Commonly used surfaces in play areas, such as “soft fall” materials and Astroturf, can heat up to 80-100°C in the sun. This makes them a hazardous design choice, especially as the climate gets hotter.
The urban heat island and summertime blackouts
The Conversation25.6 MB(download)
Today, we're asking why some of the most disadvantaged parts of our cities cop the worst of a heatwave and how you -- yes, you! -- can do your bit to reduce the risk of a summer time blackout.
Australia’s scorching summers aren’t just inconvenient: heatwaves are deadly. Yet new research has found many vulnerable people don’t have a plan for extreme heat.
Last year was a vicious one for climate and energy politics. And with a South Australian election and various other federal decisions in the offing, 2018 looks like being similarly rancorous.
Last year saw plenty of warm weather around the country, but other notable events included dry months in the southeast, some very cold winter nights, and record-warm dry season days in the north.
In an unchanging climate, we would expect record-breaking temperatures to get rarer as the observation record grows longer. But in the real world the opposite is true - because we are driving up temperatures.
Aged-care units can be a lottery of comfortable versus uncomfortable temperatures, depending on the building’s construction and where you live within it. That needs to improve.
The idea of a hot and sunny land is so baked into our thinking about Australia that we’ve failed to design and build houses that protect us from the cold.
Parts of Europe are having a devastatingly hot summer. Already we’ve seen heat records topple in western Europe in June, and now a heatwave nicknamed “Lucifer” is bringing stifling conditions to areas…
As summer heatwaves intensify across Canada, smaller cities need to follow the lead of Toronto and Vancouver - to protect vulnerable citizens from injury, disease and death.
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie told Q&A that heatwaves were ‘worsening’ in Australia and ‘hot days’ had doubled in the last 50 years. Let’s take a look at the evidence.
Michael Courts, The Conversation and Lucinda Beaman, The Conversation
Response from a spokesperson from the Climate Council in relation to an article on CEO Amanda McKenzie’s claims about worsening heatwaves and increasing numbers of hot days in Australia.
Global warming of 2°C, the higher of the two Paris targets, would see current record-breaking temperatures become the norm in the future, potentially bringing heatwaves to both land and sea.