While it is still technically winter in Australia, grey nomads in most parts of the country could be forgiven for having to double check their calendars.
Sydney has just recorded its hottest July on record, and above-average temperatures are being recorded in all states and territories. And the scientists tell us that this could be just the start.
A report prepared for the NT Government a couple of years ago, Climate Change in the Northern Territory, warned that, going forward, ‘the hottest days in the Northern Territory will be hotter and more frequent, and warm spells will be longer’.
It seems reasonable then to ask what impact increasingly warm temperatures might have on the grey nomad lifestyle … both in the short term and the long term.
An artist’s rendition of an indoor sustainable tunnel proposed for Dubai to enable people to escape the outdoor heat. PIC: URB
The NT climate report cautioned that extreme weather could: increase risks for visitors unfamiliar with the local environment; damage infrastructure; inhibit travel within the NT and access to popular tourist sites; and shorten the visitor season due to extended seasonal closures. Certainly, the severe heatwave currently scorching southern Europe is having a huge impact on tourism there.
Popular attractions like the Acropolis in Athens have been forced to close during the dangerous heat of the day, and the searing summer temperatures are also likely to have a longer-term knock-on effect. Some travel experts say it will accelerate a trend for tourists to prioritise milder temperatures or off-season travel to avoid oppressive heat.
While it is unlikely that there will be a sudden rush of grey nomads wanting to spend the wet season in the north, it might mean though that the southern states will become increasingly popular in the winter months.
And, looking even further ahead, if the most pessimistic of climate change forecasts do come true, what might the Big Lap look like then? Perhaps, the indoor, climate-controlled, 93-kilometre-long ‘sustainable urban highway’ being proposed for Dubai offers a clue.
Developer URB says the massive structure called ‘The Loop’ would provide a car-free ‘green corridor’ filled with trees and plants for residents to walk or cycle around the city. URB told the Grey Nomads that a ‘total paradigm shift’ in thinking was required around the world.
“Every country has an opportunity to develop unique projects that promote a higher quality of life for their citizens,” it said. “The Loop Project is only one example of how cities can adopt an entrepreneurial spirit in urban mobility.”
Perhaps then the air-conditioned bubble concept might be expanded in future even hotter times. Might we, for example, ultimately see campsites built beneath a climate-controlled dome?
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Journalists were once researchers and fact checkers. Now just scaremongers accepting the computer modelling of new science.
There is zero evidence of human induced climate change.
Get real and publish facts.
Its a great country and world your words are helping to destroy.
I am personally proud of our forebears and their efforts and integrity.
Tearing up forests and farmland to install industrial structures is the real crime. Tell if you can how many trees were/will be felled for the latest Bowen Folly in NQ?
In Scotland it has just been revealed that 6.7million trees were felled for a windfarm without public consultation. I am guessing at least that bad in and around Australia or worse.
I am looking for investors to join me in a fishing business featuring from prawns and lobster straight from ocean to table, already boiled.