The Impact of Climate Change Upon Australia Essay

“Scientists’ overwhelming conclusion is that climate change is happening and human activity is the primary culprit,” (“Climate Change”). The world we live in is falling apart more and more every day. Pollution; Global Warming; Climate Change; These are all problems that caused by people who have come forward in recent years, one of the biggest issues is climate change. The United States government needs to take aggressive steps to combat climate change because scientist have warned that if the climate changing progresses at its current rate, it could have disastrous consequences for life on Earth. Data shows that climate change is linked to rising sea levels, droughts, an increase in the risk of extinction of many species, and the increase in severe storms. With all the issues that are connected to climate change we are not doing enough to try to counteract the lasting effects it has on our environment.

From the shores of Easter Island all the way to the catastrophic world environmental events like Hurricane Katrina and extreme drought, the world and the environment has been facing unparalleled effects from climate change that have only continued to reach further extences. Climate change is rising up to be one of the key security threats in the 21st century for not only America but also all across the globe. Climate change threatens to go against

A major effect of climate change will be the increase of insecurity around the world threatening peace in the US. A major concern has come from multiple reports created by the pentagon worried about the resulting scarcity and degradation of resources

Drought, heatwaves, bushfires, longer fire season, floods, sea level rising, oceans warming and becoming more acidic, all these are happening because of the climate change Australia is experiencing.

The authors are trying to find a relationship between climate change, public health, and national security. They argue that climate change poses a threat to national safety and public health hence; it needs to be addressed. Currently, a majority of Americans are dismissive of the issue of climate change. The authors argue that portraying climate change as a threat to national security and public health will make the population have an interest in it. In particular, they assume focusing on the causes, impacts, and solutions to climate change will trigger curiosity among the citizens. As a result, they will want to find more information on the issue. The

change is thus a non-traditional security (NTS) threat to the state's well-being, as it is non-

Climate change is a major problem that’s continuing to arise with the lack of action that states have taken to stop the increase of global warming. This phenomenon affects both national security and human security across the world. National security is a nation that the government, along with the legislation, should protect the state and citizens against different kinds of “national” crises through different power projections. Examples of the power projections are political power, diplomacy, economic power, military might, and more self help methods. Human security is a combination of threats that are associated with war, genocide, and the displacement of populations. In short, human security means freedom from violence and from the fear of violence.

My extended essay topic will be the climate change in Australia. The question I want to investigate is the impacts of climate change in Australia and the solutions of the climate change. Climate change is tested by an increased in temperatures, the concentration of haze and amounts of rainfall. Climate change is definitely relevant to the Australasia because Australia has one of the world’s largest global warming emissions rates. The climate change in Australia causes many problems due to the fossil fuel are burned. First of all, the climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events, such as the spring of 2013 has been Australia’s warmest on record. The temperature for the season was 1.57°C above the 1961–1990 average. Humans

“Climate change is not just a distant future threat. It is the main driver behind rising humanitarian needs and we are seeing its impact.”

The state in Australia most vulnerable to the effects of climate change is Queensland (Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence, 2010, page 23). Queensland has one of the world’s highest rates of greenhouse gas emissions per capita, which has only continued to increase over the last decade (Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence, 2010, page 23). The last decade was the warmest recorded in Queensland’s history, with temperatures being 0.58 degrees Celcius higher than the average for the past four decades (Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence, 2010, page 1). It is estimated that by 2050, temperatures will have risen an additional 1.0-2.2 degrees Celcius and rainfall will decrease up to seven percent (Queensland

To understand how Climate Change is a threat to national security, it is important to first consider what climate change is, and how it differs from all previously defined threats to national security. “Climate change is a broadly inclusive term that refers to a long-term (decades to centuries) change in any of a number of environmental conditions for a given place and time—such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, cloudiness, wind and air circulation pattern, etc.” Climate scientists project average global temperatures to become hotter, sea levels to rise higher, droughts to last longer, food and water supplies to diminish, health problems to increase, ecosystems to forever alter, and the global population of climate change refugees to grow as civilizations are displaced or lost to extreme natural disasters. The security implications of these changes are that they can and will provide future avenues to inflate destabilizing conflicts that threaten national security. Historically, national security has meant

Climate change can also be defined as a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods (UNFCC, 1992; Obioha, 2009). It involves a change in both the mean meteorological values and variability of these values. The expected change in mean climatic conditions is expected to be a slow process, occurring over many decades (Obeta, 2009). Climate variability describes seasonal changes, inter-annual variability and the likely frequency of weather-related intense events. Climate change and climatic variability are frequently discussed in literature and they add to a complex bond of stress to the economy through their impact on key sectors or on the important drivers of growth, including agriculture and natural resources, water, health and infrastructure. Climate change is real; it

Every human being is not equally susceptible for climate change problems. The people who are less dependent on social forms and economic benefits of the capital are likely to be influenced by the change more drastically. On the other hand, the extent of dependency on natural resources and ecosystem makes people more sensitive of climate change. The less dependency can make people less effective of the risks (S. Bachu, 12 May 2003). In other words, the extent to which

Science is beginning to support global warming, much to the dismay of non-believers like Maurice Newman. According to NASA, global temperatures have risen .8° since 1880 with more than two-thirds of that increase occurring after 1975. To put this in proper perspective, a one to two degree decrease in temperature was enough to plunge the world into the last ice age (Carlowicz). While many governments have implemented programs to slow CO2 emissions, they either fail to adequately decrease emissions or do not go far enough in reducing them. The 2014 World Energy Outlook estimates that at the current rate of increase, greenhouse gases are set to cause a global warming of closer to 3.6° Celsius, well above the 2050 2° Celsius target (2). If Australia has the highest per capita carbon emissions of all developed nations (Medhora and Milman), they cannot wait to change their policy on greenhouse gas emissions. Yet in a never-ending quest for power and economic control, current leadership and career politicians continue to dismiss the need to implement necessary legislation to help reduce global emissions.

The past few centuries have seen such a drastic change in the world in terms of human activities that it has resulted in an enormously significant change in our planet. For a better understanding, the process which brings all people and communities across the globe come together to experience a progressively universal economic, social and cultural environment is called globalisation. Thus, by definition, the process of globalisation affects everybody throughout the world and also has a significant impact on the environment. As said by James Arvanitakis (Arvanitakis p.166), ‘the issue of the environment and globalisation is the most pressing issue facing the world today’. Globalisation is thought to be a major cause behind change of climate that is experienced currently in the world. However, there are those who support and agree with the notion that climate change actually poses a global risk and those who do not agree with it. The debate on the extent of climate change being a global risk, which is called climate change science, is one that is of high interest for various groups in Australia who either agree with the view or disagree with it for their own reasons and each one has their own arguments regarding the subject.