Editorial

Living in the Wimmera it is easy to forget the rest of the world, even more so if we do not catch up with the news, and it is easy to forget that our climate is changing. Even though we have been the subject of more f loods the temperatures here have been not so extreme, however in Europe and the Americas things have been far more turbulent.

This winter the sea ice around Antarctica is in rapid decline, with experts now concerned it may not recover Sea ice lows in 2016, 2017 and 2022 have been followed this year with an all-time low around the icy continent Usually, the ice has been able to recover in winter, when Antarctica is reliably dark and cold

Satellite data has indicated that this month land temperatures have reached 60°C in Spain, with tourists warned to stay off beaches throughout the Mediterranean In North America people are living under extreme heat warnings with close to the hottest temperature even recorded on earth of 56°C in appropriately named Death Valley

The sea is little cooler, with Florida ocean temperatures well above 30°C Further north on land, people are being rescued by dinghies and helicopters from suburban streets as heavy rain causes flooding across Pennsylvania and New York and into New England Vermont has declared a state of emergency Parts of the Midwest of US are on Tornado watch and other states in severe thunderstorm

Parts of Canada have been on fire for months and conditions are similarly apocalyptic elsewhere with cars swirling down flooded streets in Japan and India and China roasting for weeks

In Europe temperatures of 48°C are being experienced regularly and last year, over 60,000 died there from heat with this year hotter This June was the hottest ever recorded on Earth July led with the hottest ever day, swif tly followed by a hotter hottest ever day, then the hottest week –and, possibly, the hottest month

What used to be normal has gone and this is now our new world many say

In the last eleven thousand years or so humans invented agriculture, built cities, and became what we would call essentially modern Most of the histor y that we know all occurred during this stage and it was marked by a relatively predictable climate that was conducive to enable the growth of grains and the agriculture of the world to flourish.

There are some scientific members of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), who believe we are now at the beginning of a new age, the A n t h r o p o c e n e A g e T h e s e s c i e n t i s t s h a v e selected Crawford Lake in Canada as the best site to mark this geological start and if their bid is successful, the International Union of Geological Sciences could officially and momentously declare the Anthropocene Age in August 2024

T h i s w i l l b e a n u n c h a r t e d A g e , s a y t h e AWG, brought about by human activities and c h a r a c t e r i s e d b y g l o b a l c l i m a t e c h a o s a n d ecological degradation,

If this new age occurs, will the Anthropocene Age help to move us from denial, through to acceptance? Will it help us move through the depression over the scale of loss of wildlife, glaciers, lush landscapes and will more settled weather bring about something that will see us build a livable Anthropocene Perhaps we have a better age to create Who knows