Climate Change Impact – Look at Australia, Say Experts

If anyone had any doubts over the adverse impact of global warming, Australia should serve as sufficient warning, say experts.

Drought, fires, killer heat waves, wildlife extinction and mosquito-borne illness -- the things that climate change models are predicting have already arrived there.

Farmers of the Murray-Darling Basin, who once grew 60% of the nation's produce, are walking off their land or selling their water rights to the state and federal government.

Frank Eddy, a farmer hit hard by the severe drought, points out, "Fruit growers are abandoning their orchards. It's their life's work, and it's gone to dust. They are at their wits' end. The small growers haven't got the money to replant. Haven't got the time to wait five years for a return. The machinery they have is not salable. They have thrown their arms up and walked away. They are broken people.

"Suicide is high. Depression is huge. Families are breaking up. It's devastation...

"I've got a neighbor in terrible trouble. Found him in the paddock, sitting in his [truck], crying his eyes out. Grown men -- big, strong grown men. We're holding on by the skin of our teeth. It's desperate times."

Australia is witnessing the collapse of its agricultural sector and the nation's ability to feed itself. Rainfall patterns have been frustratingly uncooperative. Gentle winter showers that replenished groundwater have been replaced by torrential summer onslaughts that turn the fertile topsoil into a slough.