Climate Cafe: Solar system environment and Earth’s climate

Photo of a mural showing waves, and a sun. Text reads 'Climate Cafe 2026'

The Nillumbik Climate Action Team is excited to bring you another year of engaging and informative speakers. Events will be held at Platform 3095, on the last Thursday of every month from February to November.

Our first speaker* for the year, on Thursday 26 February, will be Professor of Physics, David Jamieson, speaking on 'The environment of the solar system and the Earth’s climate'.

'Let us step off planet Earth and look at how the environment of the solar system interacts with our climate. Subtle and slow changes in the shape of Earth’s orbit around the Sun changes the climate over long periods of time: the Milankovitch cycles that are related to the Earth’s ice ages. The solar wind pushes on our outer atmosphere and interacts with our magnetic field that changes the ozone levels. Most of these effects are well understood and help us to understand the much larger impact due to human activity.

We can also look at the climates of our two planetary neighbours, Mars and Venus. Earth, Venus and Mars all started with similar atmospheres at the formation of the solar system. The evolution of life on Earth has changed our atmosphere and we can see how this has led us to a different climate to our planetary neighbours.

Today, we know human activities will change the destiny of Earth’s climate, it is in our hands to decide how this will go.'

David Jamieson is a Professor of Physics at the University of Melbourne and has held academic positions in the USA and the UK. His research interests are in the field of quantum computer technology. In addition to teaching undergraduate physics, he also gives the occasional public lecture on fundamental issues in physics.

Further details at the Nillumbik Climate Action Team website, including speaker topics for the first half of 2026.

*We apologise for any inconvenience, but we have had to cancel our previously advertised speaker for February: Emma Barnett from the Yarra Riverkeeper Association. We hope to have Emma speak at a future time.