CSIRO DescribesThe Runaway Train Headed For Australia In This Age Of "Aspirational" Goals

[hatrack]

EDIT

In short, we are already past the point that locks in 2C of warming, and will without question go well beyond it. Even a 3C rise is looking very hard to avoid. Very few people, even among environmentalists, have truly faced up to what the science is telling us.

This is because the implications of 3C, let alone 4C or 5C, are so horrible that we look to any possible scenario to head it off, including the canvassing of "emergency" responses such as the suspension of democratic processes. What does this mean for Australia? The prediction of impacts is not a sure science, but here are some of the best estimates from the CSIRO as to what a 3-4C global temperature increase would mean for Australia.

• A doubling of the number of very hot days (over 35C) in the eastern states.

• A doubling or trebling of deaths among older people due to heat stroke.

• Catastrophic mortality of coral species, including a 95 per cent decrease in the distribution of Great Barrier Reef species.

• Loss of more than half of the core habitat for eucalyptus species. Imagine our country with more than half of the gum trees gone.

• Possible 50 per cent fall in water flows in the Murray Darling Basin. We are already caught up in intractable fights over the water in the system.

• Substantial increases in extreme weather events, including cyclones, bushfires and storm tides.

In other words, this country will shift into a different and very unpleasant climate, and it will last for hundreds of years.

EDIT

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22383639-27197,00.html

[kestrel91316]

1. Well, THIS is one way to lower water demand:

".......A doubling or trebling of deaths among older people due to heat stroke......"