Australia's "Angry Summer"

It might have a lot to do with pre-emptive politics but Australian government climate scientists have issued a report directly linking their nation's summer of extreme weather events to climate change.

The report, aptly titled "The Angry Summer", ties both extreme heat and extreme floods Australians have endured to the fact of climate change.  It comes with easy to understand graphics showing how Australia has moved to a new, hotter climate.

And it explains how a new, hotter Australia will be vulnerable to extreme flooding events.

Best of all, one chapter directly addresses the phoney "debate" over climate change.



Is there a political dimension to the release of the report at this time?  Maybe, maybe not.   However just as Hurricane Sandy played to Obama's advantage over Romney in the November presidential election, The Angry Summer report will presumably bolster the outlook of the incumbent Labor (that's the way they spell it "down unda") government against the expected onslaught of the conservative Liberal party led by climate change denier Tony Abbott.

Romney paid a price for his backward position on climate change and, come 14 September, Tony Abbott may follow suit.  Eventually climate change will become a major issue in any election, anywhere, including Canada.   And that's when the Neanderthals, like today's Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats will either evolve or go extinct.