Detailed Report: Climate Change and its Impacts on Brisbane, Australia

This report provides a detailed analysis of climate change in Brisbane, Australia, focusing on the city's geological and ecological features, and the impact of pollution. The study highlights Brisbane's unique characteristics, including its sub-tropical climate and geographical location. The report identifies key issues such as increasing pollution from coal trains, fossil fuel usage, and the city's natural basin effect on air quality. It explores the city council's efforts to mitigate climate change, including the Clean Air Strategy and the promotion of renewable energy. The report concludes with recommendations for improving air quality and mitigating the effects of climate change, emphasizing the need for real-time air quality data and promoting clean energy alternatives to ensure a safe and sustainable environment for residents and tourists. The references cited provide a comprehensive overview of the research and data used in this analysis.

Running Head: EXPLORING HUMAN ENVIRONMENTS
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Exploring Human Environments
(Student Details: )
1/24/2020

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Contents
Climate Change..........................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
The study Site.............................................................................................................................2
The issue.....................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Climate Change
Introduction
The report is focusing on Climate Change (CC) issue which has become significant
and prevalent all across the world. In the modern era, sustainability is the main issue as
sustainable development needs to be achieved for all. In addition, this report will focus on a
specific city in Australia to identify the issues related to climate change so that proposed
solutions can be given. In doing so, Brisbane has been chosen as the city to be explored as
well as researched for the CC issue. In general, climate change has become a major problem
as it is going to change the future of upcoming generations (NASA, 2019). Hence, the issue
must be addressed immediately and effectively not only in Brisbane but also in all global
cities which are producing pollution greater than permissible limits. In this context, the City
of Brisbane (CB) is a place in Queensland, Australia run by the local government. The CB
covered the entire urban locality of Brisbane while some surrounding areas as well. The place
is chosen for writing this report because pollution in the city is on the verge of natural
disasters. However, the Govt. has created the Clean and Healthy Air for the Brisbane CC
mitigation project yet there is a huge scope of improvement in the city (Choose Brisbane,
2020). Thus, this report will discuss the chosen site and the issues related to the studied site
so that future recommendations can be given.
The study Site
This section is going to focus on a brief overview of important geological as well as
ecological features of the CB. Apart from this, some key features of the place will be
discussed along with a brief history of human settlement in the city (Lehodey, Senina, Nicol,
& Hampton, 2015). In this context, Brisbane is the third-largest city of Australia which is also
the capital of Queensland (Kumar & Taylor, 2015). The city was once famous for its amazing
climate which used to be near perfect throughout the year. The site has been chosen for the
CC study for so many reasons. For example, the city is the capital of the sunshine state which
makes it a perfect site for the study and observed climate change issues (Flynn, Ford, Pearce,
& Harper, 2018). It has been found that Brisbane is famous for its summers as 300 days of
sunshine are there in a year. Hence, sub-tropical humid heat usually cooled by beautiful

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afternoon storms in the city. In addition, winter days in the CB rarely dip below than 20
degrees C and thereby winter sun is always pleasant in the city’s seashores (Ewald, 2018). In
addition to that, some major cultural attractions of the CB are Queensland Museum,
Queensland gallery of modern art, Museum of Brisbane and Queensland arts center (Change,
2014).
Source: (Choose Brisbane, 2020)
In terms of geography, Brisbane is the second largest state from the area perspective.
In addition, greater Brisbane is the biggest of Australian 6 capital cities from geographic area
perspective while occupying 15,842 Km2 all across South East Queensland (SEQ) (Choose
Brisbane, 2020). Besides, the location of the city is on the eastern seaboard of Australia
having latitude of 28 degrees south as well as a longitude of unevenly 153 degrees east. Thus,
CB often enjoys the neighbouring proximity to Asia of the Australian capital city over the
eastern seaboard. Moreover, ecological and geological features of CB can be seen with the
winding reaches of the Brisbane River which are a prominent feature of the landscape
(Edenhofer, 2015). There are extensive parkland areas as well as hilly suburban pockets all
around the city. Apart from this, the CB’s positioning in the Macleay overlaps a mixing zone
amid temperature, western and subtropical ecosystems while making the city one of the most
bio-diverse regions in Queensland, Australia. From the ecological perspective, the city is
having a lush natural environment as well as a wide range of coastal resorts throughout the
subtropical south to the recurrently warm tropical north (Mohammad G. , Rasul, & Subhash ,

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2017). The city’s south areas are containing major famous beaches include the gold coast
which is exciting for the surfers. In addition to that, CB’s surfer’s paradise is having a broad
range of natural attractions for the wonderful holidays. The city always has pleasant
temperatures ranging from 12 degrees C to 28 degrees C (Choose Brisbane, 2020). The
natural beauty and ecological features of the city suggest that the city is welcoming paradise
to visit as well as explore throughout the year irrespective of the seasons (Moldan, 2012).
Still, there is a big issue related to CC and needs to be addressed soon so that people living
and visiting around can happily breathe fresh air in the City of Brisbane (Edenhofer, 2015).
The issue
This section is dedicated to research about climate change in the City of Brisbane. It is
happening because Brisbane is currently seeing a lot of coal trains and their smoke making
the air quality worse for people living there. In addition, the coal and fuel smoke is not the
main pollutant yet it is one of the major pollutants in the city. The population in the city is
continuously increasing day-by-day and hence people are using fossil fuels for their daily
living which generates pollution (Carroll, Brown, & Buchholtz, 2018). Thus, using a lot of
non-renewable energy resources in place of eco-friendly energy sources is a key issue in
Brisbane which is directly influencing the global climate to a very large extent (Willis-
Norton, Hazen, & Fossette, 2015). Apart from this, Brisbane is situated in the middle of SEQ
airshed, thus the mountains of the Brisbane trap polluted particles from vehicle emissions,
burning vegetation, bushfires, and domestic heating into the air unless strong rain or winds
can clear these pollutants away (CC Amatil, 2019). On the other hand, CB Council has also
set the goal of making the city the cleanest capital city in the whole of Australia. In this
context, the City Council has designed an innovative Clean Air Strategy which contains clean
substitute travel option, air-friendly vehicle, green cars as well as stricter regulations for the
industry use and home-heating (Choose Brisbane, 2020).

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Source: (Choose Brisbane, 2020)
In addition to that, there are some more climate-related issues in the CB like
surrounding islands and mountains of the city naturally form a natural basin which usually
acts to include as well as recirculate air pollutants in the airshed (Urry, 2015). Thus in the
city’s subtropical climate, Brisbane is not able to manage pollutants in an effective manner.
In addition to that, some other top pollutants in the City are particle pollution and nitrogen
dioxide pollution. The pollution in the CB from nitrogen oxide has already shown a stable
decline over the past 20 years (Ahvenniemi, Huovila, & Pinto-Seppa, 2017). Furthermore,
particle pollutants are continuously exceeding the set guidelines in Brisbane because of the
dust or firestorms. On the other hand, recent surveys and studies are showing a positive
change in the climate-related issues still vigilance is required to ensure that CB’s air remains
clean and fresh while mitigating population density expected in the city (Nuvolone, Petri, &
Voller, 2018). Thus, air pollution is creating change in the climate of the Brisbane and
thereby of Australia. The issue of climate change must be addressed as soon as possible by
using renewable energy sources in place of fossil fuels like coal.

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Conclusion
In whole, this discussion has successfully talked about a detailed analysis of the
impact as well as a contribution towards climate change in relation to the City of Brisbane.
While talking about the CB, so many key features like ecological and geological have
been explored in detail. The study has found that Brisbane city is affordable having student
accommodation is world-class. In addition, the city has great education providers with a
positive learning environment for global students. The study is indicating that the chosen city
is safe as well as a welcoming place to live and visit for the residents and tourists
respectively. In addition, the city is having a lot of railways run through coal which creates
huge smoke and smog and thereby creating pollution to a very large extent. Thus, the climate
is a bit affected by these particle pollutants. The city is having a big population which is
generating huge pollution hence they should use renewable energy resources into their daily
life. This discussion has been found that Brisbane City Council needs to promote clean
fuelled travel options such as air friendly cars and green vehicles. Based on the above study,
it can be said that air quality needs to be improved largely as even the smallest amounts of air
pollution is able to pose a health risk for human communities. Thus, this research is
suggesting that the Brisbane City Council needs to take a look at real-time air quality data for
the city. In addition, during high pollution days, people should spend more time indoors
while making sure the HVAC system is having a clean air filter. Thus, the Brisbane City
Council should work towards creating a safe and clean environment so that climate change
impacts can be mitigated. By promoting renewable energy resources in place of coal and
other conventional energy resources, the city can be preserved and made safe for human
living in the long run.

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References
Ahvenniemi, H., Huovila, A., & Pinto-Seppa, I. (2017). What are the differences between
sustainable and smart cities? Cities, 60, 234-245.
Carroll, A. B., Brown, J., & Buchholtz, A. K. (2018). Business & Society: Ethics,
Sustainability & Stakeholder Management (10th ed.). Australia: Cengage Learning.
CC Amatil. (2019). SUSTAINABILITY. Retrieved 2019, from
https://www.ccamatil.com/sustainability
Change, I. (2014). Mitigation of climate change. Contribution of Working Group III to the
Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1454.
Choose Brisbane. (2020). 10 Reasons to Study in Brisbane. Retrieved from Choose Brisbane:
http://www.choosebrisbane.com.au/study/why-choose-brisbane/reasons-to-study-in-
brisbane?sc_lang=en-au
Edenhofer, O. (2015). Climate change 2014: mitigation of climate change. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Ewald, B. (2018). The value of health damage due to sulphur dioxide emissions from coal-
fired electricity generation in NSW and implications for pollution licences. Australian
and New Zealand journal of public health, 42(3), 227-229.
Flynn, M., Ford, J. D., Pearce, T., & Harper, S. L. (2018). Participatory scenario planning and
climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability research in the Arctic.
Environmental Science & Policy, 79(1), 45-53.
Kumar, L., & Taylor, S. (2015). Exposure of coastal built assets in the South Pacific to
climate risks. Nature Climate Change, 5(11'), 992.
Lehodey, P., Senina, I., Nicol, S., & Hampton, J. (2015). Modelling the impact of climate
change on South Pacific albacore tuna. Deep Sea Reserach Part II: Topical Studies in
Oceanography, 113, 246-259.
Mohammad G. , Rasul, A., & Subhash , C. (2017). Clean Energy for Sustainable
Development. UK: Elsevier.

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Moldan, B. J. (2012). How to understand and measure environmental sustainability:
Indicators and targets. Ecological Indicators, 17, 4-13.
NASA. (2019). The Effects of Climate Change. Retrieved from Climate NASA:
https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/
Nuvolone, D., Petri, D., & Voller, F. (2018). The effects of ozone on human health.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25(9), 8074-8088.
Ostergaard, P., Duic, N., Noorollahi, Y., Mikulcic, H., & Kalogirou, S. (2019). Sustainable
development using renewable energy technology. Renewable Energy, 146, 2430-
2437.
Urry, J. (2015). Climate change and society. In Why the social sciences matter (pp. 45-59).
London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Willis-Norton, E., Hazen, E., & Fossette, S. (2015). Climate change impacts on leatherback
turtle pelagic habitat in the Southeast Pacific. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical
Studies in Oceanography, 113, 260-267.