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Dr Alan Finkel answers your climate questions
Producer: Gillian McNally
in partnership with
Dr Alan Finkel is the nation’s leading figure in our response to the climate change challenge.
Here, he answers your questions on global warming. 
IS THE WORLD REALLY GETTING WARMER?
Global surface temperatures measured by satellites and ground-based measurement stations since 1990 show an upward trend and an overall increase of 0.7 degrees.
Q
A
Occasionally, there are dips for a few years, but they are followed by increases. Those fluctuations are what you expect to see in the real world. What counts is the trend, which is steadily upwards.
BUT ISN’T CLIMATE CHANGE NATURAL?
It's true, the world has cycled between ice ages and warm periods, with the ice ages repeating roughly every 100,000 years.
Q
A
Ice core samples going back about 800,000 years tell us the temperature rose more slowly coming out of the glacial periods than we are experiencing now.
If we don’t reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, the global temperature will increase well above the highest level seen in the last 800,000 years.
SO WHAT IF SEA LEVELS RISE A FEW INCHES?
A few inches of sea level rise would not be a problem if it occurred over a long time and that were the only change.
Q
A
On current emissions trajectories, the global sea level is expected to be up to 25cm higher by 2050 than at the start of this century, and 70cm higher by 2100.
This sea level rise combined with increasingly severe cyclones will lead to destructive storm surges. Relocating infrastructure and homes would be extremely costly.
IF IT GETS WARMER, IS THAT SO BAD?
Heat is the leading weather-related killer in the US and the risk of heat-related deaths from heatwaves is expected to increase.
Q
A
It is not sufficient to look only at the average rise, which globally is already 1.2C above the pre-industrial baseline and in Australia is more than 1.4C since national records began in 1910.
The bigger problem is that the risk of heat-related deaths will be exacerbated by ever greater temperature extremes. 
Dr Finkel says in a word, electricity. Find out why. 
SO WHAT'S THE SOLUTION?
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