A verdict rendered in a Sydney courtroom last Friday underscores how climate change and the past several months of weather catastrophes across Australia are influencing opinion across this country. On Feb. 8, an Australian court for the first time invoked climate change as a reason to reject a proposed coal mine.

The ruling, by Chief Judge Brian Preston in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court, refused approval for the proposed Rocky Hill mine, located near the small town of Gloucester, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Sydney. Preston ruled building and operating the mine, along with transporting and burning the coal, would "result in the emission of greenhouse gases, which will contribute to climate change." The costs to the community would exceed the mine's economic and social benefits, he said.

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