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The Lesser-known Facts Regarding How Australia is Suffering from Climate Change

Australia still suffers from climate change. It has again broken its record of the warmest month in last November. Increasing climate change is also leading to health issues and more deaths in the country. 

Those who have grown up in this sunburnt country may feel that the heatwaves of last week are just business as usual. However, when you dig deep into the statistics, the truth that comes out is nothing less than alarming. Notably, it feels shocking after it is seen under the light of the last year's devastating bushfires that caused so many deaths of animals and then humans. Yes, Australians experienced its warmest November previous year. In other words, nothing seems to change as every year a new record of warmest month is being made, as it happened in 2019 and again in 2020. Many do not know that Sydney experienced continuous 40 degrees plus temperature, which occurred for the first time in 162 years. These are the latest global warming facts in Australia that have shaken the people of this country. 

Nevertheless, it is not only the environment that is suffering, but the number of Australians experiencing health issues has increased to a great degree. As a result, the number of deaths has risen more than it was before. Also, it is needless to say that the climate is changing rapidly, which is quite evident to the Australians. 

Environmental change's health effect has just prompted a 53.7 percent worldwide increase in warmth-related mortality between 2010 and 2018, primarily influencing Japan, China, central Europe, and northern India. During the same period, Australia has witnessed a 22 percent increase in the annual average number of days of ordinary people exposure to a bushfire that led to the death of 41 people last summer. Simultaneously, it has exposed many people to harmful air for a long time ahead. 

Even the exposure to mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria has increased beside the danger of zoonotic diseases seen by the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Effects on Wildlife

As we took a gander at the overall picture in 2020, Australia's experience is vital for an example of worldwide wildfires, including those that consumed the USA's western areas and the enormous region of arboreal backwoods consumed in Siberia. The job of environmental change in the arrangement of these massive fires and the effect on backwoods biological systems and biodiversity is of significant concern. Nonetheless, the same number of people know that these flames frequently occur in biological systems that rely upon fire to make diverse habitats. All in all, what's the issue? 

The issue is one of recurrence and intensity. A large number of the types of the Australian eucalypt timberlands require fires for seed shells to open and regeneration to happen. For a very long time, the native people groups utilized 'fire stick cultivating,' as it's been used to deal with the land. Also, to keep up the different environments that upheld the plants and creatures they relied on. Presently environmental change is causing more prolonged, more sultry, and drier summers. And more outrageous and severe climate conditions, making these flames more regular and extreme.

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Climate Change Has Stimulated Australia’s Unprecedented Fire

Climate change caused by human has had a significant impact on nature. There have been instances of wildfires, extreme weather events, floods and droughts, changing patterns in rainfall etc. this article discusses the role of human-made climate change in boosting the devastating fire outbreak in Australia.

Researchers have discovered that human-caused climate change had a massive impact on the devastating wildfires in Australia. The risks that led to widespread burning is 30% more likely than in a world without global warming and climate change in Australia.

Extreme heatwaves and temperature fluctuations have stimulated the fire to take place on a massive scale. The influence of climate change in Australia in the overwhelming fire season is enormous, according to research studies.

Record-breaking dryness and warmth in the country led to extreme wildfire outbreak, with an estimated 50 million acres burned. This includes over 16 million acres in South Eastern Australia – the most affected of all. Approximately 34 people got killed and 6,000 houses and other structures were destroyed.

Another research study revealed that wildfire in Australia was not only a result of extreme heat and precipitation, but humidity, wind and other factors have also had an impact.

The influence of climate change has been analyzed by researchers using a measurement tool known as the Fire Weather Index. This takes all factors into account in order to evaluate the risks pertaining to wildfire in a particular area at a particular time. The researchers have calculated the value across South Eastern Australia during December and January, which was the peak burning period.

Those calculated values were extraordinarily high and 30% more likely to be higher than the times before 1900. In other words, scientists and researchers believe that such high index values are at least four times more likely now than before.

The study has also revealed the impact of climate change on severe heat in Australia during the fire seasons, and lack of rainfall. The extreme rise in temperature plays a significant role in risking a fire, and the influence is easy to detect on fire measurement tools.

Climate scientists have been conducting extreme event attribution studies in order to address the inevitable questions about the role of climate change and global warming in extreme weather events. The World Weather Attribution consortium – a group of scientists, conducted new research to determine the severity of the impact of climate change.

Wildfire is a complex phenomenon, according to scientists. A myriad number of factors can drive them that include weather, fuel, sources of ignition, fuel availability and whatnot. This indicates that the world has started to throw devastating events like wildfires at us unless we realize the importance of taking actions to prevent change in the climate. If we fail, the world is going to be a scary place to be.

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Why the Consequence of Global Warming in Australia has been Quite Devastating?

If you are new to this discussion or someone who has been a doubter regarding global warming and its devastating effects, then it is time to understand and accept certain facts. The first point is that global warming is real, and it is has been plaguing the world for decades. Therefore, becoming aware of the consequences of global warming in Australia will be a wise choice. These points will help you to become more aware of the problem and do your part for the environment. 

The Thoughtless Acts of People and Global Warming 

One significant point of discussion and potential solution regarding global warming is people realising how their careless actions are affecting the planet. For instance, you using one plastic bag or keeping the AC at your home your car on all the time may not seem significant enough. But, when millions of people do the same action, the effect becomes too large to ignore. The primary cause behind global warming is the growing retention of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. 

The Points of Consequence You Should Know About 

This gas has created a thick layer in the atmosphere. That layer is keeping the heat from the sun trapped, increasing the temperature of the planet effectively. Other harmful gases like methane are only adding to the predicament. All of these factors are coming together to cause a catastrophic change to the planet, known as global warming. This is the phenomenon causing the earth's temperature to increase, which is causing the following issues: 

Global warming is causing irregular rainfall which is resulting in     extensive droughts in some places, whereas floods in others. In both     situations, normal human life is getting disrupted along with the local     ecosystem. It is having a considerable impact on the agriculture of earth,     destroying corps and clearing ways for future famines. 

Due to the growing heat, humidity is growing in the atmosphere,     which is resulting in very uncomfortable summer months. Along with that,     the usual summertime heat waves are becoming more intense. All these     factors are making Australia, a naturally dry country, drier. Due to that,     horrifying bushfires are getting more frequent, more devastating and more     intense. 

Due to the unnatural rise in the temperature of the planet, various     ecosystems are getting destroyed. For instance, the CO2 is getting mixed     with ocean water raising its temperature and upsetting the pH-balance of     the water. As a result, the corals in ocean water are dying, and that     phenomenon is known as bleaching. Due to this massive coral bleaching,     other organisms that are dependent on corals are also dying away. This is     causing the end of some of the most unique and vibrant ecosystems in the     world. 

The Devastation Global Warming is Bringing 

These are some devastating and noticeable effects of global warming. There are many additional effects which are either overlooked or go unnoticed. Whatever the outcome is, the ultimate harm is coming to the residents of the planet, which is never desirable.

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How Warming Climate is Implicated in Australia

Global warming played a big role in generating the long-lasting heat waves that fueled Australia's deadly 2019-2020 wildfire season, a new study by an international team of scientists has concluded.

Human-caused warming increased the chances by at least 30 percent for the extreme fire weather that dried out soil, grass, brush and trees, the research informed. The heat buildup caused by greenhouse gases probably played an even bigger role than the researchers were able to demonstrate, said University of Oxford climate scientist Friederike Otto, one of the authors of the new study. 

Further she added that it was at least 30 percent, but it's likely much higher as the models underestimate extreme heat trends which are one of the very important parts of the equation.

In context with World Weather Attribution's other recent studies, the big takeaway for Otto is the renewed finding the evidence of global warming in Australia is driving heat waves, which contribute to other extremes like droughts and fires.

She said that it is a real game-changer in most parts and it is different from most other impacts. "Climate change makes the weather completely different. So we need to predict the heat waves in better way so we can be preparing for it. Many parts of the world don't even record heat waves, so there is a lack of awareness that these events are happening."

Massive Devastation

Wildfires burned in Australia from November 2019 through February 2020 across about 73,000 square miles, an area nearly as big as Nebraska, killing at least 34 people and an estimated 1.5 billion animals. The fires, some sparked by lightning, others by arson, also sent choking smoke wafting across major cities in eastern Australia for weeks on end. 

Some of the smoke even reached parts of Antarctica and darkened the snow and ice on New Zealand glaciers. The fires also spewed about 900 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, about double Australia's annual fossil fuel emissions, other scientists estimated.

A Global Warming Fingerprint

In the new study, the scientists analyzed weekly, monthly and seasonal fire-weather measurements across the areas that burned most intensely, between the Great Dividing Range and the sea in New South Wales and Victoria. 

The findings include a sharp increase in the risk of fire weather since 1979. More long-term, the overall probability for dangerous fire conditions has increased more than four times since 1900. The chances of high fire danger in any one month have increased, and if the average global temperature increase reaches 2 degrees Celsius, fire weather like this past summer would be at least four times more likely, compared to 1900. The researchers also found that:

Global warming has increased the warmth of heat waves by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (1.8 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1900.

A heat wave of this intensity is at least 10 times more likely now than it would have been around 1900.

The observed trend of extreme weather is outpacing the trends predicted by climate models. 

There is no attributable trend in Australia toward extremes of dry weather like the ones observed in 2019.

The extreme fire weather conditions of 2019-2020 were intensified by record-setting shifts in regional weather patterns.

There is evidence that climate change is increasing the fire risk that the attribution study didn't capture, said Nerilie Abram, a climate extremes researcher with Australian National University and the Australian Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes.

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How Changing is Climate Affecting the Whole World?

Climate change is a serious concern today. Human-made activities on the planet have increased mainly. Due to industrialization and other events, humans are on the verge of facing destruction caused by nature. This article shows how global warming is having a profound impact on the planet so far.

You probably have heard of global warming by now. It is a global issue right now, and according to scientists, humans cause most of it. The earth has been warming overwhelmingly since the past few decades.

Climate scientists are putting their best effort into figuring out what is causing the planet to raise its temperature. It is a scientific fact that greenhouse gases are responsible for warming the earth as they trap the heat come from the sun for the survival of living beings.

How humans are responsible for global warming is – they are causing the level of greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide, methane) by activities like burning fossil fuels. Global warming and climate change in Australia are a growing concern for scientists, and they are trying to reduce it.

The Impact of Heat-trapping Gases on Earth

Heat-trapping gases or greenhouse gases work to prevent the sun's energy from escaping the planet's atmosphere. The process is referred to as the greenhouse effect that makes the planet inhabitable for a living beings.

Unfortunately, due to some human-made activities since the past decades, carbon dioxide gas level in the air is growing. Scientists believe fossil fuel burning is an abundant source of carbon dioxide emission in the air.

Besides, agriculture and industrial activities are also responsible for increasing greenhouse gas emissions in the air. Coal, natural oil, and gas burning for electricity and transportation have led to the increase as well. Methane and nitrous oxide greenhouse gases are also increasing unprecedentedly, thanks to the human activities on earth.

With the industrialization process, the world has got warmer than it was before. This is what contributes to the ice melting in the northern regions of the earth. Satellite reports have revealed dramatic destruction in the Arctic sea-ice since the past decades.

The impact of the change in climate is seen on the vegetation as well as animals on the planet. Animals are compelled to move from their territories; changes have been shown in the fruiting and flowering sessions as well.

If we do not become conscious and feel the responsibility to take action to prevent climate change, the impact would be detrimental.

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Usage of More Renewable Energy Can Reduce Greenhouse Gases

Even though Australia is a leading exporter of coal in the world plus a leader in the emission of greenhouse gas, still many companies have come up to provide a renewable source of energy. Such initiatives are getting stronger each day with more people committing to the increased usage of renewable energy.

Australia is not only the world's largest coal exporter but also a leader in the emission of greenhouse gases. Natural gas and coal exports are the major sources of revenue for Australia. However, this nation also can make the best use of renewable energy to a great extent. 

Even though the potential of the country’s ability to harness renewable energy has not been measured in numbers, yet some companies have already committed itself to the cause. For instance, AGL Australia has invested extensively in hydro and wind projects as well as on the ongoing developments in solar, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas and bagasse. Another renowned company, Origin Energy with a fantastic portfolio of green energy opportunities, are operating the Cullerin range wind farm plus offering photovoltaic panels for the generation of solar energy.

It must be understood that the sustainable forms of energy only make up 8% of the total electricity supply in Australia. However, the sustainable source of energy is slowly getting the attention of the households and the industries with time and with the different programs of the government. In this nation, every state has its initiatives to encourage people to use more eco-friendly sources of energy.

Today in South Australia, a lot of wind power is generated compared to any Australian state or territory. AGL Adelaide, TRUenergy are those companies which support green energy, usually addresses the state energy requisites.

Similarly, Queensland has a wealth of eco-friendly power sources that include, biomass, geothermal, solar, wind and hydro. Also, the present local government has implemented the Queensland Renewable Energy Plan that has provided a Queensland Wind Map to identify the areas of wind speed as well as the strength throughout the state. The new Solar Water rebate is being offered to the locals to promote solar energy or the use of solar heaters replacing electric storage hot water systems. The Queensland Solar Atlas highlights the names of the top sites of the commercial solar plants. Australia Power & Gas, AGL Brisbane and many other companies have dedicated themselves to helping the state by providing a renewable energy source for the different environmental pursuits.

In contemporary times, people in Australia are being encouraged to environment harmless energy because of the climatic changes caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The best example of such initiatives is asking people to install solar systems in their house because it not only saves money but also decreases the use of fossil fuels to make electricity. Like as said before, the federal government are also offering rebates to promote renewable energy use instead of fossil-fueled powered electricity.

Even though electricity in Australia is still mainly powered by coal, still many companies like AGL Gas & Electricity, TRUenergy have come up to help in providing a renewable energy source. This is just the beginning; we will be able to see more joint initiatives in the upcoming days when the usage of fossil fuel electricity will come to the minimum percentage.