The Sociocultural Context of Climate Change Adaptation in Australia, with a Focus on Hot Weather

In this chapter, we draw inspiration from Tony McMichael’s research on the implications of climate change for human health and well-being and his exhortations to pay attention to the big picture. As a consequence, we use historical and contemporary materials to reflect on how Australia’s cultural history has contributed to the development of our somewhat relaxed attitudes and practices in relation to increasingly hot weather and climate change. We consider the historical experiences of European settlers who arrived from the northern hemisphere with little understanding of hot weather and attempted to impose themselves on a foreign landscape. They developed a stoic approach to hot weather; something to be endured, if they were to survive. Over time, a more compromising attitude has developed as Australians gradually, and partially, adapt their clothing, behaviour, housing and location of residence to cope with the bodily discomforts of heat. Now they rely on techno-fixes, such as air conditioning, to manage hot weather, with unhelpful implications for climate change mitigation. Instead of relying on individual behaviour change, we nominate three policy domains where action is urgently required.