Search

Iconic footy commentator reveals tragic diagnosis

<p dir="ltr">Broadcasting legend Sandy Roberts has shared the details of his ongoing health battle, after being diagnosed with a rare, incurable cancer.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 73-year-old has returned to the MCG as he is fronting a new campaign to help save the lives of others, and himself, by trying to find a cure.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I have so many great, fond memories of this mighty ground,” says the former Channel 7 AFL commentator in the campaign launch.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This is my greatest call ... help me find a cure for myeloma.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Roberts’ cancer was found last year after he had a fall and had to undergo a series of x-rays.</p> <p dir="ltr">Despite always staying active during his retirement, he has broken his ribs in the fall, while the scans also showed the much more sinister diagnosis.</p> <p dir="ltr">“If I hadn’t fallen down the stairs, I wouldn’t have known I had multiple myeloma,” Roberts exclusively told <a href="https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/broadcasting-legend-sandy-roberts-facing-frightening-health-battle-with-incurable-cancer-c-10658323" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7NEWS</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The doctor finished up saying, ‘Of course, you’ve also got cancer’. Well, you could have blown us down with a feather. I mean, we had absolutely no idea … I mean, what’s he talking about?”</p> <p dir="ltr">Myeloma is a rare type of blood cancer, with experts saying that it is one of the few cancers in the 21st century that remains incurable.</p> <p dir="ltr">”Almost 30 per cent (of sufferers) die within 18 months of being diagnosed,” Roberts said during the campaign.</p> <p dir="ltr">For 40 years, Roberts was the face of Channel Seven sport, with his unique commentary being known for his cheeky and witty takes on sporting games.</p> <p dir="ltr">Since being diagnosed, Roberts has undergone chemotherapy and radiation, which has left him desperately sick and having to remain in hospital for extended stays.</p> <p dir="ltr">”I lost weight and I was weak and lethargic ... yeah, it wasn’t pleasant,” Roberts said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Roberts’ wife, Carolyn, said the illness had taken an emotional toll on him and his entire family.</p> <p dir="ltr">”Sometimes you want to fall into a hole, you definitely do,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And there were times when I’d go into the bedroom and cry, and I’m sure Sandy did the same, but you’ve got to keep going.”</p> <p dir="ltr">With new treatments helping him feel much stronger, he is thrilled to be the face of the long overdue awareness campaign.</p> <p dir="ltr">The campaign is aimed to raise awareness for the overlooked type of cancer, while experts are also asking for donations to help fund their research into a cure.</p> <p dir="ltr">”Experts within Myeloma Australia and around the world are saying that a cure is very close,” Roberts said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“So fingers crossed it’s REALLY close.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Seven</em></p>

Caring

Sarah Ferguson celebrates her birthday with the Queen’s corgis

<p dir="ltr">Sarah Ferguson has celebrated her birthday by sharing adorable photos with Queen Elizabeth’s corgis. </p> <p dir="ltr">The Duchess of York celebrated her 63rd birthday on October 15 and took to Instagram to share photos of her playing with the late Monarch’s dogs, Sandy and Muick.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The presents that keep giving,” her caption read along with a series of photos smiling and playing with the pets. </p> <p dir="ltr">Queen Elizabeth II was gifted the two corgis in 2021 by Prince Andrew during lockdown to keep her entertained while Prince Philip was in hospital.</p> <p dir="ltr">Since her death on September 8, the dogs returned to Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjubFlPIhWu/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjubFlPIhWu/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Sarah Ferguson (@sarahferguson15)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjuZ2O8oE1K/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjuZ2O8oE1K/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Sarah Ferguson (@sarahferguson15)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">The Duchess of York described Sandy and Muick as “national treasures” as they adjusted to living with her five Norfolk Terriers.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It's a big honour. Sandy and Muick are national treasures and they have been taught well,” she previously said. </p> <p dir="ltr">"They all balance out, the carpet moves as I move but I've got used to it now."</p> <p dir="ltr">Princess Eugenie also wished her mother a happy birthday along with family photos. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Half an hour left to go of October 15th 2022 but better late than never.. Happy Birthday my dear mumsy! @sarahferguson15,” she wrote. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjwF1NTIjSl/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjwF1NTIjSl/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Princess Eugenie (@princesseugenie)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Princess Eugenie shared adorable selfies of the pair, along with her husband Jack Brooksbank, and sister Princess Beatrice. </p> <p dir="ltr">Other photos showed the Duchess of York smiling during a country walk and sitting on a rock near a stream of water. </p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Family & Pets

What is happening to the Queen's corgis?

<p dir="ltr">The passing of Queen Elizabeth II has been at the forefront of burning questions many people have but one in particular stands out.</p> <p dir="ltr">What will happen to the Queen’s beloved corgis now that she has died?</p> <p dir="ltr">The late monarch, who has spectacularly owned 30 corgis in her lifetime, was gifted two corgis, Muick and Sandy in 2021 by Prince Andrew.</p> <p dir="ltr">The pets were gifted to the Queen during lockdown to keep her entertained while Prince Philip was in hospital.</p> <p dir="ltr">In the wake of her passing, the dogs will return to Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Duke of York confirmed.</p> <p dir="ltr">Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8 following a long battle with her health.</p> <p dir="ltr">She will be farewelled at a state funeral at Westminster Abbey in London on September 19.</p> <p dir="ltr">Her son Charles, who is now King, bid farewell to his mother and her dedication to the job and people of the United Kingdom.</p> <p dir="ltr">“[...] to my darling Mama, as you begin your last great journey to join my dear late Papa, I want simply to say this: Thank you.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Thank you for your love and devotion to our family and to the family of nations you have served so diligently all these years.</p> <p dir="ltr">"May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Family & Pets

Alex Jones to pay eye-watering sum in damages

<p dir="ltr">Alex Jones, the host of far-right radio show InfoWars, has been ordered to pay a total of $US 49.3 million ($AUD 70.51 million) in damages for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.</p> <p dir="ltr">A Texas jury ruled that Jones pay $45.2 million in punitive damages, after awarding $4.1 million in compensatory damages the previous day, per <em><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62444302" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC News</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Jones has repeatedly claimed that the shooting at Sandy Hook primary school, Connecticut, where 20 children and adults were killed was a “hoax” carried out by actors who opposed the Second Amendment right to bear firearms.</p> <p dir="ltr">Nail Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the plaintiffs in the case and whose son died in the shooting, asked the court for $150 million, claiming they endured harassment and emotional distress as a result of his misinformation.</p> <p dir="ltr">Heslin told the court that Jones’ falsehoods had made his life “hell” and led to harassment and death threats from people who believed he had lied about his son’s death.</p> <p dir="ltr">The $4.1 million in compensatory damages were issued on Thursday to cover the actual costs incurred by the plaintiffs as a result of Jones’ defamation, including the private security they hired out of fear a Jones supporter may attack them during the trial.</p> <p dir="ltr">The following day’s $45.2 million are meant to deter Jones from repeating his offence.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We ask that you send a very, very simple message and that is: Stop Alex Jones,” a lawyer for the parents said in court on Friday.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Stop the monetisation of misinformation and lies. Please.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Lawyers representing Heslin and Lewis accused Jones of trying to hide evidence, arguing that he committed perjury by denying having sent any messages about the shooting - with one attorney revealing that Jones’ legal representative accidentally sent them two years of Jones’ text messages.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Did you know 12 days ago your attorneys messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone with every text message you’ve sent for the past two years?” said attorney Mark Bankston, according to HuffPost.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And when informed did not take any steps to identify it as privilege?”</p> <p dir="ltr">"If I was mistaken, I was mistaken, you've got the text messages right there," Jones said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Despite his long-held position that the shooting was fake, Jones acknowledged that it was “100 percent real” in court.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I unintentionally took part in things that did hurt these people’s feelings, and I’m sorry for that,” Jones said.</p> <p dir="ltr">However, the radio host has continued to use his media platform to claim the case was rigged against him, with his InfoWars depicting a judge being consumed by flames.</p> <p dir="ltr">During his brief appearance in court, Jones was rebuked several times by the judge for lying under oath, including one moment where he was told: “This is not your show.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The trial is one of three brought against Jones by family members of the Sandy Hook victims, and comes after he has lost a series of defamation cases filed by parents by default after he failed to produce documents or testimony.</p> <p dir="ltr">But, this is the first trial where a jury agreed to award financial damages.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-71a17443-7fff-4a6b-001a-e0fe0b49116b"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Money & Banking

Resurfaced video shows Gabby Petito right after Sandy Hook tragedy

<p>At just 14 years of age, Gabby Petito starred in a music video titled “Irreplaceable” in an effort to raise awareness about violence against children after the tragic Sandy Hook massacre in the US.</p> <p>She and her younger brothers appeared in the 2013 music video for a song that was produced and sung by fellow Long Island native Deb Henson, who told<span> </span><em>The Sun<span> </span></em>that the inspiration for the song was the school shooting that left 26 people dead, including 20 kids, in Newtown, Connecticut.</p> <p>In the video, Ms Petito – whose death has been ruled a homicide after her body was found near a Wyoming campsite – is seen holding a sign that reads: “I’m irreplaceable”.</p> <p>“The lyrics are almost eerie now. It’s ironic and tragic that she’s in the video and that this has happened to her,” Ms Henson told the news outlet.</p> <p>“This song isn’t just about violence against kids. It’s about domestic violence and violence in general. It’s just God awful really, what happened to Gabby,” added Ms Henson who recalled the “magical weekend” when they shot the video.</p> <p>“It was two days of filming on a Saturday and Sunday, and I just remember it was really hard for everybody because of the subject matter – and Gabby was such a bright light, even at 14,” she told News Long Island.</p> <p>The leading actress, Maija Polsley, a close friend of the slain women’s stepmother, Tara Petito, arranged for the three siblings to take part in the production according to<span> </span><em>The Sun</em>.</p> <p>“Gabby was just the sweetest kid, she was just so full of love, she just wanted to help and be involved in any way she could,” Ms Henson said.<br />“It breaks my heart. It gets me. It’s just so sad.”</p> <p>She said she hopes that, eventually, “something great will come out of this tragedy,” adding that all proceeds from the video on iTunes and Spotify will go toward a fund helping the grieving family.</p>

Music

The world may lose half its sandy beaches by 2100: It’s not too late to save most of them

<p>For many coastal regions, sea-level rise is a looming crisis threatening our coastal society, livelihoods and coastal ecosystems. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0697-0">A new study</a>, published in Nature Climate Change, has reported the world will lose almost half of its valuable sandy beaches by 2100 as the ocean moves landward with rising sea levels.</p> <p>Sandy beaches comprise about a third of the world’s coastline. And Australia, with nearly 12,000 kilometres at risk, could be hit hard.</p> <p>This is the first truly global study to attempt to quantify beach erosion. The results for the highest greenhouse gas emission scenario are alarming, but reducing emissions lead to lower rates of coastal erosion.</p> <p>Our best hope for the future of the world’s coastlines and for Australia’s iconic beaches is to keep global warming as low as possible by urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions.</p> <p><strong>Losing sand in coastal erosion</strong></p> <p>Two of the largest problems resulting from <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/">rising sea levels</a> are coastal erosion and an already-observed increase in the frequency of coastal flooding events.</p> <p>Erosion during storms can have dramatic consequences, particularly for coastal infrastructure. We saw this in 2016, when <a href="https://theconversation.com/sydneys-wild-weather-shows-home-owners-are-increasingly-at-risk-60621">wild storms</a> removed sand from beaches and damaged houses in Sydney.</p> <p>After storms like this, beaches often gradually recover, because sand from deeper waters washes back to the shore over months to years and in some cases decades. These dramatic storms and the long-term <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002532271630010X">sand supply</a> make it difficult to identify any beach movement in the recent past from sea-level rise.</p> <p>What we do know is that the rate of sea-level rise has <a href="https://theconversation.com/contributions-to-sea-level-rise-have-increased-by-half-since-1993-largely-because-of-greenlands-ice-79175">accelerated</a>. It has increased by half since 1993, and is continuing to accelerate from ongoing greenhouse gas emissions.</p> <p>If we continue to emit high levels of greenhouse gases, this acceleration will continue through the 21st century and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-the-science-really-say-about-sea-level-rise-56807">beyond</a>. As a result, the supply of sand may not be able to keep pace with rapidly rising sea levels.</p> <p><strong>Projections for the worst-case scenario</strong></p> <p>In the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/">report</a>, released last year, the highest greenhouse gas emissions scenario resulted in global warming of more than 4°C (relative to pre-industrial temperatures) and a likely range of sea-level rise between 0.6 and 1.1 metres by 2100.</p> <p>For this scenario, this new study projects a global average landward movement of the coastline in the range of 40 to 250 metres if there were no physical limits to shoreline movement, such as those imposed by sea walls or other coastal infrastructure.</p> <p>Sea-level rise is responsible for the vast majority of this beach loss, with faster loss during the latter decades of the 21st century when the rate of rise is larger. And sea levels will continue to rise for centuries, so beach erosion would continue well after 2100.</p> <p>For southern Australia, the landward movement of the shoreline is projected to be more than 100 metres. This would damage many of Australia’s iconic tourist beaches such as Bondi, Manly and the Gold Coast. The movement in northern Australia is projected to be even larger, but more uncertain because of ongoing historical shoreline trends.</p> <p><strong>What happens if we mitigate our emissions</strong></p> <p>The above results are from a worst-case scenario. If greenhouse gas emissions were reduced such that the 2100 global temperature rose by about 2.5°C, instead of more than 4°C, then we’d reduce beach erosion by about a third of what’s projected in this worst-case scenario.</p> <p>Current global policies would result in about <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/global/cat-thermometer/">3°C of global warming</a>. That’s between the 4°C and the 2.5°C scenarios considered in this beach erosion study, implying our current policies will lead to significant beach erosion, including in Australia.</p> <p>Mitigating our emissions even further to achieving the Paris goal of keeping temperature rise to well below 2°C would be a major step in reducing beach loss.</p> <p><strong>Why coastal erosion is hard to predict</strong></p> <p>Projecting sea-level rise and resulting beach erosion are particularly difficult as both depend on many factors.</p> <p>For sea level, the major problems are estimating the contribution of melting Antarctic ice flowing into the ocean, how sea level will change on a regional scale, and the amount of global warming.</p> <p>The beach erosion calculated in this new study depends on several new databases. The databases of recent shoreline movement used to project ongoing natural factors might already be influenced by rising sea levels, possibly leading to an overestimate in the final calculations.</p> <p><strong>The implications</strong></p> <p>Regardless of the exact numbers reported in this study, it’s clear we will have to adapt to the beach erosion that we can no longer prevent, if we are to continue enjoying our beaches.</p> <p>This means we need appropriate planning, such as beach nourishment (adding sand to beaches to combat erosion) and other soft and hard engineering solutions. In some cases, we’ll even need to retreat from the coast to allow the beach to migrate landward.</p> <p>And if we are to continue to enjoy our sandy beaches into the future, we cannot allow ongoing and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The world needs urgent, significant and sustained global mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.</p> <p><em>Written by John Church. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-may-lose-half-its-sandy-beaches-by-2100-its-not-too-late-to-save-most-of-them-132586">The Conversation.</a> </em></p> <p> </p>

Cruising

Our Partners

Over 60

News

Shop

Catalogues

Contests

Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Property

Games

Information

Keep up to date