00:02When Chris Kaler thinks back to his first summer in his Townsville home, one word comes to mind.
00:08Oh, punishing. I was sitting, just dripping sweat. There was a pool of sweat underneath me.
00:12It was terrible. It really was. It was hot, still horrible.
00:17Almost 20 years on, he's still in the same home and still without air conditioning.
00:22The botanist has adapted, heavily planting out his yard, painting his roof white and cutting through walls.
00:30To let cross breezes through, fitting large openings in some of the exterior walls.
00:34I've got French doors down the western side, together with windows opposite them on the eastern side.
00:39Queensland's cities are sweltering and the urban sprawl is making it worse.
00:44Housing estates can create an urban heat island effect.
00:48With concrete replacing trees, heat is stored and released slowly, creating an uncomfortable environment.
00:55Experts say on a 35 degree day, it'll feel more like 40.
00:58The state government has recognised the issue in its draft planning policy.
01:03The real test will be how local governments put those new measures into practice.
01:09Conservation councils have joined forces to fight for heat to be recognised in state planning as a natural hazard.
01:17Something like a cyclone or a flood, it's a big disruption. It's treated as an emergency.
01:21But when you have a heat wave, it's a silent killer.
01:25Heat waves claim more lives than any other natural hazard.
01:29Mortality is higher among the vulnerable and elderly.
01:33Architect James Davidson specialises in climate change adaptation.
01:38He believes Australia needs to look beyond air conditioning and other energy reliant quick fixes.
01:44When those external temperatures in a heat sense essentially increase, those sort of air conditioning systems have been shown to
01:53struggle.
01:54He wants building codes to adopt climate smart construction.
01:57Until we have a construction code that is able to kind of incorporate these better ideas, I still think we're
02:04at risk of building the same old stuff again.
02:06But under a North Queensland mango tree, a natural solution is working well.
02:12So they're not just shading, they're actively cooling the air around them.
02:15It's just a lovely, easy place to live.
02:18For the time being.
02:19But there's no negative sense of the rain.
02:20You can choose to see hwnpyle.
02:23And I intentionally have a Lunar habit.
02:25You know the difference.
02:26One foot still falls.
