The Week That Was - January 9 2013

This week the extreme weather is already at record breaking level, what is Bob Brown doing now, the community is debating South Australia’s largest wind farm and what the hell is Rupert Murdoch on about? All this and more in the first Week That Was for 2013.

---

"And while you would not put any one event down to climate change... we do know that over time as a result of climate change we are going to see more extreme weather events."
- Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the site of Tasmanian bushfire ruins

Happy New Year. It has been a complicated start to 2013, with record breaking heatwaves serving as a reminder of what is to come this year. Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria are coping with bushfires.

In essence Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology released a special statement explaining that a record had been broken with six consecutive days having an average maximum, across the country, of over 39 degrees C. This is unusual, especially without the influence of an El Nino event. 

The Climate Commission explains that this extreme heat is exacerbated by climate change. And our own Tony Mohr is published on the matter. Of course Peter Hannam discusses the issue of insurance as we watch in horror as fires break out across the nation.

The discussion about extreme weather has attracted international attention and many of us are looking to find ways to approach the issue. Interestingly The Climate Reality Project gets a mention ….

And while former US Vice president Al Gore is explaining via his blog that this phenomenon is global and worrying, he seems to be attracting some unwanted attention care of our friends at The Australian. At the same time, Twitter is alive with #algorewassright

With the New Year, ACF has launched its Green Energy Watch. If you are interested, download the report here. Our own Climate Leader Peter Boyer writes in The Mercury his view of how we might transform the energy sector.

The discussion around the Ceres windfarm planned for the Yorke Peninsula is in the local media. If it goes ahead it will provide clean energy and jobs for many people in the region. We are watching closely as the Department of Energy in the US plans to establish a facility able to test the offshore wind capabilities in the States.

Rupert Murdoch is not being particularly helpful in his assessment of what concentrations of carbon dioxide will do the Earth. Hmmm.

And for anyone who is wondering what Bob Brown is doing in his retirement – he seems to have taken to boating … and he will help spearhead the Sea Shepard’s anti-whaling activities. While we are on the topic of things maritime, there has been an amazing discovery – of Great Barrier Reef corals at depths of 410 feet under sea level.

Meantime the boffins at NASA tell us melting ice bergs might cool the Earth surface. That is kind of … not reassuring. And at the same time, David Daly, ambassador for the European Union delegation to Aust & NZ, says despite tough economic times the EU remains committed to addressing climate change. Great, let’s see some of that commitment put to the test.

Welcome home everyone. Stay safe and cool until next week …


Photo courtesy of Flickr user { pranav } – License: CC BY 2.0