Climate Change In Australia

Climate change and pollution have immensely increased every day and this rise is beginning to take a serious toll on Australia’s environment and wildlife. Modern Australians habits, lifestyles and attitudes have caused severe problems on wildlife and nature that will continue getting more serious unless action is taken. This essay will be discussing how climate change and pollution is affecting Australia’s environment and how the ideas to solve these problems are being discussed and addressed. Both pollution and waste production are ever-increasing and are huge problems caused by modern Australians. Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels to make energy have been on the rise and the increasing population does not help that problem.
Glass, aluminium, plastics, polystyrene and numerous other miscellaneous items such as cigarette butts can all be found littered all over Australia and in Australian waters (Clean Up Australia 2010). According to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (2011) around 100,000 marine mammals are killed every year due to rubbish and debris in waterways, not including birds and other creatures, and around seven tonnes of trash finds its way into the ocean each year globally. Both marine and land animals can both be caught in stray nets, or think that some plastic is some food, which can end up killing the animals. Each Australian on average produces two tonnes of waste annually, with most waste ending up in landfill (Department of Environment and Heritage Protection 2013). Landfills are the producer of toxic chemicals that can enter waterways and the land affecting both plant and animal life (Clean Up Australia LTD 2009). There are many ways that Australia can improve their recycling habits which would dramatically improve the environment's health and save
There have been legislations put into place by some states, one example of this is the Waste Avoidance and Recourse Recovery Act. This Act is to make people abide by waste management options such as stopping unnecessary resource consumption and to reuse and recycle (Climate Change Authority 2014). The benefits of recycling are very notable, recycling reduces the use of resources, saves energy and reduces landfill sizes which improves the environment's health. For example, when one aluminium can get recycled, that saves enough energy to run a television for three hours (Clean Up Australia LTD 2009). Refuse, reuse and recycle is a stance most commonly known as it is easy to remember and easy to do. Refuse any packaging or bags that you don’t need, reuse anything possible and to recycle any materials that can be recycled (Clean Up Australia LTD 2009). Organisations have been created to encourage the conservation of Australia’s ecosystems. Clean Up Australia Day run by the organisation Clean Up is one of Australia’s largest community event geared towards saving the environment, and has been running for over 20 years (Clean Up Australia 2010). Many small steps have been taken by Australians and every little piece of recycling helps keep energy usage and rubbish production lower