Australia Faces Another Summer of Stress

14.10.19 By
This content is more than 4 years old

Australia faces another summer of stress with more heatwaves and bushfires than normal likely to grip the country. 

“Climate change is causing havoc in Australia. We recently experienced winter bushfires followed by fires that ravaged rainforests. The summer outlook shows more extreme heat and fire conditions for the months ahead,” said the Climate Council’s CEO, Amanda McKenzie.

Ms McKenzie’s comments follow the release of the Bureau of Meteorology’s Severe Weather Season Outlook. 

The Outlook finds that southern and eastern Australia are likely to experience more heatwaves than usual this summer because the positive Indian Ocean Dipole is very strong. It is combined with very low rainfall over much of the country for the past 3 years.

“The Australian summer was once synonymous with rest and relaxation. Climate change means it’s morphing into a season of anxiety,” said Ms McKenzie.

“The evidence of climate change is before our eyes, and yet our Federal leaders have theirs firmly shut. It is unconscionable that those running the country don’t have any policies to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.  Instead, they go up and up and up,” she said.

“We must radically reduce our emissions and transition to renewable energy with storage. As the sunniest country in the world, and one of the windiest, Australia has enormous potential to be a renewables powerhouse,” she said.

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