Heatwaves in the US, wildfires in Europe, floods in Asia: This summer shows how the climate crisis has made extreme weather a part of everyday life.
Some of the worst recent disasters have occurred in Pakistan. Floods submerged more than a third of his country and killed at least 1,300 people.
Scientists can’t yet say definitively that climate change caused the flooding, but experts told me it most likely played a role. Climate change is increasing the likelihood and intensity of severe flooding. Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, said, “These extraordinary events will occur more frequently, and this is just one example of him.
The floods followed a heatwave in Pakistan earlier this year that topped 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists have already concluded that global warming has made that heatwave more likely.
Climate disasters have hit many other parts of the world this year.
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In the United States, a heatwave on the West Coast has pushed temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit over the past few days. About 100 million Americans across the country experienced another heat wave earlier this summer. And parts of the US, like Kentucky and Missouri, are flooding.
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The early heat wave that hit Pakistan has reached India. A severe drought hit parts of India this summer, reducing the country’s food exports. And Bengaluru, India’s tech capital, was flooded, forcing workers to take boats and tractors to their offices.
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A heat wave and drought in China have dried up rivers, crippled hydroelectric dams, and cut off ships carrying supplies.
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Another heat wave in Europe has pushed UK temperatures to a record 104 degrees Fahrenheit. A continent-wide drought has dried up rivers, exposing WWII shipwrecks and disrupting the river cruise industry. And wildfires in Europe have burned nearly three times as much land so far this year as he did in 2006 and on average for 2021.
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In April, heavy rains caused flooding and landslides in South Africa, killing at least 45 people.
“Some of these events are historically incomparable to 200 years ago,” my climate change colleague Raymond Zong told me.
why? Rising temperatures create conditions for more frequent and more intense heat waves. Prolonged heat causes droughts and wildfires to occur more frequently and violently. And as temperatures rise, more water evaporates from the oceans, causing more moisture in the air, causing heavy rains, floods and landslides.
more coming
In conversations with experts, I called extreme summer weather the “new normal.” However, experts disagreed with that characterization. They argued that calling it normal suggests we’ve reached a plateau of sorts.
“The situation is getting very bad,” said Kim Cobb, director of the Brown University Institute for Environmental and Social Studies. are causing global warming and extreme weather events.Past and future emissions will continue to heat the planet for decades to come, leading to more disasters.
That doesn’t mean the world is helpless, experts said. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions can lower the risk of climate disasters in the medium term, as the Democratic Party’s new spending law aims to do. In the short term, humans can mitigate disasters through adaptation. For example, we can use better forest management to reduce the risk of wildfires, or build infrastructure that is more resilient to heavy rains and floods.
(Also, each year is not automatically worse than the previous year. Factors unrelated to climate change also affect weather, such as seasonal patterns such as El Niño and La Niña.)
But poor countries like Pakistan do not have the resources to adapt without external help. A rapidly changing climate could also upset their plans.After historic floods in 2010, Pakistan rebuilt a destroyed bridge 16 feet higher.This year’s floods flooded the bridge again. did.
It’s unfair in many ways. As explained earlier, poor countries contribute much less to climate change than rich countries because they emit fewer greenhouse gases. Some countries are suffering from
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