Despite what the daily rhetoric is online, in media and around the work water cooler, the facts are that our governments - whether publicly in denial or not, actually have very specific plans to deal with Climate Change. Setting aside the debates about work quality, substantially staffed departments are working over time on planning for inundation (flooding from rivers, oceans and rain), fire, drought, population migration and CIVIL UNREST, among other potential outcomes.
While some of these plans, especially those that might deal with contentious issues like civil unrest - think situations like the knock on impacts of people getting upset because their water runs out, for instance - most state governments cheerily publish both the science and the likely impacts of climate change.
When you see Trump and Scomo at the UN Assembly acting like a couple of school boys about to skip class for a quick smoke behind the toilet block, while everyone else is working together on the biggest issues of our time, it's easy to imagine that everything is just fine.
But the facts are that everything the actual school kid said to the UN Assembly is in their own databases. And most citizens with a device capable of searching the internet can find it. The federal government website will tell you everything you need to know about the "enhanced greenhouse effect" and how we created it:
THE PROBLEM WE NOW FACE IS THAT HUMAN ACTIVITIES – PARTICULARLY BURNING FOSSIL FUELS (COAL, OIL AND NATURAL GAS), AGRICULTURE AND LAND CLEARING – ARE INCREASING THE CONCENTRATIONS OF GREENHOUSE GASES. THIS IS THE ENHANCED GREENHOUSE EFFECT, WHICH IS CONTRIBUTING TO WARMING OF THE EARTH.In the end, of course, it's kind of academic what get said. It's what is actually being done that counts. Every state governments publishes extensive information on all kinds of aspects of climate change impacts and more specific local and regional information. These are just some of the links we found.
In a cheery infographic, the Queensland government warns of rising sea levels, higher temperatures, more hot days, warmer and more acidic oceans, harsher fire weather, more droughts, fewer frosts and expensive weather events. They also go on to cover off all manner of likely events for workplaces, environment degradation, loss of business, increased disease, loss of diversity, animals blah blah. All summed up nicely in spots:
Adapt NSW offers an extensive array of data to help you discover everything you need to know about climate change in NSW and even offers an interactive climate change map to plot changes to the state and specific areas for temperature, rainfall, fire, heat and cold nights. (I think they missed the email about the current NSW bushfires.)
The Victorian government has one of the most comprehensive sets of data, impacts, regional snapshots and most can be found from their page on Adapting to Climate Change Impacts.
South Australia has long been one of the greenest states in Australia so it's no surprise that their climate website is well developed with extensive information about what it is, how it is affecting the state, programs in place, emissions, legislation etc. The site has a pile of information on what individuals can do to improve the environment, by region. (It was harder to find impact data.)
The Western Australian government site seems to be a little behind their eastern cousins, with more general information and calls for public input still underway. (If you have anything more specific, please let us know and we will publish.)