Sources
- Someva Renewables proposal, tinyurl.com/brothersmap
- Hancock W K 1972, Discovering Monaro, Cambridge University Press, London
- Sproats J, One land, one people, Australia my story, tinyurl.com/JoesNgarigoStory
- Climate Council Australia 2024, Nuclear power stations fact sheet,
tinyurl.com/nuclearneverwillbe - Columbia Law School, Sabin Centre Climate Change Law,
Rebutting 33 false claims about solar, wind and electric vehicles - Clean Energy Council Australia 2023, Wind turbine recycling report.
tinyurl.com/windingupturbines - Climate Council Australia 2023, Seize the decade report
tinyurl.com/theplantoreduce
Climate change on The Monaro
The warming of our climate has impacts for everyone. On the Monaro, climate change will, and is, affecting the landscape, industries, health and lifestyle of everyone that lives here.
The drought that affected NSW and Queensland from 2017 to 2020 was the worst drought on record, both in terms of record low rainfall and high temperatures. On the Monaro, pasture quality declined, farmers were forced to sell off livestock, including breeding animals, and spent huge amounts of money buying in feed for their livestock. Agriculture is a key industry on the Monaro, so the drought had a big impact on farming families, with flow on effects to the local community. An increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts is predicted under all climate change scenarios over the next 50-100 years.
There has also been an unprecedented impact on the local environment, with vast expanses of eucalyptus bushland turning brown as their crowns suffer from dieback.
Climate change also contributed to the horrific fires of the 2019-20 summer that destroyed many local beauty spots, including areas of Kosciusko and Wadbilliga national parks.
Research in Australia and around the world, together with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, shows Australia’s projected climate experience for the coming decades:
As we experience increasingly warmer winters, our ski seasons are becoming shorter, and the quality of the snow is declining. Warmer days impact the snow pack, and the ability of the resorts to operate becomes increasingly dependent on snowmaking.
If we want to preserve our wonderful lifestyle and profitable industries on the Monaro, we all need to act now to get more meaningful reduction in carbon emissions.
