Climate Change 2010: Where do we go from here?

Over the past few months, the climate change challenge has taken some odd twists and turns. The COP15 meeting in Copenhagen was widely condemned in the press as a failure; the Australian Government has been unable to get its emission trading scheme through the Senate; Europe and North America have been hit by cold and snowy winters; and there has been a surge in public attacks on the veracity of climate change science. What is going on? This talk focuses on the post-Copenhagen climate - both physical and political- examining what the credible science is really saying about the state of the climate system, and what might be in store for us in the coming decades, including the prospects for rural and regional Australia. Looking beyond the stories in the popular media about what was not achieved at COP15 the progress that actually was made in Copenhagen will be explored. With the recent surge in sceptic attacks on climate science this talk will also examine why the climate change challenge has suddenly become so much more difficult.