As intense flooding 
 
continues to spread 
 
across the southern 
 
continent, the death toll 
 
has climbed to 30 
 
with tens of thousands 
 
of people still unable
 
to return to their homes 
 
and damage to crops 
 
that could exceed 
 
AUS$1 billion. 
 
With other globally 
 
reported calamities 
 
such as the 2010 fires 
 
in Russia and Pakistan's 
 
devastating floods, 
 
as well as more recent 
 
extreme flooding in Brazil, 
 
where fatalities have 
 
reached 700 and 15,000 
 
are thus far rendered 
 
homeless, discussions 
 
have become more 
 
frequent on the disasters' 
 
links of to climate change. 
 
 
In an interview 
 
with Supreme Master 
 
Television, 
 
Dr. Matthew England 
 
of the University of 
 
New South Wales' 
 
Climate Change 
 
Research Center 
 
highlighted the recent 
 
calamity in Australia 
 
as an example 
 
of how warming due to 
 
greenhouse gases is 
 
adversely energizing the 
 
atmosphere-ocean system 
 
to produce extreme 
 
weather patterns 
 
on a global scale. 
 
Dr. Matthew England - University of New South Wales' Climate Change Research Center, Australia (M): 
 
For these Queensland rains, 
 
the events themselves can 
 
be linked to the La Niña, 
 
but the intensity is 
 
unlikely to have reached 
 
where it has reached 
 
without global warming. 
 
People will remember
 
the bush fires in Victoria 
 
only a couple years ago. 
 
A very senior weather 
 
expert in Australia said 
 
that is a climate change 
 
event - categorically. 
 
That was an event that 
 
caused untold damage, 
 
again lives were lost, 
 
whole towns 
 
were burnt down. 
 
We've always had 
 
bush fires in Australia, 
 
we've always had floods; 
 
these events 
 
are familiar to us. 
 
But it's the progression 
 
of these events, 
 
it's the increased number 
 
of extreme events, 
 
the increased severity of 
 
bush fires in the subtropics, 
 
very heavy rain events 
 
in the tropics. 
 
And we're seeing this 
 
not just in Australia, 
 
we're seeing this 
 
occur globally. 
 
VOICE: 
 
Expressing his sense of 
 
duty to alert the public 
 
about these and other 
 
such troubling findings 
 
on climate change impacts, 
 
Dr. England urged for 
 
investing in mitigating 
 
measures before 
 
we must pay in lives 
 
and larger damages. 
 
Dr. Matthew England (M): 
 
I hold some sort of fear, 
 
in some sense, 
 
that the problem's going
 
to get much deeper 
 
before we solve it. 
 
It's good to see people 
 
fighting on after these 
 
events and rebuilding 
 
their lives, and that's 
 
a very important thing to do, 
 
but we need to also think 
 
about how we can 
 
change our emissions 
 
of greenhouse gases, 
 
because that will see 
 
the number of 
 
these events not ramp up 
 
at such a rapid rate.
 
VOICE: 
 
Our appreciation, 
 
Dr. England 
 
for pointing to this truly 
 
alarming reality of 
 
increasing devastation 
 
already being faced 
 
by people in Australia 
 
and across the globe. 
 
With prayers for 
 
the disaster-affected, 
 
especially those 
 
who have lost loved ones, 
 
may governments and 
 
citizens join in striving 
 
for the shared goal of 
 
halting global warming 
 
through wise, rapid actions. 
 
During 
 
a 2008 videoconference 
 
in Australia with our 
 
Association members, 
 
Supreme Master Ching Hai 
 
cautioned, as she has 
 
long been doing, that 
 
climate change-related 
 
disasters could intensify 
 
to a point of no return, 
 
unless humankind switches 
 
to a planet-protecting 
 
lifestyle. 
Supreme Master Ching Hai 
 
: The world is not
 
completely destroyed 
 
yet quickly, but
 
the disaster still continues. 
It's just that it's not 
 
the point of no return yet. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
At the point of no return 
 
that would be rolling 
 
downhill then.
 
No change can be 
 
taken place anymore. 
 
As more 
 
vegetarian people join in 
 
and a little bit of saving 
 
from the planetary
 
environmental protection,
 
we earn more than that
 
now already.
 
But we cannot 
 
keep extending forever. 
 
Because even as we are 
 
extending our deadline
 
to change the problem 
 
of the planet, the planet 
 
will also continue 
 
to take its course with 
 
the disaster that is coming. 
 
Let's hope we will change
 
the course of the disaster.
Not only in Australia that 
 
we will avoid disaster,
 
but everywhere
 
in the world. 
http://theweek.com/article/index/211154/is-climate-change-to-blame-for-the-brisbane-floodshttp://www.examiner.com/natural-disasters-in-national/death-toll-from-floods-and-mudslides-brazil-approaches-700http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/138539-al-gore-lauds-abc-news-for-climate-flooding-link