Sweltering or freezing: this is not normal

As I write, south-east Australia is experiencing an extraordinary heatwave. This is the second such heatwave for 2026. At the same time, a vicious polar vortex is monstering much of North America and Europe. While at this sweltering end of the world we’re enjoying photos of frozen rivers and huge snowdrifts, friends in Canada and the US are similarly enjoying pics of Australians trying to cool off under hoses.

These conditions, while not unprecedented, are not normal. Yes, of course we’ve had heatwaves before, and the northern hemisphere has experienced big freezes before, but these conditions are coming more frequently and with greater intensity than ever before. This is not normal nor should it be.

We can’t say we weren’t warned. Since the mid-1980s climate scientists have been warning us of climate change. The climate stats and data tell the story and we were warned in the 1990s that heatwaves would get hotter and more frequent, droughts will be longer and drier, floods will be more extreme, storms will be stronger and more destructive. Turns out, the warnings were not the exaggerated pronouncements of the anti-fossil fuel lobby and greenies, as various politicians and mining lobbyists told us, they were, in fact, true. If anything, they were understated.

The first COP (Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) was held in 1995. Yes, that’s over 30 years ago. Governments have been arguing, wrangling and negotiating over climate change for three decades and have achieved pretty much bugger-all. Australia has certainly increased our renewable energy sector and it is this that has been largely responsible for keeping our power supply going while every air-conditioner in south-east Australia has been running at full tilt for the past week. Yet at the same time we continue to dig fossil fuels out the ground, flog ‘em off and burn 'em like there’s no tomorrow. The problem is, at this rate, tomorrow isn’t a guaranteed deal and coal isn’t the only thing burning. Climate-driven bushfires are becoming are more common feature of every summer. 

Over the same 30-year period the world has experienced a 1.5º temperature rise above pre-industrial levels driven by emissions. That figure was the Paris Agreement target. We’ve reached the critical threshold. Exceeding it triggers irreversible ecosystem losses, severe extreme weather, rising sea levels, and dangerous tipping points.

What concerns me about all this, however, isn’t so much the terrifying stats – concerning though they are – it’s the ease with which we’ve accepted the extreme conditions and adapted our language to suit them.

Temperatures in the 40s were once associated only with our desert regions and the far north-west of the country – and even then not as common occurrences. Now we hear the numbers rolling off the tongues of weather forecasters and TV weather announcers as though this is all perfectly normal. And we accept that. Why?

Why are we not screaming at our government to stop approving new coal mines, phase out fossil fuel, put more funding into biodiversity conservation and stop greedy corporations sucking water out of the Murray-Darling system? 

While there’s a lot we can do at individual and community levels – and indeed, many of us and the communities around us are well down that road – it’s government policy that has to change. It doesn’t matter how many of us cover our rooves with solar panels or initiate community sustainability projects, while our governments continue to bow to mining corporations and cling to increasingly outdated economic models, the temperature will continue to rise.

We can’t reverse the damage that’s already done, but we don’t have to accept that there’s nothing we can do except sit back and fry. Do not accept these heatwaves as the ‘new normal’.

No, it isn't!

 

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AfrikaansAlbanianAmharicArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CorsicanCroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchFrisianGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHawaiianHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanKurdishKyrgyzLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianLuxembourgishMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPashtoPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSamoanScots GaelicSerbianSesothoShonaSindhiSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu

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