Flood damage in Bundaberg, Queensland, in 2013. Most communities are at some risk from extreme events, but repeated disasters raise the question of relocation.
srv007/Flickr
Climate change has got to the point that communities around the world are having to contemplate moving. It’s never an easy process, but good planning improves the prospects of successful relocation.
Lahaina, Hawaii, was a wasteland of burned-out homes and obliterated communities after wildfires ripped through the town.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
The usual way we calculate the economic damage of natural disasters underestimates their true toll – which is key to understanding the costs of climate change.
In this November 2013, photo, Typhoon Haiyan survivors pass by hundreds of victims in body bags near Tacloban, Philippines. Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing.
(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
African countries need to take into account the effects environmental changes, like climate change, have on their ability to deal with food security, poverty reduction and lowering mortality rates.
Cyclones Trevor and Veronica hit north Australia in 2019.
NASA Earth Observatory handout/EPA/AAP
In 1887 Queensland’s chief weatherman Clement Wragge began naming tropical cyclones, using names from the Greek alphabet, fabulous beasts and politicians who annoyed him.
Hurricane Michael reportedly caused an estimated $25 billion in damage. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Reuters/Jonathan Bachman
With hurricane season comes the usual efforts by insurance companies and government agencies to calculate the economic costs. An economist explains how they’re doing it wrong.
Fires and building failures highlighted serious gaps in Australian building regulations. But recent revisions and recommendations still fall short of preparing our buildings for climate change.
Bushfires ravaged parts of central Queensland amid heatwaves in November 2018.
QFES Media/AAP
Australia’s environment took a beating in 2018, as temperatures rose, rainfall declined, the health of rivers and ecosystems worsened, and floods, droughts and bushfires all took their toll.
How do people respond to media coverage of weather influenced by climate change?
AP Photo/Andy Newman
Media reports are starting to directly connect climate change to its weather effects in local communities. But how you respond to those linkages depends on what you already think about climate change.
Supermarkets and farms have acted to ensure they discard fewer “ugly” and “wonky” fruit and vegetables. However, the bulk of the problem lies with households.
About 100 homes in Angus, Ont. were damaged by a tornado in June 2014. Ten lost their roofs and had to be demolished.
Gregory Alan Kopp, Western University
Weather-related catastrophic events have cost Canadians more than $17 billion in the past decade. That only stands to grow, unless building codes change to make homes more resilient.
Without a solid national plan to confront climate threats, there’s plenty more hardship on the horizon.
AAP Image/Rob Blakers
With heatwaves, droughts and fires all on the rise, the federal government is urged to merge its separate strategies on disaster resilience and climate readiness.
Dan Smale, Marine Biological Association and Thomas Wernberg, The University of Western Australia
Marine heatwaves, like their land counterparts, are growing hotter and longer. Sea species in southeastern Australia, southeast Asia, northwestern Africa, Europe and eastern Canada are most at risk.
Chicago’s Lake Michigan waterfront froze during the 2019 polar vortex.
AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato
Australian wheat growers need to boost yields to stay competitive in the face of climate change. They could do this by sowing earlier, but need new varieties of wheat to help them do it.