Should We Be Saying Goodbye to the Beautiful New Zealand and Australia?

by Anonymous 2

            According to recent studies, there have been signs occurring in both New Zealand and Australia, which point to and coincide with affects of global warming.  According to World Wildlife results of global warming include such things as increased water level, more natural disasters, such as, hurricanes, floods, and droughts, glacier decline, and spread of disease.  It is these things that are being seen in New Zealand and Australia.  Not all of the effects, which occur due to these changes, are bad, but the bad certainly outweigh the good.

            In New Zealand many things have been observed, which concern, those who study it, and the involved public.  It is stated, according to an IPCC article, that not all of the climate changes are due to human activity.  This is a good sign considering people are always being preached at and blamed for the changing climates around the world.  However it is only one natural cause that does not occur annually and only causes temporary climate change.  This natural cause is known as El Nino.  El Nino affects the New Zealand climate by causing the airflow to become stronger and cooler, drier conditions begin to occur in the north, and the south sees wetter conditions occurring.  There is another natural cause, La Nina, and during this known condition, the earlier described effects are opposite.  Considering the natural causes of climate change are not permanent, it is the human causes, which are threatening the wildlife and everyday life of New Zealand’s population.

            Human causes in New Zealand are the same as those throughout the world.  Increased aerosols, such as hairspray, increased gas emissions, and one of the major ones is electricity.  Electricity, like burning fossil fuels (gas emissions), releases carbon dioxide, which then blankets the Earth’s atmosphere and results in the trapping of heat.  This trapping of heat is the main cause of global warming.  There are some positive things resulting due to this trapping of heat, but, as was stated earlier, the bad results are far greater than the good.

            Due to warmer temperatures one positive result, though it may seem trivial, is the decrease of heat usage during the winter months.  Depending on the type of energy used to heat households this could eventually truly help with global warming.  The only other positive result of global warming, according to the national New Zealand website, is health during the winter months.  With increased temperatures this could lead to fewer and less severe sickness during what is usually the worst months of the year.  Although the positive results are few they are still important to be considered.

            As with the positive result of less heat in the winter, the opposite is true for the summer.  Considering the increase of temperatures, the demand for, and usage, of air conditioning will increase.  This increase will then lead to more electric usage, which has already been stated as one of the main causes of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.  The climate change of increased rainfall in the winter months will lead to flooding.  The opposite, drought, occurring in the summer, allows for lower river levels, which then causes the temperature of the river to increase, and dry soil.  The summer heat is also said to bring upon more deaths due to heat exhaustion.  Many more disastrous things are predicted to occur due to this summer heat.  Some of which include extinction of both flora and fauna, change in the pattern of which birds lay their eggs, resulting in a change in the whole food chain.  Also people may have a harder time getting insurance to cover damage, which may have been caused during a flood, since floods are now becoming more common.  Although the gravity of some of these may seem greater than that of others, all play a major role in the quality of life experienced by the population of New Zealand.  As New Zealand is not the only topic of this article, Australia is seeing similar changes in its comfortable life style as well.

            Australia is known for its beautiful aquatic wildlife.  According to a recent study, however, if the temperature were to increase by only one degree Celsius, the coral would die.  This statement was made to those who think the mere increase of 0.6 degrees Celsius is nothing to worry about.  If the maximum temperature were to increase only 0.4 degrees Celsius more Australia would lose one of its most beautiful wildlife.  As with New Zealand not all of the changes in the climate are due to human activity, El Nino and La Nina also affect the climate in Australia.  According to IPCC reports warmer and drier conditions are seen in the eastern and southern regions when El Nino occurs, and the opposite is true during La Nina.  Although this may be true the changes do not stay consistent after El Nino/La Nina have ceased.  The only other explanation for the changing climate in Australia is that of human causes.  The human causes are the same in Australia as are in New Zealand, which were discussed earlier in the article.  These causes are leading to some drastic changes in Australia.

            The wildlife in Australia is being deeply hurt by global warming, and this then hurts the human population in Australia.  As the waters grow warmer, the fish are being pushed to southern waters.  This results in decreased amount of production for the fishers, which then causes for a decrease in the economy.  According to WWF predictions of an increase of three degrees Celsius are being made.  This increase will result in increased deaths from heat, loss of water resources and agriculture, and major droughts.  While this is all true for the future, Australia is already seeing major droughts.  If, even without the three-degree increase, these droughts are being seen, imagine what will happen when greenhouse gases cause this drastic increase. 

            Many of the same results of global warming are being seen in Australia as well as New Zealand.  The floods, heat waves, tropical storms, and fires, are causing Australia billions of dollars of damages and are major concern for global warming.  These catastrophic events are damaging these two beautiful places and global warming isn’t stopping there.  Many of these affects have been seen around the world.  WWF is doing what they can to help prevent this, but more is still needed.  If something isn’t done now, these predictions could come true, and what would happen then?

Bibliography

Bhandari, Neena. "Global Warming to Hurt Australian Agriculture." TWN: Third World Network. 9 Nov. 2007 <http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/hurt.htm>.

"Overview." WWF: Climate Change. 2007. World Wildlife Fund. 12 Nov. 2007 <http://www.worldwildlife.org/climate/basic.cfm>.

"Climate Change Impacts in New Zealand." Ministry for the Environment. 2007. 12 Nov. 2007 <http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/climate/about/impacts.html>.

Hennessy, K., B. Fitzharris, B.C. Bates, N. Harvey, S.M. Howden, L. Hughes, J. Salinger and R. Warrick, 2007: Australia and New Zealand. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaption and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 507-540.

            Chapters 11.2.1 and 11.2.3

            Table 11.1