiple threats. A burgeoning gas industry – such as that near Gladstone – is one of the newest of these. Pollution, sedimentation, declining water…
It looks delicious, but is a diet free of red meat better for the planet?
stu spivack
By now most of us have read articles suggesting we “eat less red meat and save the planet”.
Some may also have heard statements by the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Rajendra…
A blimp-like balloon can be used to pump particles into the upper atmosphere.
What if the world left it too long to take action on global climate change? Is there a way we could somehow cool the planet before an environmental crisis occurs?
Geo-engineering is a potential course…
Taxing international aviation emissions could help pay our climate change bill.
Flickr/FatMandy
Wealthy countries have committed to mobilise up to $US100 billion a year by 2020 for climate change action in developing countries.
This is almost as much as the total amount of aid provided globally…
Is Australia playing big brother to Pacific nations, or the school-yard bully?
CHOGM
CHOGM: As the leaders of Commonwealth nations prepare to meet in Perth this week, The Conversation is examining the role of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) Meeting.
In our second…
Water, habitat and tourist dollars: the Alps provide it all.
Jane Rawson
The Australian Alps cover some 1.64 million hectares, 0.3% of the Australian continent.
Included on the National Heritage register, they are of major environmental significance and home to rare and endangered…
Tuvaluans' home and their human rights are threatened by climate change.
AAP
The Pacific Island State of Tuvalu recently reported that it had just days of water supply left for its population of 10,000.
The Government has declared a state of emergency and rationed each household…
The planet is struggling to survive democracy, but the only alternative is to improve it.
Truthout.org/Flickr
The carbon tax bills passed by the Australian House of Representatives on October 12 were a small vindication of climate science. But we should be concerned about the corpses of science, reason and expertise…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard congratulates Kevin Rudd as the carbon pricing package passes the lower house.
AAP
Australian businesses are facing a significant new policy regime with the passing of the Federal Government’s controversial emissions trading legislative package through the House of Representatives…
CERN's work casts light on cloud formation, but might not have much to say about climate change.
Taivasalla
By Karl Braganza, Australian Bureau of Meteorology and Justin Peter, Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Physicists at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) created something of an online kerfuffle last month when they sought to improve our understanding of cosmic rays and clouds.
While their…
A reduction in Arctic sea ice isn't just a problem for polar bears, it's a problem for all of us.
Carlos Duarte
A few weeks ago, NASA announced that the area of Arctic ice is now almost as low as it was in 2007, its historic minimum.
The extent of ice has reduced to 4.33 million km² compared to the mean (1979 to…
Could more CO₂ in the atmosphere mean faster-growing crops?
Jose Cabezas/AFP
Life is woven out of air by light – Jacob Moleschott
Before starting to write this article, I asked my eight-year-old boy what he knew about how plants grow.
He answered: “Plants take food from the air…
What is Australia's responsibility for low-lying neighbours like Palau?
CasaDeQueso
The Pacific Island State of Palau recently announced it will seek an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), asking whether countries have a responsibility to avoid their emissions…
Messing with climate systems is a dangerous step to take.
Truthout.org/Flickr
In the past few years, there has been growing interest in geo-engineering our climate. Geo-engineering means making sometimes planetary-scale physical or chemical changes to alter the amount of heat coming…
The climate change "debate" bears the stains of Orwellian interference.
Truthout.org
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts” – Senator Daniel Moynihan
Science is a systematic, evidence-based, testable and self-correcting way of investigating the world. This…
As Australia gets warmer and drier, koalas will struggle to survive.
JSFauxtography
On 22 September, a Senate inquiry released its report, The koala – saving our national icon. The inquiry made 19 recommendations, and called for more funding for koala research. The environment minister…
Grape growers are already suffering emotional stress because of climate change.
ryanovineyards/Flickr
Mental health has been an issue in rural areas for the past few decades. Climate change will only add more stress to the lives of rural people.
While a report by the Climate Institute shows broad scale…
Science follows certain procedures, but does the media get the signal?
CSIRO
Recently my colleagues and I announced the discovery of a remarkable planet orbiting a special kind of star known as a pulsar.
Based on the planet’s density, and the likely history of its system, we concluded…
Taking on climate change can put us on the path to a green industrial revolution.
Matt de Neef
Despite the poor outlook for the Earth’s climate, putting in place acceptable solutions is proving difficult. Mired in economic uncertainty, some countries are scaling back climate change efforts. But…
The planet is warming up but a carbon price is not the way to help
Flickr/Pilottage
The world is getting warmer and wetter, almost undoubtedly due to the fact that we are burning up fossil fuels at an incredible rate.
While this change in our climate will lead to some positive opportunities…
Your media may not be giving you the full picture.
DeeKnow/Flickr
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY – Stephan Lewandowsky and Ullrich Ecker have some tips on how avoid being fooled by the media.
Bad media can do considerable harm.
Professor Stephen Kull has been keeping track…
Sections of the Australian media are tipping the debate in the wrong direction.
Digitalnative
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY – Natalie Latter wonders if there are some subjects that don’t really require balance.
There’s a principle of balance that applies to news reporting.
It’s important for journalists…
We should rely on scientists, not beach-goers to inform us about sea level predictions.
kennymatic
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY – Tim Lambert wants to know why we’re always asking a man in Speedos for his expert opinion.
There is a scientific consensus on global warming – 97% of active climatologists agree…
The Australian's coverage of climate changed is seriously warped.
AFP PHOTO/ NASA - CXC/ A. HOBART
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY – Michael Ashley investigates the national paper’s op-ed policy.
The “event horizon” of a black hole is one of the most mind-boggling concepts in astrophysics.
The black hole’s…
Mass bleaching at the Keppel Islands in 2006. Our greatest natural asset is under threat, but you wouldn’t know it from reading Andrew Bolt.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY – Ove Hoegh-Guldberg dives into the media’s coverage of an Australian icon’s future.
One of the most straightforward climate change storylines is the link between global warming…
A long-term threat of natural disaster is likely to increase rates of anxiety among young people.
AAP
In September 2010, BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers proposed Australia take action on climate change before the rest of the world to maintain its international economic competitiveness.
A report released…
CO₂ has the longest residence time, but reducing other GHGs can help us achieve our targets.
AAP
Most of the discussion about slowing the impact of climate change has focussed on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. But carbon dioxide isn’t the only greenhouse gas. Methane, halocarbons and nitric oxide…
The media does the public a disservice when it misrepresents climate change.
danny birchall
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY – Today, The Conversation launches a week-long series, looking at how the media influences the way our representatives develop policy. To kick off, Stephan Lewandowsky asks how media…
Coral reefs may cease to exist – where will their inhabitants go?
Nick Hobgood
Human-induced climatic changes are altering ecosystems worldwide.
Because of these ecosystem changes, the geographic range of species is shifting towards the poles or to higher elevations. The speed of…
Evolution was put on trial: let's get climate change in the dock.
On the weekend of 12-13 August the Western Australian branch of the Liberal Party passed a resolution calling for a Royal Commission into the science of climate change. Apparently the party members are…
Improved modelling will help predict future climatic events, like changing summer rainfall.
AAP
Region by region projections of how climate is likely to change over the coming decades help to make the prospect of global warming more tangible and relevant.
Picturing the climate we are likely to have…
Spoilt for choice: neither Tony Abbott nor Julia Gillard are inspiring climate leaders.
AAP
Both Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott have staked their political futures on their climate policies. So perhaps they should also be asking what the hallmarks are of a climate leader?
The German political…
Australia was shocked when the city of Canberra burned, but are we better prepared now?
AAP
Climate change challenges some of the fundamental assumptions on which our cities have been built. Within a generation or two, a city like Sydney may become exposed to a climate that is more similar to…
Simple seagrass can answer some complex climate problems.
Joanne Saad
Reducing carbon emissions is necessary, but what about the carbon that has already been released into the atmosphere? Many countries are turning to “biosequestration” for the answers: using nature – including…
Increased frequencies and intensities of some extreme weather events are very likely.
Zanthia/Flickr
Most Australians believe that climate change is real and want to learn more about it, but the debate in the media and on the internet makes it difficult for lay people to know who and what to believe…
Finding the right road to adaptation is a complicated business.
Shrek Graham/Flickr
Looking back over recent years, it is possible to trace a shifting focus of scientific and political attention in the debate on climate change.
First, we identified human-induced forcing of climate change…
Bush fires are just the start of the problems we'll see in a world four degrees warmer.
Sean Marshall/flickr
In mid-July, as Prime Minister Gillard began to stump the countryside selling her carbon package, a conference at the University of Melbourne considered the prospect of climate policy failure.
Climate…
Technology can save fuel and cut emissions, so why not drive more?
me2myself/Flickr
Antibiotics cure many diseases, but also lead to resistant bacteria. The rise of computers, far from inaugurating the paperless office, increased office paper use.
The unintended consequences of our actions…
Polar bears are at the centre of a scientific fracas in the US.
AAP
Something does not add up.
About two weeks ago, a scientist working for the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Enforcement and Regulation (BOEMRE), Dr Charles Monnett, was placed on administrative…
Ocean acidification is most acute in the polar regions.
Enzofloyd/flickr
Ocean acidification is often referred to as the “evil twin” of climate change.
Greenhouse gasses are doing more than just warming the globe. Increasing C0₂ levels are also changing the chemical make-up…
Our weather systems are changing as the world warms.
Satoru Kikuchi/flickr
Speaking on the ABC, Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, chief climate science advisor of the German Government, made a point even the least-informed should be able to understand.
“Our body temperature…
Looks the same to me… our personal experiences are not the best indicators of change.
P León/flickr
We see it in the media all the time.
Regular beachgoers who see no evidence for sea-level rise, farmers trusting long-term experience over Bureau of Meteorology forecasting, Antarctic sea-captains whose…
Julia Gillard can sell the tax better if she puts it in terms of the natural wonders we are buying back.
AAP
Science is strengthening its view that business-as-usual emissions of greenhouse gases will result in serious risks while the Australian public’s perception of climate change as a risk erodes.
A recent…
The BBC is finally at one with science on climate change.
BBC One Wales
On Wednesday the BBC Trust released their report “Review of impartiality and accuracy of the BBC’s coverage of science”. The report has resulted in the BBC deciding to reflect scientific consensus about…
The flat earth agenda must be faced head on.
A Siegel/flickr
Expanding the theme of his recent book Why We Disagree about Climate Change, Mike Hulme presented an insightful analysis of the multiple ways in which climate change can be perceived.
Central to Hulme…
Are these the sorts of speakers you go to a university to hear? AAP
The most important issue raised by Lord Monckton’s controversial appearance on two Western Australian campuses is not the limit of free speech or Monckton’s scientific competence. Rather it is whether…
All the energy in our climate comes from the sun: it's bound to have an influence.
foxypar/Flickr
Climate science has now thoroughly outlined the risk associated with increasing greenhouse gases. Significant and rapid warming of the climate system is now expected to occur over the next century and…
Al Gore's launched a new campaign, but is anybody listening?
Juampe López/flickr
By Will J Grant, Australian National University and Rod Lamberts, Australian National University
With the momentum of his Inconvenient Truth gradually fading, Al Gore has launched a new climate change action campaign – the Climate Reality Project.
The centrepiece of the campaign is a day of action…
Budgetary constraints and climate change are putting the Antarctic in peril.
AAP
Does Australia have strategic interests in Antarctica? Do we really think of the region as the “common heritage of mankind”?
The Antarctic Treaty states that it is “in the interest of all mankind that…
Julia Gillard was confronted by a shopper about the government's carbon tax.
AAP/Patrick Hamilton
Before the details of the carbon tax were released this week, the government was fighting with one hand tied behind its back. Sometimes it looked like it had both hands and feet manacled as Prime Minister…
The scientists are talking and the Prime Minister is nodding, but is she really listening?
AAP
Amid the hullabaloo about the carbon tax and Clean Energy Future plan, few seem to spot its critical discrepancy. It recognises that maintaining a safe climate requires stabilising carbon pollution in…
Money is the key theme across the climate change debate: what happened to sustainability?
louisa catlover/flickr
The Government’s equation for creating a prosperous and sustainable Australia includes four key factors: carbon price, renewable energy, energy efficiency and land use efficiency. But it is evident that…
Data from satellites have fuelled debate over climate science.
NASA via Wikimedia Commons
If you’ve followed climate contrarian talking points over the years, you’ll be familiar with the argument over satellite observations of global warming.
In 1990 it was reported that the satellite record…
Scientific debate isn't about 'if', but about 'when' and 'how much'.
Matti Mattila/Flickr
In 2100, will sea level be one metre higher than now, or only 50cm? The Thames Barrage is designed to protect London from flooding by storm surges in up to one in a thousand year events. With 50cm higher…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Climate Change Minister Greg Combet address a press conference on Sunday. A carbon tax package announced today includes compensation measures and a radical overhaul of income tax policy.
ABC News24
The Australian government announced on Sunday it would introduce a carbon tax at $23 a tonne next July, rising 2.5% annually plus inflation and moving to a market-based emissions trading scheme in 2015…
She's got the book, but did she read it? Ross Garnaut explains the advice he gave.
AAP
Top Conversation author Professor Stephan Lewandowsky and former Western Australian Premier Carmen Lawrence were part of a group that sat down with Ross Garnaut during his recent visit to UWA.
During…
When we debate a carbon tax, how much thought are we giving to our fragile, drought-prone continent?
Raiden256/Flickr
As the old saying goes, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. On Sunday, the exhausting, almost decade-long battle to put a price on carbon pollution enters a new phase, when the MultiParty…
Will Steffen (left) in conversation with academic Will Grant (right): "The misinformation campaign that’s been prominent in the media … really is having an impact."
Welcome to “In Conversation”, our series of discussions between leading academics and major public figures in Australian life.
Today, we’re In Conversation with the academic whose research informed the…
Demanding climate data won't provide a new window into global warming.
nasa hq photo/flickr
When it comes to obtaining research data, Canadian academic Steve Easterbrook said it best:
“Any fool knows you don’t get data from a scientist by using FOI requests, you do it by stroking their ego a…
How we frame the climate change debate is important.
Modified image: HamishM/muffet/flickr
Mike Hulme of the University of East Anglia, the institution at the centre of “Climategate” and the focus of a recent data Freedom of Information request, responds to Clearing up the Climate Debate.
There…
Can respondents make an informed response in an unexpected telephone poll?
Esparta/Flickr
I, along with many Australians, listened to the news coverage on Monday morning of the Lowy Institute’s annual survey, with reasonable disappointment and initial surprise.
This is a respected polling…
Is stopping someone speaking ever the right approach?
sjgibbs80/Flickr
Is it wise to try to block a speech by Christopher Monckton? Are there other options?
Monckton, a well known climate change sceptic, was invited to speak at Notre Dame University in Fremantle on 30 June…
Lord Monckton will appear at two Western Australian universities over the coming days.
AAP
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Western Australia has distanced himself from climate change sceptic Lord Christopher Monckton, who will appear on campus next Monday.
Professor Alan Robson today…
Believe it or not, sulphur emissions are keeping us cooler.
lillicomanche/flickr
The Earth energy balance – the difference between energy/heat absorbed by the Earth from solar radiation and the energy/heat emitted back to space – is currently offset by the cooling effect of sulphur…
While the debate rages, the planet is changing.
AAP
The majority of the world’s climate scientists agree: climate change is real, we are causing it and it’s happening right now. Despite the scientific consensus, Australia is still deeply divided about what…
Don't make me tell you again: some people have been talking about climate change for decades.
Barry Jones
I can claim to be the oldest surviving inhabitant of the climate change controversy. I gave my first major speech (at least, I thought it was major) about the human contribution to climate change, especially…
We'd like someone to do something about climate change, but we'd rather it didn't cost too much.
shell belle/Flickr
Current discussion in the news media highlights how polarised the issue of climate change has become. However, recent scientific research has shown that most Australians are sure about climate change and…
You're not imagining it: hot days are hotter and there are more of them.
AAP
Are the tornadoes in the USA, or the floods in Queensland and Victoria, or the record drought in southwest Australia, or the Russian heatwave of last year or western Europe in 2003, or Black Saturday…
Politicians would do well to ask the people for their views on climate change.
AAP/Greg Wood
The conduct of the Australian climate change debate was probably not what John Maynard Keynes had in mind when he proclaimed “words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the…
The Conversation wraps up Clearing up the Climate Debate with a statement from our authors: the debate is over. Let’s get on with it.
Over the past two weeks The Conversation has highlighted the consensus…
We're putting Christopher Monckton's scientific claims to the test.
Don Irvine/flickr
Christoper Monckton has returned to Australia where his unique brand of climate contrarianism is expected to get another good run in the media.
At The Conversation, we’re giving him a run too, but of…
Christopher Monckton deliberately misleads the public on climate change.
AAP
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Associate Professor John Abraham puts Christopher Monckton’s climate claims to the test.
This summer, the people of Australia will yet again be treated to a circus tour…
Just some of the people and organisations climate deniers think are coming to get them.
-(Jonathan)-/flickr, scottgun/flickr, Kew Gardens/fickr
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Professors Stephan Lewandowsky and Michael Ashley step into the twilight zone of climate change scepticism: where the sun is made of iron and the royals are out to get you…
China says Australia has a crucial role in reducing global emissions.
AAP
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Professor Ross Garnaut explains why Australia’s action on climate change policy is important.
There is a line of argument about international action that is used by those…
Scientists have begun to make more noise about climate change.
afagen/flickr
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Dr Michael Brown exposes the tactics used by purveyors of “non-science” to attack climate change research.
It takes a lot to get scientists out of their offices and marching…
A jury of one's peers should assess scientific claims.
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Director of the Global Change Institute, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg submits some climate “sceptics” to peer-review and finds them wanting.
Peer review is the basis of modern scientific…
Humans contribute energy to the global system at the rate of 15 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs a minute.
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute and Professor of Geology Mike Sandiford explores the staggering ways we influence the shape of the globe.
Aren’t we too puny…
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch says a price on carbon is a good idea.
AAP
How interesting to see Rupert Murdoch’s mother, Dame Elisabeth, gracing the front pages of Fairfax papers, signing a letter supporting putting a price on carbon.
Her son, Rupert Murdoch has also stated…
Sound the alarm. It's a scientist's job to alert the public to the threats of climate change.
AAP
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: CSIRO’s James Risbey explains why it’s not “alarmist” to describe the threat of climate change to the public and how the climate system will respond to half measures.
With…
An oil extraction project in Canada – a country absent from the Productivity Commission's carbon report.
AAP
One of the most basic questions to ask in any analysis of Australia’s carbon policy has always been: what is the rest of the world doing?
Last week, the Productivity Commission (PC) published a partial…
The decade ending 2010 was the warmest on record for Australia.
AAP
CLEARING UP THE CLIMATE DEBATE: Bureau of Meteorology scientist Karl Braganza explains why we know the climate is changing, and what’s causing it.
In public discussions of climate change, the full range…
Today, The Conversation launches a two-week series from the nation’s top minds on the science behind climate change and the efforts of “sceptics” to cloud the debate.
The overwhelming scientific evidence…
Building a wind farm in India offsets emissions here: but did the locals want a wind farm?
danishwindindustryassociation/Flickr
If climate change ever was in equal part a moral, economic and environmental challenge, then it is no longer so. Morality has fallen from attention.
The economists have long dominated the climate change…
Exploring possibilities can help us prepare for the future.
AAP
Predicting the future has never been more important – or more difficult. We have a strong sense that we need to prepare, but only a limited understanding of what exactly to prepare for.
While the broad…
Their voices may be loud, but climate change sceptics are in the minority.
AAP
Do you believe in climate change? It’s seemingly a simple question.
But there are many reasons why it is not. Who is asking, why, and who is being asked?
This is why we read such widely varying reports…
Of an estimated 30 two-footed ape species, we're the last ones standing.
Vermin Inc/Flickr
Does climate change seriously threaten to wipe out the human species if left unchecked? Examining our evolutionary past suggests it might once have been the perfect catalyst for our extinction. But now…
The tone of public debate sets the stage for threats to scientists.
AAP
The death threats received by Australian climate scientists such as Will Steffen, Andy Pitman and David Karoly haven’t come out of the blue.
They are an extension of the vicious attacks on climate science…
Is it getting hot in here?
jetsandzeppelins/Flickr
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released unpublished estimates of 2010 global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, and the news is not good.
Between 2003 and 2008, emissions had been rising at a…
Is firing aerosols into the sky the only answer?
AAP
The latest emissions data from the International Energy Agency suggest that our current methods for dealing with climate change have not worked.
This means we will have to adapt to climate change, for…
It's time to begin preparing for the "tertiary effects".
AAP
Public health experts have warned for more than two decades that climate change will harm human health.
Initially their attention focused on “primary” health effects (e.g heat waves, bush fires and flooding…
Not that large? $26 is the single most important number in Garnaut's report.
AAP
The most important single number in the latest Garnaut Review is 26, the proposed starting value for the carbon tax, expressed in dollars per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted.
By coincidence, this is exactly…
We must look to our past emissions to understand our true carbon footprint.
Ross Garnaut was unequivocal yesterday in responding to industry claims that Australia’s emission reductions would be irrelevant in an international context.
“I do not accept that Australia is a pissant…
A carbon tax priced at $26 per tonne could raise $11.5 billion in the first year, said economist Ross Garnaut.
AAP
Economist Professor Ross Garnaut has released his final report to the government on climate change and the economy.
The report says global warming is expected to continue and estimates that a $26 per…
With a bit of effort, we can be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
tuey/Flickr
How many wake up calls do we need? The latest International Energy Agency figures, published in today’s Guardian newspaper, show global carbon emissions are at their highest ever levels.
As IEA chief…
It's easier to sell a Green Deal in the UK's political climate.
Cabinet Office/Flickr
The UK government has released a Green Deal that, at face value, seems impossible to replicate in Australia. But how radical and ambitious is this policy?
The first thing to note is that the Green Deal…
Are carbon campaigns failing miserably on strategy?
jondoig/Flickr
By Will J Grant, Australian National University and Rod Lamberts, Australian National University
Braying climate naysayers are annoying; but so are all those well-intentioned carbon tax advocates who fail to address the core problems and make the same mistakes time and time again.
If we’re going…
The vibrant colours of autumn went missing in years of drought.
Michael Loke
If you’ve been for a leisurely stroll in your local park recently, you’ve probably noticed that autumn is in full swing.
All manner of brightly coloured leaves cover the ground and this fact alone is…
Act now or risk our way of life, Climate Commission says.
AAP
“The Critical Decade” for climate change action is upon us.
The Climate Commission’s first report, released today, says unless Australia takes action before 2020, our way of life is at threat.
“The risks…
The government has walked away from some of its solar commitments.
AAP
Sadly, the major environmental policy announced in the Federal Budget yesterday was not an environmental policy at all but the change to the Fringe Benefits Tax.
The government announced changes to the…
Change is happening, but who's responsible for getting us ready?
AAP
Australians, human and animal, have a good history of adapting to change. But how best to deal with a changing climate is emerging as a significant and often contentious policy challenge. It’s hard to…
A phased approach will help resolve divisions around carbon pricing.
AAP
Independent MP Tony Windsor was right in early March when he called for a debate on carbon pricing in Australia that is “a little bit more advanced than the word ‘lie’ and the word ‘tax’“.
The quality…
Obama's on his own when it comes to the environment.
AAP
As the US was brought to the brink of a government shutdown this weekend, one of the sticking points was Republican insistence that President Obama curtail the activities of the Environmental Protection…
FOOD SECURITY – Agriculture is one of the few industries in the world in which emissions must rise.
The carbon footprint of farming will become larger over the next 40 years as we feed a rapidly growing…
Our obsession with growth stops us taking meaningful action on climate change.
Flickr/hfabulous
While global warming deniers have been effective in their aim of sowing doubt in the public mind, the most powerful argument used over and over has been that cutting emissions will cut growth, and that…
Choked: Lagos crumbles under the weight of its population
AAP/Pius Utomi Ekpei
We are entering an era of massive population transfer – a rural exodus of unprecedented proportions. In Asia and Africa farmers and peasants are being lured to mega-cities. This brings myriad benefits…
When it comes to climate change policy, the numbers matter.
Philippe Put/Flickr
Economic arguments have come to dominate the Australian political debate about climate change. When it comes to climate policy, both the government and the opposition talk far more about taxes, trading…
Climate science is based on years of monitoring and analysis.
Flickr/glaciernps
Climate change is one of the greatest ecological, economic, and social challenges facing us today. The scientific evidence that human activities are contributing to climate change is compelling, and yet…
People won't change their behaviour unless they have a mental model of a problem.
ARM Climate Research Facility on Flickr
By Ben Newell, University of New South Wales and Andy Pitman, University of New South Wales
Most of us don’t really understand climate change, and for some of us that means we can’t accept it. Sure, the evidence is compelling, but sadly humans aren’t always interested in evidence when it comes…
Offsetting air travel is as simple as ticking a box on a website. So why aren't more of us doing it?
AAP
With the political debate over climate change getting muddier, many people who used to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon offsets are no longer doing so.
The market for carbon offsets…
La Niña brings us rain - global warming makes it worse.
AAP
As six weeks’ rain gets dumped on Sydney in a single day and Queensland cleans up after shocking floods, it’s not surprising people ask if global warming is to blame for our weather woes.
But following…
At least three-quarters of city commuters travel by car.
AAP
Emissions trading is back in the news and in national political debate, as is the related question of how it will affect Australian motorists.
Fair enough. This should receive attention because greenhouse…
Barren: the public is being let down on climate change reporting.
By Brian McNair, Queensland University of Technology
Foundation Essay — In his recent statements on the poor state of the Australian debate on global warming (meaning discussion of its causes, and how to deal with it in policy terms) Professor Ross Garnaut…
Too much focus on balance doesn't present the true picture.
AAP
While the evidence for climate change continues to strengthen, public acceptance of the science keeps declining. Closing the gap could be a question of better communication.
At the commencement of the…
