You might have seen media coverage this week of the Climate Commission's report The Angry Summer, which details 123 weather-related records broken across Australia over summer and the role climate change played in this extreme weather. It's pretty full-on.

Image source: http://climatecommission.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/The-Angry-Summer-Map.jpg

Our local climate action group, WATCH (Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health), had a local angle on the effects of the hot, dry summer in a media release last week. WATCH are compiling a database of local impacts - refer to the previous link for more details. The Border Mail ran a story and video, featuring Rob Fenton of the National Environment Centre's organic farm, discussing some of those local impacts. 

Image source: http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/1332487/video-these-pigs-were-bakin/ 

Meanwhile, in an informative Living Lightly article recently, Michelle Wilkinson discussed strategies for effective energy use at home in summer.

I thought I'd note a few of the things we did in our backyard in response to the heat. Some were tried and tested from previous hot, dry spells; others were new. I'll look at chooks, worms, honeybees, plants and other visitors in coming posts.