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The
consequences of failing to act when you have the opportunity, is that it
is too late when the roasting escalates. What you can hope for is that
the politicians who allowed the situation to go unchecked, are the ones
the public
roast first when the crops fail - and we are forced to consider other
sources of protein. In London,
around 41 homes were destroyed by fires, seen as being a sign of things
to come, a climate warming fueled Armageddon.
FINANCIAL TIMES 17 JULY 2022 - CLIMATE CHANGE SHOVED IN OUR FACE - EUROPE WRESTLES WITH HEATWAVE AND FOREST FIRES
Five countries declare states of emergency or issue red alerts as temperatures break records across northern Europe
A deadly heatwave spreading across Europe is breaking temperature records, fuelling wildfires, and disrupting transportation, as the continent faces the impact of climate change.
In France, Brest — on the normally cool Atlantic coast — saw the temperature reach a record 39.3C in the afternoon, 18C above normal and breaking the 1949 record of 35.2C, while Nantes, also in Brittany, recorded 42C. Elsewhere in the west of the country the heat exceeded or approached the record levels of the 2019 heatwave. Meanwhile London sizzled at 37.4C.
Temperatures in the UK are forecast to climb even higher on Tuesday, as an unusual atmospheric pattern carries hot
air from southern Europe further north.
At least five European countries have declared states of emergency or issued red alerts, and governments are racing to care for tens of thousands of people who have been displaced by the fires.
“Climate change kills people, our ecosystem and what is most precious to us,” Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez said on Monday during a visit to an area hit by fires. Wildfires are also raging in France, Portugal and Greece, fuelled by long spells of hot weather.
Just a year after flooding killed more than 200 people in Germany and Belgium, this week’s record-breaking heatwave is bringing home the urgency of
climate
change, including in some countries that have been relatively sheltered from it until now.
“It is so extreme, so incredible,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus
Climate Change Service, referring to the heatwave. “There are recording-breaking events throughout Europe at this stage,” he added, pointing to the high temperatures in northern Europe in particular.
The heat disaster comes as Europe is also in the grip of an energy crisis, with several countries planning to burn more coal this winter, which will increase
greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are almost reaching a point where Mother Earth is going to shed humanity as an old skin, rid itself of all of us,”
Frans
Timmermans, the EU’s top climate official, said. Calling for more action to stop the climate crisis he added: “This is not about saving the planet. It is about saving humanity.”
In France, more than 16,000 people — campers, other holidaymakers and residents — have been evacuated to protect them from two big pine forest fires sweeping through the countryside of
south-west France near
Bordeaux, according to the French government.
“We are not just glimpsing climate change, it’s being shoved in our faces,” said Jean-Luc Gleyze, president of the Gironde département around Bordeaux. He told the French newspaper Le Monde that the big fire at Landiras south of the city was “a monster”.
In the UK, trains were severely disrupted due to the risk of rails buckling in the heat, and some schools closed early due to heating concerns. Wales sent a new temperature record of 37.1C, and temperatures in some parts of England were forecast to reach 41C on Tuesday.
In Spain, where temperatures topped 45C last week, dozens of wildfires, which have forced thousands to evacuate their homes, continued to burn on Monday.
The fires have killed two people and destroyed more than 70,000 hectares of forest across
Spain, almost double the annual average for the past decade.
In Portugal, more than 1,000 firefighters continued to battle 30 forest blazes on Monday. Last week the northern town of Pinhão recorded 47C, the highest July temperature ever in mainland Portugal.
Health authorities in both Iberian countries have attributed several hundred deaths above the expected number based on previous years to the heatwave — about 360 in Spain and 240 in Portugal during the first half of July.
Croatia was also affected this past week with a major wildfire erupting near the town of Zaton, close to the holiday centre Zadar. The heatwave is expected to rise in the second half of the week across the Balkans, making further fires likely.
Kai Kornhuber, research scientist at Columbia University, said that Europe is becoming a heatwave “hotspot”, with such abnormally hot weather episodes increasing three to four times faster than at other mid-latitudes.
“Western Europe is seeing its third intense heatwave this summer, and it is still early [in the summer],” he said. The changing behaviour of the jet stream, which governs the weather in Europe, is contributing to the increase in heatwaves.
“Breaking records is the new normal,” Kornhuber added, saying that temperatures will keep rising as long as
greenhouse gas emissions continue. “In 10 years or so, this will definitely be superseded by another temperature record.”
China,
India
and Japan
are also suffering massive heatwaves. Why are they so surprised? Their
arsonist policies make it inevitable.
Timber
grown for wood is only good if part of a replanting scheme, with at
least 2 trees planted for every one felled, though we would suggest up
to 10 trees should be planted to offset the loss of carbon absorption
during growth.
We
need to plant more trees - a whole lot more trees, not clear them, and
especially not waste timber that is a vital renewable resource for zero
carbon house building. Forest fires that cause deforestation are raising
the temperature of Planet
Earth and there is no Planet
B.
SOIL
EROSION - The
more land that we lose to grow crops the greater the food security
issue. As the ice caps melt, desertification spreads to make Earth more
uninhabitable.
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