The City of Whittlesea is currently trying to come to grips with climate change and will be holding internal workshops next month to "consider the risks of climate change to Council and identify what Council can do to help build the resilience of our community and plan better for our services, operations and assets."
I'm just putting my thoughts together now in preparation for the workshops, and I thought I would publish them here in the hope that I might get a few comments and that if I do those comments might help me expand my thinking on the topic.
Most of the Climate Change forecasts I've seen for Melbourne predict:
- lower annual rainfall totals, but increased frequency and intensity of major storm events;
- increased temperatures leading to a longer fire season and more intense and frequent bush fires.
This will actually make Melbourne a bit more like other places I've lived quite happily, like Cobram, Mooroopna, Mildura and Bundaberg. I doubt if the temperatures in Melbourne will become as hot and dry as those in Mildura or the major storm events will ever be as intense as those in Bundaberg, and that makes me think that with a bit of careful planning Melbourne will be a reasonably nice place to live even if the climate changes a fair bit over the next few hundred years.
Climate change could possibly even lead to an increased migration rate to Melbourne as the world population gradually migrates poleward and the Australian population gradually migrates south.
A growing population and lower average rainfall will probably increase the need for water desalination, so I think effort should be put into developing more efficient desalination technologies.
And I imagine growing food crops and raising livestock will become more difficult, so I think effort needs to be put into developing vertical farming and cultured meat technology.
I'll add more as it occurs to me.
Wayne Eddy
Melbourne, Australia
LGAM Knowledge Base
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