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Around 2,000 people surrounded Parliament House in Canberra last weekend wearing red and carrying banners emblazoned with the slogan Climate Emergency. It was the first day’s sitting of Parliament for 2009 and the protestors had travelled to Canberra to let the Australian government know how angy they are about Rudd’s lack of action on climate Continue Reading →
Insurance companies have begun altering their policies to deal with the threat of climate change. Most house and buildings insurance now includes sea level rise due climate change and storm surges under the heading Sea Movements in the list of things which are excluded from the cover. Some companies offer separate policies to cover sea level rises and related incidents. Insurer IAG explored the possibility of a whole of life coastal insurance package, which would return a fixed amount to a home owner if their house and land is inundated by the sea. Writing in Money Management last week, Comminsure’s Jeffrey Scott said that the life insurance industry will also have to perform a risk analysis of climate change because of the likely increase in disease from plagues of mosquitoes and mice.
The energy secretary of the United States, Stephen Chu, told the LA Times last week that he expects California’s water supply to disappear and agriculture to fail as a result of climate change. “I don’t see how they can keep their cities going,” he said in a frank interview. Other media have described the scenario painted by the Nobel Laureate as ‘stark’ but it is in keeping with the serious approach to climate change taken by the new administration. President Obama has held daily meetings on the nation’s response to climate change and officials have adopted a “science first” approach, noting that economic recovery depends on food security and minimising natural disasters.
People on small farms or domestic blocks in the Riverina are urged to report any signs of locusts on their property.
NSW Plague Locust Commissioner Graeme Eggleston said every bit of information helped authorities in the fight to control the second generation of locusts.
“We have had information suggesting quite a bit of locust activity on some of these small acreage properties both in and on the outskirts of towns in the area, and we appeal to these property owners to let us know,” he said.
From The Land
Heatwave temperatures across southern NSW, Victoria and South Australia are burning hopes for a successful wine vintage and fruit crop this year.
Winemakers have been forced this year, to start harvesting earlier than usual.
After near-perfect conditions in the south earlier this season, temperatures now reaching in the 40+ degrees are playing havoc with fruit still on vines.
Australians can expect to experience longer periods of extreme heat as global warming forces temperatures higher, a weather expert warned today.
David Jones, the acting head of the National Climate Centre, says the recent heatwave conditions in south-eastern Australia, are related to climate change.
“People will need to get used to these sorts of heatwaves,” he says.