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Global Climate Crisis Accelerates [1]
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Date: 2022-07-27
Forest fire in California, melting Antarctic ice cap.
The global climate crisis is accelerating. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the global average temperature in June 2022 made it the sixth warmest on record. Antarctic sea ice coverage reached a record low for June at 4.68 million square miles and in the Arctic sea ice coverage was the second lowest for June since record keeping started in 1880, trailing only 2019. According to NOAA, “June 2022 marked the 46th consecutive June and the 450th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average. The ten-warmest Junes on record have all occurred since 2010.” All of this is happening during what should be a relative cooling because of a Pacific Ocean La Niña period.
In July out-of-control forest fires burned in Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Belgium, Germany, England, and the Czech Republic in Europe. On July 12, the United States National Interagency Fire Center reported 84 large forest fires were burning in 13 states and residents in Idaho and California had to be evacuated from their homes. Fires near and inside Yosemite National Park in California threatened to destroy giant Sequoia trees that are thousands of years old.
The United Nations considers the Middle East and North Africa one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. It anticipates a devastating impact on the water supply and food production as desertification proceeds. It also predicts that this will lead to increased terrorism and political and religious extremism. In Iraq, average temperatures are rising at rates that are at least twice the global average. Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey are now engaged in disputes over control of water from the Tigris-Euphrates river system, water disputes that may lead to war.
On Wednesday, July 27, 2022, there was a record setting heat wave in the U.S. Pacific Northwest with temperatures in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Northern California over 1000 F. The previous week temperatures were in the upper 90s on the East Coast and topped 1000F in Boston. They also topped 1000F in northern Texas and central and eastern Oklahoma. The extreme heat affected about 65 million people in the United States and it was even worse in parts of Europe. Temperatures in London, England and Hamburg, Germany hit 1040F. Record highs included 1050F in Madrid, Spain and 91°F in Dublin, Ireland. The Washington Post reported, “London was one of 34 locations in Britain to surpass the U.K.’s previous all-time highest temperature.”
These articles were all in the Wednesday online edition of the New York Times.
1. Hotter, Longer and More Widespread Heat Waves Scorch China
“In the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, the government has asked residents to use large appliances less so the electrical grid is not overwhelmed as the city battles its longest heat wave since 1951. In the coastal city of Fuzhou, temperatures exceeded 41 degrees Celsius, or nearly 106 degrees Fahrenheit, for an unprecedented three days in a row, state media reported. More than 900 million Chinese, about 65 percent of the population, are living under some kind of heat warning. Temperatures have reached, or exceeded, the highs that have recently tormented parts of Europe and the United States. Between June and mid-July, officials across the country have issued more than 15,000 high-temperature warnings, including more than 2,000 predicting temperatures would exceed 104 degrees. Shanghai, home to 26 million people, reached nearly 106 degrees Fahrenheit this month, tying its hottest day on record.”
2. With Crisis Everywhere, Do Democracies Have an Edge?
“The challenges of pandemic and climate change are being closely studied, but have done little so far to settle the eternal debate over whether authoritarian governments or democracies fare better in hard times.”
3. Flash Floods Swamp St. Louis Area, Breaking a Century-Old Rain Record
“The flash flooding was only the latest entry in what seemed to be an unceasing onslaught of extreme weather disasters, with ferocious wildfires, punishing heat waves, crippling droughts and deadly floods in the United States and across the globe. While a variety of factors contribute to flooding, researchers expect that, as the climate warms, flash floods will increase and get “flashier,” meaning their duration will shorten as their magnitude increases. Severe flash floods can be more dangerous and destructive.”
4. In San Antonio, the Poor Live on Their Own Islands of Heat
“In San Antonio, weathering the second week of a heat wave that has been ferocious even by Texas standards, lower-income residents like Ms. Cruz-Perez are sometimes left with few options to relieve the misery. Not only can she not afford air-conditioning during the hottest part of the day, she lives in the Westside, one of several parts of San Antonio — nearly all of them working-class or poor neighborhoods — where there are few trees to provide shade.”
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