Climate Change in Brisbane: Impacts, Solutions, and Sustainability

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of climate change in Brisbane, Australia, focusing on its environmental and societal impacts. It explores the city's vulnerability to rising sea levels, extreme weather events like floods and droughts, and increasing temperatures and humidity. The paper examines the potential consequences for public health, agriculture, and overall societal well-being. The essay also discusses the various strategies being adopted by governmental and administrative bodies to mitigate the effects of climate change, including the importance of restricting carbon emissions, using sustainable materials, and implementing retrofitting or sprawl development approaches. The paper emphasizes the need for collaborative efforts and the development of sustainable solutions to ensure environmental sustainability in the face of climate change.

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Climate Change
Climate change is one of the most concerning and perhaps the most serious issue related
to the environmental status and standards. In this regard, the governmental authorities as well as
several other organizational entities are adopting new principles and developing fresh strategies
in order to address the issue and find out a potential solution to maintain environmental
sustainability. As a part of the current project, this paper will thoroughly discuss and critically
assess the aspects of climate change, its potential impacts, and probable solutions regarding the
city of Brisbane. Thus, the assessment will help in not only evaluating the extent and
significance of the problem but also in discovering the ways to ensure sustainability.
Generally, Brisbane is known to have a variable atmosphere, and the latest changes in
climate have helped in remembering that reality. In the wake of encountering the longest dry
season in the history of the city, it is presently rising up out of one of the years experiencing the
most rainfall and precipitation . The precipitation measures in Brisbane shift considerably from
one year to the other and one decade to another. The tropically identified typhoons and varieties
the directions of beach front breeze are likewise some of the vital drivers of precipitation
(Murphy and Timbal, 2008). One cannot locate any unmistakable long haul incline in yearly or
occasional mean precipitation in this city in the course of the most recent century. The aggregate
yearly precipitation in the city depends basically on the quantity of days with substantial rainfall
(Smith and McAlpine, 2014). This reliance on overwhelming precipitation clarifies why the city
encounters this kind of extraordinary surges and dry seasons: the city is exceptionally delicate to
generally uncommon, variable and serious precipitation (Hewson et al., 2013). One can point out
that the greenhouse gasses keep on increasing in the climate and thus, the city could encounter a
uniquely shorter precipitation season and extensively more extreme precipitation occasions

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(Kundzewicz et al., 2013). However, various projection reports have been published but none of
them can appropriately predict the future. While some reports predict extreme dry seasons,
others project floods and intense precipitation. Thus, no one can reach a proper conclusion or
decisive point.
Moreover, whereas the changes in sea level from a global perspective has been a serious
concern, the aspect becomes more problematic when it comes to the context of Brisbane. The
territories within the city have experienced an increase in sea levels within the range of 2
millimeters to about 7 millimeters a year (Department of the Environment and Energy, 2017). It
is suspected that if the global warming continues at the same pace and if the sea levels keep on
rising at the same speed, several suburbs will be submerged under the water of the Brisbane
River (Runting et al., 2016). The reports suggest that the events might occur as soon as in the
year of 2100. Thus, it is really a big concern. The national government, the Brisbane
administrative authorities, and the regional administrative entities of Brisbane are adopting
different strategies to fight out this issue. However, it has been found out that the potential
solutions are extremely costly (Wildie, 2017). Therefore, as per the environmental experts, there
is indeed a need for designing and adopting appropriate approaches in order to make sure that
sustainability is retained at a reasonably suitable and affordable manner (Bell and Baker-Jones,
2014).
Brisbane is generally known as a humid territory or region. The recent changes in the
climate have led to the intensification of this issue to a greater extent. The average yearly
humidity in Brisbane during the time of morning is 66% while the measure for the same during
the afternoon is 56% (Current Results, 2017). Furthermore, along with Sydney, this city is
considered as one of the most humid and hot regions in Queensland. The population of Brisbane

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often experiences extreme heat-waves and often people die due to such abnormal increase in
temperature and humidity. Experts have suggested that increasing global warming and pollution
are the potential causes behind the problem. Some recent research works demonstrate that the
citizens of Brisbane could wind up feeling considerably more sizzling hear than anticipated
throughout the following couple of decades, as changing climate features roll out atmosphere
transformation much more extreme (Guo et al., 2011). Furthermore, it has been indicated that the
climate changes would not only lead to an increase in the number of days which would be more
humid and hot. The projections show that the indicated changes might take place within 2100.
However, it has also been suggested that by 2050, the changes in climate would be considerable
enough to lead to an increase in number of deaths due to heat-waves and extreme humidity
(Tong et al., 2014). Moreover, it has also been predicted that as the administrative authorities
have developed an infill approach to develop the region, it might lead to an even greater increase
in the levels of temperature. Thus, some suburbs and other regions might experience a
considerable level of increase in the temperature of the city by the year of 2023 (Tong, Wang and
Barnett, 2010). Therefore, the administrations need to focus on alternative measures and attempt
to appropriately adopt proper strategies. In this regard, sprawl development or retrofitting might
help in enhancing the environmental sustainability and prevent the climate from being changed
to such an extent in which the standard of temperature and humidity would lead to numerous
death tolls and health hazards (Kozlowski and Yusof, 2016).
Because of the changes in atmosphere, Brisbane sees numerous serious rainstorms and
stormy wind consistently, however, the general populace just catch wind of the few that hit
populated ranges, as somebody should be available to watch the impacts of a tempest (Allen,
2014). Actually, serious storms are found over the whole mainland, yet the crossing point

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between tropically identified dampness and more grounded breeze shear implies that these are
most regularly found on the eastern drift and inside regions. Within the context of a consistently
warming atmosphere, the outcome for Brisbane has demonstrated that the surface air ends up
noticeably hotter and dampness builds, making updrafts more grounded. At the same time, the
breeze shear accessible to compose storms seem to diminish. The fight amongst the components
appears to end with the quality of updrafts and their outcomes in an increased quantity with more
grounded as well as extreme rainstorms. It has been projected that while the increase in
thunderstorms would be about 30% by 2030, the extent of this range will increase to about 140%
by the year of 2070 (Department of the Environment and Energy, 2017), and about 160% by
2100 (Allen, 2014). However, there is not any certainty that such events will inevitably take
place. There are numerous perplexing factors and complex angles which hinders in finding a
concrete answer.
The developed frameworks for managing atmosphere in Brisbane shows that the extent of
precipitation is probably going to provincially factor over the city by the year of 2050, with the
aggregate amount of precipitation diminishing in a few areas while staying stable in other
regions. There is probably going to be an expansion in normal temperature and vanishing rates
over the whole city, proposing that the environmental change may affect on territorial water
supplies in those areas which are equipped with adequate surface water liable to be accessible for
catchments and dams (Munich Re, 2017). Moreover, it has also been suggested that the changes
in climate will eventually have a considerable impact on the public life and society. It is
suspected that an increase in the amount of rainfall will lead to extreme floods or a considerable
decrease will lead to droughts. In any case, the entire society and the overall populace will be
affected by such events. The increase in temperature and humidity will not only make the

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people's life miserable but it will also increase the number of deaths by heat-waves. Furthermore,
if the rainfall increases and the weather becomes more damp, it will potentially lead to the
prevalence of several water-borne, mosquito-borne, and other pest-borne diseases (Sanabria and
Cechet, 2012). Finally, the aspect of agriculture will be immensely influenced. The agricultural
production might be influenced by environmental change in the medium-range to long haul
through higher temperature measures, decreased precipitation, and outrageous climate occasions
(Wang, Wang and Khoo, 2013). Regarding the overall context of Queensland, reports predict
that whereas the production of beef will decrease to about 19% by 2030 and to about 33% by
2050, the production of sugar will decrease to about 12% and 17% by the same respective
timeframes (Department of the Environment and Energy, 2017).
In order to enhance sustainability and finding a potential way to mitigate the issues, the
administrative authorities are developing different approaches and adopting fresh strategies. The
city is highly vulnerable to different kinds and ranges of change in the climate from an overall
perspective. Therefore, the administration needs to collaborate with state bodies, governmental
entities, and other organizations to discover potentially suitable strategies for handling the
climate change and ensuring environmental sustainability as much as possible. Currently, the
national government is spending huge amount of money in order to drive research works led by
different efficient organizations including CSIRO for finding out the potential impacts of climate
change and the projected extent of those impacts. In this manner, the government will be able to
more comprehensively assess the actual situation and future probabilities to develop appropriate
strategies. The administrative entities need to focus on restricting carbon omissions, using
sustainable materials in civil and industrial constructions, and utilizing the strategies for

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retrofitting or sprawl to mitigate the impacts of climate change as much possible in a sustainable
manner.

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