There have been numerous publications on the effects of climate but a new book, Changing Climates, Earth Systems and Society, is offering further insights into this phenomenon with a particular focus on the impacts on human society.
Edited by ANSTO’s head of the Institute for Environmental Research, Professor John Dodson, the book brings together authors from around the world to take an in-depth look at several themes of climate change impacts including melting ice caps, spread of disease and food security.
John explains that the purpose of the publication was to go beyond the physical science of climate change study and look at how it would affect our daily lives in Australia and abroad. He says there are some good examples of potential mitigation plans for governments around the world to curb the flow on effects of climate change.
“When you look at the chapter that focuses on human health impacts that might be derived from changing climates, you can see potential avenues to build capacity in third world countries that don’t have the scientific or human capital that a country like Australia has, for example,” John says.
So does this book act as a crystal ball and tell us what will happen in the future with climate change?
John explains that the nature of climate study is a rapidly changing beast and it is difficult to pinpoint a definitive outcome.
“I tried not to get people to speculate too much. As a scientist I think we should look at the data and make our interpretations of the data. This book is more about how environmental systems work when they’re perturbed by climate variability.”
While some scepticism remains around climate change, John believes this publication adds more weight to the argument that human-induced global warming is real and the effects on our environment and communities cannot be ignored.
“There are very good models that link climate and natural systems and economic and energy systems together. So we have a pretty good idea about where disturbances in one place are going to affect things in other places. Clearly it is going to hit the bottom line very heavily in Australia and at that point it will be irresistible to make a serious attempt at abating the impacts of climate change.
“Every scientist should be a sceptic and question things but if you look at most of the so-called sceptics on this issue, not one of them has any in-depth knowledge of the climate systems themselves,” John says.
With several well-respected and knowledgeable researchers looking at a vast range of subjects, John believes this publication stands out from other climate texts. He hopes it has the potential to influence governments around the world.
“We tried to write this book so it’s accessible to policy makers but also with sufficient ‘meat’ to interest scientists and the education market. My main hope is for scientists working in some area to pick up the book and read about some other areas to gain some additional insights.”
It is the future generations that John has most hope for implementing change when it comes to looking after planet Earth. “I would hope that some people from a younger generation will pick up books like this and say “that’s very interesting, perhaps I could make a difference to our planet by studying these sorts of things.”
And it’s at ANSTO where some of the greatest discoveries and breakthroughs in environmental science are happening, according to John. “We’ve got quite a lot of really good people here and there are a lot of things that nuclear techniques can address that cannot be done anywhere else in Australia or in many other parts of the world.”
Published: 04/02/2011