What's it all about
What is Climate Change?
Climate change or global warming refers to recorded increases in the average temperatures of the Earth’s air and Oceans since the mid 20th Century, and the predicted continuation of these temperature changes.
The greenhouse effect is a well-understood scientific process in which greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere absorb and emit infrared radiation increasing the Earth’s surface temperature over time.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that most of these temperature increases have been caused by rising build up of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. There is a very substantial body of information that supports the idea that global warming is the result of human activity and not a naturally occurring process, such as the use of fossil fuels and widespread deforestation beginning in the 18th Century with the rise of the Industrial Revolution.
There are many recorded and predicted effects of global warming. This may include rises in sea levels displacing many populations: temperature increases with many regions possibly becoming permanently hotter or colder; changes in the amount and distribution of rain effecting agricultural production; increases in the severity and frequency of weather events such as floods, heatwaves and droughts, melting of glaciers; Arctic ice caps and permafrost, increases in the Ocean’s acidity threatening marine and bird life, and the possibility of mass extinctions of some plants and animals.
Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas produced by human activity through the use of fossil fuels like coal and petrol. The American Environmental Protection Agency ranks the major producers of greenhouse gases as: industry, transportation, residential, commercial and agricultural. Households also produce greenhouse gases in the use of electricity, transportation and food consumption.
Australia has already experienced regional changes in weather and rainfall. As the driest State in Australia, South Australia is particularly vulnerable to the effects of diminishing rainfall on food production, energy generation, the wine industry, economic development and the health and quality of life for South Australians. The economic cost and social disruption of extreme weather events including bushfires is a serious consideration for communities and Governments.