Lethal Heating: 11/27/18

27/11/2018

Outgoing Australian Antarctic Division Boss Sounds Climate Change Warning

ABC - Carla Howarth

Nick Gales became the director of the Australian Antarctic Division in 2015 after years as a research scientist. (Supplied: AAD)

Dr Gales will continue his role on the International Whaling Commission. (ABC News: Carla Howarth)

Nick Gales has lost count of the number of times he has ventured to Antarctica.

He thinks he has spent roughly three years on the frozen continent, but he won't be going back.
The vet and wildlife biologist began working at the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) in 2001 and spent four years as chief scientist.
He took on the role of director in 2015 and will retire on Thursday after a successful career driving climate change research and working to protect whales.
Despite losing count of the number of times he's ventured south, Dr Gales vividly remembers with awe his first winter in Antarctica.
"It's indescribable," he said.

"You see the photographs of Antarctica and it's a truly beautiful place and you can tell that, but to experience it first hand is something very, very special.

"Certainly I recall in my first winter south seeing the southern lights, getting up in the middle of the night in winter minus 40 degrees, crisp and very, very cold seeing these dancing lights in the sky, is absolutely extraordinary."

The Aurora Australis is one of the highlights of being an Antarctic scientist, Dr Gales says. (Supplied: Shane Ness)

But Dr Gales fears Antarctica is being threatened by climate change.
"It's almost difficult to overstate the important role that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean play in actually driving our climate," he said.

Sea ice retreat is exposing ice shelf fronts to destructive wave action. (Australian Antarctic Division) (ABC News)

"With human climate change, those things are expressed in Antarctica and that changes the way Antarctica will affect our daily lives.
"Sea levels rise, as warming atmosphere and warming oceans break down those ice shelves."
Dr Gales said the ice shelves are rapidly breaking down in the Arctic.

"And we're beginning to see in parts of Antarctica rapid change down there as well," he said.

"Everyone is showing very clear evidence that humans are driving climate change and are predicting broadly what is going to happen."
Dr Gales is passionate about conservation and will continue in his role as Australia's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission.
"I don't think in these big areas, individuals on their own make the difference, so I hope I've contributed a big deal to the team effort, that has seen that shift in the agenda towards conservation," he said.
"There is absolutely no scientific basis for killing a whale in the name of science.
"We can do just as well with non-lethal science and we can do far better with our understanding of marine mammals."
Australia has long opposed commercial whaling and in 2010, the Rudd government challenged Japan's illegal whaling practices in the International Court of Justice.

Dr Gales (left) helps with seal research in his earlier years as an Antarctic scientist. (Supplied: AAD)

In 2014, the court concluded the country's whaling program was for reasons other than scientific study and ruled all permits were to be revoked.
Dr Gales played a role in the case.
"It was a privilege to participate in Australia's court case against Japan in the International Court of Justice, where the first independent arbiter, the highest court in the land, concluded just that, that there wasn't a scientific case being made," he said.
Dr Gales will now spend his time sailing and travelling with his wife.
The AAD's new director will be announced in the coming days.

Nick Gales (left) with seal researchers on Macquarie Island. (Supplied: AAD)

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Wanted: Citizen Climate Scientists For Nationwide Study

Fairfax - Elliot Williams

If you've ever fancied yourself as an amateur climate scientist, you now have an opportunity to participate in an Australia-wide micro-climate study.
The project, conducted by RMIT and the University of NSW, aims to explore the urban heat island effect in greater detail.

Canberra temperatures shown as departures from the average temperature of 35 degrees. Temperatures captured by thermal imagery on February 9, 2017 and taken from the CSIRO report 'Mapping surface urban heat in Canberra'. Credit: CSIRO

Summary
In a collaboration between RMIT and the University of New South Wales, the Citizen Science Project will mobilise a league of enthusiastic citizen scientists to assist Australia’s leading Universities and scientific organisations with their research.
This project, administered by RMIT University in collaboration with University of New South Wales, is one of the successful grants announced by the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Arthur Sinodinos.
This research being undertaken by academic staff in the school of Property, Construction and Project Management (PCPM), RMIT University, has been approved by the RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee.

Participation in the study would involve Canberrans measuring wind, temperature and humidity in Tuggeranong, Woden and Gungahlin to form baseline climate data for these areas.
The urban heat island effect is a phenomenon where certain urban areas will become significantly hotter than other parts of the city due to the concentration of built environments and lack of water or vegetation.
The ACT government commissioned CSIRO to produce a report, which was released earlier this year.
The report found that land surface temperatures in Canberra could differ by as much as 22 degrees. Canberra's inner suburbs were typically cooler while areas with large expanses of impervious surfaces such as rooftops and paving, such as industrial areas or new housing developments, were hotter.
Clusters of neighbourhoods with high heat exposure were found in Gungahlin, west Belconnen and Molonglo Valley.
One of the reports authors, Guy Barnett said the warmer temperatures were caused by heat being absorbed into roads and buildings and then slowly emitted into the urban environment. Vegetation and bodies of water, such as Lake Burley Griffin, could significantly reduce temperatures in nearby suburbs.
"We know in the ACT, with climate change, our summers are going to become warmer, we’re going to see more frequent and longer lasting heat wave events," Mr Barnett said.
"What this report does is help to point to areas where we have high heat at the moment in Canberra and points to some of the actions how you might mitigate that heat and adapt to a warming climate."
Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability Shane Rattenbury urged Canberrans to get involved with the new study to help get a better understanding of the capital's micro-climates.
“We would love to see around 100 volunteers come together to help track the changing climate in
our local centres," Mr Rattenbury said.
"Together, we can make a real difference when it comes to understanding how the climate is changing, and what factors contribute to the urban heat island effect."
He said the three town centres were chosen as they have substantially varied climate data, such as Tuggeranong being generally cooler thanks to its lake, town park and surrounding woodlands.
To be involved in the project you must be available for two hours from 2pm to 4pm on February 8, 9 or 10 next year. Those interested should register online at citizenscienceproject.org.au

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Why Aren't They Doing Anything?: Students Strike To Give Climate Lesson

Fairfax - Peter Hannam

This Friday, November 30, thousands of Australian students will go on strike, demanding their politicians start taking serious action on climate change.
The movement, School Strike 4 Climate Action, has been inspired by a 15-year-old Swedish student, Greta Thunberg, who started boycotting classes before parliamentary elections in her nation on September 9, and continues to skip school every Friday. She also has a particular message for Australia.
Students in each state capital and across 20 regional Australian centres will walk out of their classrooms this week to tell politicians that more of the same climate inaction is not good enough.
Here are some of the lessons they hope to teach.

'If we really want a better planet Earth'

Lucie Atkin-Bolton, an 11-year-old student and school captain at Forest Lodge Public School, wants an end to 'coal-sourced energy', and is willing to go on strike for it. Credit: Christopher Pearce

Lucie Atkin-Bolton, 11, who will soon graduate as school captain at Sydney's Forest Lodge Public School, says Australia should be sourcing 100 per cent of its electricity from solar power: "I can't understand why it hasn't been done yet."
"Right now the political leaders aren’t doing very much at all," Lucie says. "They’re more promoting coal-sourced energy when, if we really want to have a better planet Earth, we need renewable energy."
Climate change "is a crisis", she says. "It’s not going to happen in two or three decades - it’s happening now."
Lucie says "whole islands will disappear" as warming lifts sea levels, and the time for thinking is running out.
"We can’t just talk about it, we have to act," she says. "We have to make a change."
While Lucie hopes to attend the main strike event at NSW Parliament, school principal Stephen Reed has been supportive, she says. Students remaining behind are expected to be involved in school-wide activities.

'Fear' is a motivator

Vivienne Paduch, a 14-year-old student from Manly Selective school, says 'striking for climate action is more important than missing a day of school'. Credit: Christopher Pearce

Vivienne Paduch isn't waiting for Friday's gathering - where the Manly Selective school student will also be a speaker - to get active. This Sunday, she'll be busy at a "Crafternoon", creating banners and honing her speech.
The 14-year-old says Australia needs to cut its carbon footprint "dramatically" and soon. The run of "crazy, extreme weather events" - from the NSW drought to destruction of the Great Barrier Reef and recent unusual fires within the Arctic Circle - are part of her motivation.
"Firstly it's fear," Vivienne says. "I'm really scared for me and for my generation and the generations that are going to come after me from the implications of what climate change will mean.
"It's only going to get worse if we don't take action now.
"Striking for climate action is more important [to me] than missing a day of school.
"With all the support we've got this year, I can see it happening again next year," Vivienne says. "It's very important to keep pressure on the politicians."

'Young people have to step up'

Aisheeya Huq, a 16-year-old student from Auburn Girls High School, says young people 'are going to have to face the consequences' of climate change long after the current political leaders are gone. Credit: Christopher Pearce

For Aisheeya Huq, a year 10 student at Auburn Girls High School, the School Strike is a natural extension of her volunteer work for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
The 16-year-old says her generation can't ignore climate change and environmental destruction and the justice issues that flow from them.
"We’re going to have to face the consequences [from the work of] a lot of the policymakers and politicians ... due to their lack of understanding and perhaps care for the future," Aisheeya says.
"Young people have realised that because we are going to be affected, we have to step up, and we have to do something about it."
Politicians talk about the importance of education and shouldn't be surprised when students join the climate dots. "If you care so much about our education and what you’re teaching us, why aren’t you doing anything about it?" she says.

'Massive emergency'

Callum Neilson-Bridgefoot (left) and Tully Boyle, Castlemaine students who helped set off an Australian campaign. Credit: Eddie Jim

Students from Castlemaine, a town in the Victorian goldfields north-west of Melbourne, were the originators of the School Strike movement in Australia after reading about Greta Thunberg and also the special Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 1.5 degree report.
Tully Boyle, a 15-year-old at Castlemaine Secondary College, has already taken part in several school boycotts, and this week took a train into Melbourne with other students to deliver demands to politicians.
"It's a massive emergency," Tully says. "We want all governments to take it seriously."
She says heatwaves, flooding and worsening bushfires are a portent of much worse to come if temperature rises reach 4-5 degrees - the course they are now on.
Tully would like to see support for renewable energy and greater promotion of electric vehicles given priority.
"Climate change matters more for us," she says. "We need to fight for our future."

Students from Castlemaine in central Victoria journeyed down to Melbourne this week to press the issue for urgent climate action from our political leaders. Credit: Eddie Jim

Callum Neilson-Bridgefoot, an 11-year-old student at Castlemaine Primary School, has also taken part in four strike activities already.
"Sacrificing a little bit of my education will help in the long term," Callum said. "I work really hard when I'm at school.
"Any political leader can really make a difference - they have much more power than we do," he says. "Right now what they are doing is not enough."
Greta's actions were a key inspiration. "I was really moved," Callum says. "It was really brave and very powerful."

'It was so easy'

Greta Thunberg, the 15-year-old Swedish student whose 'school strike' has drawn international attention and many followers. Credit: Anders Hellberg

Greta Thunberg has seen her Friday vigils for action on climate change copied in many parts of the world, including Finland, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Canada and Britain. "And Australia of course!" she says.
"The thing I think surprised me the most was that it was so easy," she tells Fairfax Media, via email.
"I remember thinking before I started 'why has no one ever done this before?'"
The solution, she says, is to keep climate change in front of the public's attention.
"All we need to do is treat it like a crisis with headlines and news reporting all the time. And I mean A L L the time," she writes. "As if there was a war going on."
Greta wants her Australian acolytes to know she is aware of their actions: "I would tell them that they are making a huge difference. I read about them in newspapers up here in Europe and it's hopeful beyond my imagination.
"And Australia is a huge climate villain, I am sorry to say. Your carbon footprint is way bigger than Sweden and we are among the worst in the world."
Greta says leading by example is important, as is "saying the things that are too uncomfortable to say".
"We may not like that we have to change some of our habits, like flying or eating meat and dairy. But we do have to. Because our carbon budget has been spent and there is nothing left for future generations or the ecosystems we rely on," she says.

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