2019: Global Climate Change Week - University of Wollongong

October 14, 2019

Climate change is an urgent and important issue that in years to come will have an irreversible impact on our society. At UOW, students and researchers are working to provide practical solutions to the many problems facing our planet, including warming sea temperatures, food security, and plastic pollution.

Global Climate Change Week began at the University of Wollongong in 2015, as an opportunity for researchers around the world to engage with their communities on climate change.

Since it began, spearheaded by a team of UOW academics, Global Climate Change Week has grown into an annual event that encourages people from all walks of life to work with each other, and with policy makers, to demand action on climate change.

Now in its fifth year, Global Climate Change Week, which runs from October 14-20, is held at universities around the world, from the United States to Germany, Canada to South Africa.

For Global Climate Change Week events in and around UOW, visit the Facebook page.

Speaker 1: News reader

Nationwide climate change protests are expected to kick off today.

Speaker 2: News reporter

Hear the protesters around me, and we've seen many arrests of....

Speaker 3: Associate Professor Helen McGregor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UOW

The evidence is pretty clear. We're on a pathway to more extremes.

Speaker 4: Dr Keith Horton, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, UOW

There doe really seem to be a new burst of awareness and action, especially, especially from young people.

Speaker 5: Associate Professor Sarah Hamylton, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UOW

The nature of the sea floor communities upon the Great Barrier Reef is going to change fundamentally.

Speaker 6: Dr George Takacs, School of Physics, UOW

We're really running out of time. I think at present to really start to act and rapidly reduce missions.

Speaker 7: Professor Karen Charlton, Nutrition & Dietetics School of Medicine, UOW

Food security is gonna be a major issue.

Speaker 8: Dr Phillip Zylstra, School of Earth Atmospheric and Life Sciences, UOW

There are a lot more days when fire can spread.

[Music]

Speaker 3: Associate Professor Helen McGregor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UOW

Bit of what we're trying to do is have a look at the natural climate variability that's gone over in the past couple of centuries. So what's the natural baseline? And that's in the ocean being the biggest absorber of heat that we have that are moderating the temperature of the planet, so what's the trajectory that that's been on?

Speaker 8: Dr Phillip Zylstra, School of Earth Atmospheric and Life Sciences, UOW

As our temperatures are rising, we are getting much more widespread dryness across the landscape, which means that there are a lot more days when fire can spread and when it does the areas that would normally contain fires because they were moist gullies or particular generally less flammable forest types, these areas are now being burnt.

Speaker 5: Associate Professor Sarah Hamylton, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UOW

I think it's undeniable that the return rate, say the frequency of things like coral bleaching events is getting higher and their intensity seems to be growing as well. So whereas coral bleaching first emerged as a phenomenon back in the 80s, it was something that was a large scale event, but there were very few and far between now. We're looking at return rates of every five or six years.

Speaker 6: Dr George Takacs, School of Physics, UOW

So in addition to reducing emissions, I think it's essential that we enter a new era of global cooperation more than we've cooperated in the past, because otherwise. The humanitarian impacts later this century are gonna be humanitarian crises, and that would be unnecessary. It will only be because we fail to work together to meet the challenges that climate change will pose.

Speaker 7: Professor Karen Charlton, Nutrition & Dietetics School of Medicine, UOW

In order to feed the 9 billion people that are projected to inhabit this planet by 2050, and there's going to be a need to produce 50 to 70% more food with finite resources.

Speaker 4: Dr Keith Horton, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, UOW

People are starting to understand what emergency climate change is. It's not just one of those issues that you have to think about and maybe sometime in the future. We want to get sorted. It's an emergency right now.

Speaker 3: Associate Professor Helen McGregor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UOW

Well, I think this climate change action that people are taking to the streets to vocalize is really reflecting people frustration but also that they themselves are starting to observe changes that are that out of the norm.

Speaker 8: Dr Phillip Zylstra, School of Earth Atmospheric and Life Sciences, UOW

What these kids are doing is actually one of the things that has brought me the most hope in recent times I think.

Speaker 7: Professor Karen Charlton, Nutrition & Dietetics School of Medicine, UOW

Well, I think it's remarkable that so many young people are getting behind the cause. I think, you know, I think the future is probably in good hands, and I mean I feel infused by seeing young people that are willing to and to put their hands up and say you know they want to see change.

Speaker 5: Associate Professor Sarah Hamylton, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UOW

A lot of people who are going to feel most keenly the effects of climate change are people who don't even exist yet.

Speaker 6: Dr George Takacs, School of Physics, UOW

And one of the encouraging things is the young people have started this movement in the last year. But now it's multi generational. You're seeing 80 year olds and joining them in the Extinction Rebellion Protests and climate change protests around the world, so that's very encouraging.

Speaker 3: Associate Professor Helen McGregor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UOW

People can see what's coming, and they're angry that not more is being done to address it.

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Above, UOW academics, from a range of disciplines that are affected by climate change, on the importance of meaningful action to mitigate the devastating impact of climate change on the planet.

Below, revisit some of The Stand's best stories on how climate change impacts your world.

A healthy diet for a healthy planet

Professor Karen Charlton on how we can re-think the concept of a healthy diet, for our own sake and that of the planet.

The buck stops here

How UOW students are recycling the plastic waste generated by the MakerSpace into new 3D-printed objects.

The modern eco-warrior

Laura Wells, an alumna of UOW, is using her profile as a model, scientist, and activist to address the scourge of plastic pollution in our oceans.

Fuelling the fire

Fires that begin earlier in the season and are much more intense are the face of climate change, UOW ecologists warn.

On the front line of sea level rises

Globally, our seas are rising, but what do we stand to lose locally and what if our best defence is already in place?

Coral bleaching and the future of the Great Barrier Reef

UOW researchers are exploring what climate change and rising sea temperatures mean for the creatures who call the Great Barrier Reef home.

Turning the tide on plastic pollution

Global plastic pollution is reaching crisis level. This has severe implications for our oceans, our environment, our wildlife and our health, now and into the future.

Salt and the energy storage revolution

Can one of our most widely available natural resources - salt - be used to make batteries and help combat climate change? Listen now to our latest podcast.