I am writing this as an observer without any scientific qualifications to back up the content of the post--- but I would like to hear what others think on this.
Yesterday a huge dust storm made its way across SE Australia from the inland over Broken Hill and on through NSW to Sydney, and up though Queensland and possibly will reach New Guinea. The dust is spotting the snow on the ski-fields in New Zealand to-day. Whilst such dust storms are not rare, the size of this one, and its appearance at the start of Spring is very unusual. There was another huge dust storm in Victoria in the 80s, also after a drought, but that was in the middle of summer after very hot weather.
My point is-- the reason for this storm was that there is a 10 year drought in the heart of Australia, and unusually high temperatures too. The dry topsoil from the heart has been blown hundreds of miles to the coast and to the far north. This is very unusual. Indeed this storm was stated to be the biggest ever.
So, is it a sign of climate change, or merely an aberration of weather?
As an observer like you, lacking the relevant expert knowledge, not to mention a teraflop supercomputer, I form my opinion through simple and possibly erroneous deduction. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable that there might be unusual variations in local weather patterns, with or without Global Climate Change, and it doesn't necessarily follow that any particular one of those local changes is indicative of GCC; but taken as a whole, the many changes occurring around the world add up to evidence. The real bone of scientific contention hasn't been 'if' but 'why'.
Can we continue to deny Climate Change is happening, as many do in this country, or should we now start to find out if there is a genuine need to take these and other events as examples of what is to come if we don't do something to at least try to find some solutions?
Do we deny it? I don't, and it seems you don't, though I guess there will always be a 'they' who do - there are lot of people prepared to swear black is white, come what may. As far as action goes by those who don't deny it, it depends on whether or not they think GCC is significantly attributable to AGW. Those convinced that it is are most likely to support counter-measures. My view is that unless global population is controlled then any measures, such as fusion power, will be either too late, too little, or both.
