Quarterly Talk:
Climate change in Brisbane’s west – a local take on a global phenomenon
Guest Speaker:
Charles Worringham
President, The Hut Environmental and Community Association
Sitting between the D’Aguilar Range and a growing city, residents of Brisbane’s west are unusually well placed to observe and appreciate the natural world, as well as to benefit from the services and opportunities offered by a major urban centre.
Yet the same global changes that have made cities like Brisbane possible have also exerted pressures on local ecosystems – through population growth and movement, land use change and habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species and other forces.
Climate change is one of these fundamental pressures, yet as a global phenomenon, it often seems remote and its effects difficult to grasp. How does it manifest itself locally? Are there measurable indicators of change in our area, and what implications might they have for local ecosystems and their inhabitants – fauna, flora and people?
This talk will provide an update on recent climate science findings, review some significant effects known to be occurring elsewhere, and then focus on observations from our region and immediate area. Current and in-progress monitoring projects for Brisbane’s west will also be outlined.
After a career in movement neuroscience at the University of Michigan and QUT, Charles is pursuing local projects through THECA, and has written extensively on India’s energy transition.
