{"id":100625,"date":"2021-03-31T03:09:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T03:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realprogressives.org\/?p=41309"},"modified":"2021-03-31T03:09:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T03:09:14","slug":"seriously-ugly-heres-how-australia-will-look-if-the-world-heats-by-3c-this-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/03\/31\/seriously-ugly-heres-how-australia-will-look-if-the-world-heats-by-3c-this-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Seriously ugly: here\u2019s how Australia will look if the world heats by 3\u00b0C this century"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg<\/a>, The University of Queensland<\/a><\/em> and Lesley Hughes<\/a>, Macquarie University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a Conversation long read, so set aside time to take it all in.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine, for a moment, a different kind of Australia. One where bushfires on the catastrophic scale of Black Summer happen almost every year. One where 50\u2103 days in Sydney and Melbourne are common. Where storms and flooding have violently reshaped our coastlines, and unique ecosystems have been damaged beyond recognition \u2013 including the Great Barrier Reef, which no longer exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frighteningly, this is not an imaginary future dystopia. It\u2019s a scientific projection of Australia under 3\u2103 of global warming \u2013 a future we must both strenuously try to avoid, but also prepare for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sum of current commitments under the Paris climate accord puts Earth on track for 3\u2103 of warming this century. Research<\/a> released today by the Australian Academy of Science explores this scenario in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report, which we co-authored with colleagues, lays out the potential damage to Australia\u2019s ecosystems, food production, urban centres and human health. Unless the world changes course and dramatically curbs greenhouse gas emissions, this is how bad it could get. https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/515111257<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nations signed up to the Paris Agreement collectively aim to limit global warming to well below 2\u2103 this century and to pursue efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5\u2103. But on current emissions-reduction pledges, global temperatures are expected to<\/a> far exceed these goals, reaching 2.9\u2103 by 2100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Australia is the driest inhabited continent, and already has a highly variable climate of \u201cdroughts and flooding rains<\/a>\u201d. This is why of all developed nations, Australia has been identified<\/a> as one of the most vulnerable to climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The damage is already evident. Since records began in 1910, Australia\u2019s average surface temperature has warmed by 1.4\u2103<\/a>, and its open ocean areas have warmed by 1\u2103<\/a>. Extreme events \u2013 such as storms, droughts, bushfires, heatwaves and floods \u2013 are becoming more frequent and severe<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nA spotlight on the damage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n