Can we successfully adapt to four degrees of global warming? - Four Degrees of Global Warming - page 210

Storyline

1. Terror Australia 2. Terroir Australia 3. New Atlantis

Sectors

Tourism Rural tourism in

decline in most areas
due to low amenity;
wetlands and coral
reefs in decline.

Rural tourism in
decline in most areas
as rural population
declines; wetlands
protected with
environmental flows;
coral reefs in decline.

Rural tourism
expanding in many
areas as people
escape urban heat;
wetlands being
restored; strategies in
plan to protect reef
biodiversity.

Human health High mortality and

morbidity from heat
stress; asthma and
allergic reactions to
aeroallergens; dengue
fever spreading south.

Effective response
measures limit
heatwave mortality;
dengue fever
control in place;
allergen-related
disease occurrence
increasing.

Heatwave mortality
very low; dengue
fever and allergen-
related disease
controlled.

others and future generations are confined to obscure monthly journals and
community radio stations. It then becomes impossible to speak meaningfully of
community or communal values. Freedom remains the prevailing value of a small
but influential upper class, which propagates the discourse and practice of unfet-
tered consumption and mobility. At the other end of the social spectrum survival
is the goal and opportunity is the desire, for there is little choice: market segmen-
tation leads to redlining 1 from essential services such as insurance. Access to
healthcare and education is restricted by the capability of civil society to provide,
labour markets are dominated by employers and mobility is an unaffordable
luxury.
Whether or not developments in Australia are mirrored in the outside
world, international relations are characterized by isolation - refugees are strongly
discouraged by the instruments the state has at its disposal and immigration is
limited to just a few essential categories (where 'essential' may be defined as that
necessary to ensure a compliant workforce). With a struggling agriculture sector,
minerals dominate exports. With few allies and trading partners, when drought
strikes and crops fail, Australia struggles to purchase grain on the international
market. Partly in response to this risk, the nation seeks to maintain a stable or
low-growth population. Efforts to limit greenhouse-gas emissions have largely
failed, defeated by a growing demand for energy for cooling purposes and by
industry interests. Dependent on the extent to which international efforts to
reduce emissions have succeeded through mandatory restrictions, Australia may
face penalties for failure to comply.