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Sunday, October 15, 2006

Climate Change hits South Australia


From the editorial in todays Murdoch Rag (so it must be true!).

The strands of the future suddenly came together to wake even the most complacent to the fact that human actions are having a dire impact on the planet's weather.

Consider this week's events: our worst recorded drought, raging springtime bushfires, record low inflows to the River Murray, soaring temperatures, looming rural recession and strict water restrictions.

This, against a backdrop of the past decade having some of the hottest years in recorded history, is a taste of the future.

For years scientists argued about a theoretical greenhouse effect, which became an academic debate about global warming, which became an urgent call to deal with climate change.

This week, those abstract discussions walked into every house in South Australia without bothering to knock and announced: "I'm here – get used to it."

The ramifications of climate change now are well and truly out of the lecture theatre and in the lounge room.

The drought is having a devastating financial and social impact on farming communities as weather patterns look set to change beyond the expected cycles of drought, good times and flood.

Well hello. Welcome to the real world. Finally some serious debate on an important issue for Australia.

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