Ross Garnaut, an architect of Australia's stalled climate change policy, has called for increased efforts to halt climate change in response to a recent spate of natural disasters linked to climate change. Garnaut said that recent disasters, like last month's devastating flooding and last week's Cyclone Yasi, were examples of extreme weather events likely to increase if global warming goes unchecked. "If we are seeing an intensification of extreme weather events now, you ain't seen nothing yet," said Garnaut. Last week, Prime Minister Julia Girrard restated her commitment to pricing carbon emissions, but the nation has delayed plans to force polluters to pay for carbon-emissions permits and has instead set up a committee to determine the proper course of action to price carbon dioxide. The country relies on coal for around 80% of power generation, making it one of the world's top per capita polluters. However, critics point out that while the per capita rate is high, the country contributes on 2% of the world total, and pricing may result in higher power bills for Australians. For the full story, see http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/us-australia-climate-idUSTRE7130M020110204. For Ross Garnaut's efforts, see http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/02/04/australia%E2%80%99s-cyclone-climate-change-or-just-really-bad-weather/ and http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/severe-storms-will-get-worse-garnaut-says/story-e6frg6zo-1226000414704. For a story on the cyclone's impact on Australia's climate policy, see http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL3E7D207J20110202.