Melbourne and Climate Change

By Julia Bell.

Source: Anna Floods, 2016

In recent months (and years) Melbourne has experienced some extreme weather. Some of these bizarre and frightening weather events have included experiencing a month’s rain in a day (which has led to widespread flooding, road closures and disruption), wind speeds of more than 100 kms per hour (which had led to severe property damage and threat to life) and increasing summer temperatures (with BOM predicting the average number of days above 35 degrees to increase from 9 days to 26 days by 2070).

'Melburnians should prepare for more extreme heat with double the number of hot days, less rain and harsher fire conditions in coming decades', (BOM, 2017) the Victorian State Government has warned in analysis prepared for the Andrews Government. This paints a frightening picture of Melbourne's future climate by stating that transport infrastructure will be vulnerable to flooding and heat stress, along with longer and more severe bushfires and pressure on hospitals from heatwaves. 

So what does this lead to in a city like Melbourne? Road and public transport closures, damage to infrastructure, property, power outages, poor water quality, lack of water resources, and most scarily, threat to life. In a city where most of the time we go about our day to day lives without fuss, how do we so quickly get over and forget these events? Why is there constant ignorance when it comes to addressing climate change seriously? And how can we have a more active role to change our future as urban dwellers?

Our climate is changing, largely due to the observed increases in human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), agriculture and land clearing. Changes over the 20th century include increases in global average air and ocean temperature, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global sea levels (Australian Government, 2017).

And if we continue to ignore climate change:

Melbourne's temperature could rise by as much as 2.6 degrees above the 1986 to 2005 average by 2070, with sea levels up by as much as half a metre (The Age, 2016).

As Melbourne urban dwellers, what can we do in response? To avoid changing our habits, perhaps we could either keep a rubber ducky in our cars for flooding emergencies, or, turn our streets into canals like Venice! Potentially, we could design human bubbles to roll around in with air conditioning, clean air and some snacks in the case of a prolonged weather event.

But seriously Melbournians, we cannot ignore these changes any longer. By changing our daily habits, travelling more sustainably and reducing carbon emissions, surely the world’s most liveable city can stay. It is worth thinking about how small personal everyday changes can benefit the environment and build a more sustainable and healthy habits for beautiful global cities.