WAKE-UP CALL FOR A GRIM CLIMATE
WAKE-UP CALL FOR A GRIM CLIMATE
Nikunja Bihari Sahu
An
extreme and prolonged heatwave condition is currently sweeping across the whole
world starting from Japan in the east to the USA and Canada in the west
encompassing Southern Europe, and North
Africa breaking all previous temperature records. The heat wave has brought
widespread temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 0C) in the Mediterranean region over the beginning three weeks
of July promising to be the hottest Summer on record. Temperatures soared 104
degrees Fahrenheit (40 0C) in parts of Spain, France, Italy,
Greece and Bosnia as well with Italy’s islands of Sicily and Sardinia inching
to reach the 48 0C mark, and red alert warnings have
been issued for 16 other cities nationwide including Rome, Florence and
Bologna. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe was 48.8 0C near the ancient city of Syracuse on the coast of Sicily in
August 2021. The heat is
forecast to intensify further and could last into August according to the World
Meteorological Organisation.
In the far east, authorities in Japan
issued heatstroke alerts for tens of millions of people in 20 of its 47
prefectures. The US National Weather Service has warned that a widespread and
oppressive heatwave from Southern and Western states encompassing Florida to California to Washington is
expected to ravage as wildfires continue to burn in southern California. The
Death Valley of Arizona desert (one of the hottest places on Earth) in the USA
recorded a temperature as high as 54 0C a few days ago. China also recorded
its highest-ever temperature with a remote township in its western Xinjiang boling at 52.2 0C. The heatwave is also on the
rampage in Spain with temperatures predicted to reach 44 0C in the Guadalquivir
Valley near Seville.
This has sparked wildfires in the country including the Canary island where
dozens of firefighters are battling to control the flame. There have been frequent power cuts in some
in parts of Europe due to the surging demand for air conditioners. The foreign
office of Britain has issued extreme weather adversaries to its citizens
traveling to Italy, Greece and Spain with advice to stay indoors during the
daytime.
The
heatwave has triggered evacuations of nearly 20,000 people from several towns
near large wildfires around Athens in southern Greece and the Spanish island of
La Palma which have affected their homes and hotels. Several people have died
in the recent heat wave including two airforce pilots in Italy engaged in
fighting wildfires. Sicily's Palermo airport has been encircled by wildfires
and is currently closed.
Over the
last 10 years, more than 4,00,000 people have died from extreme climate and
weather-related disasters, according to the International Federation of the
Red Cross Crescent (IFRC) World Disaster Report. According to another Report,
the global average temperature for the first three weeks of July reached 16.95 0C which is more than the 2019 record
for the same period of 16.63 0C .
According
to the World Meteorological Organization, this year's July started with the
hottest week on record. This is believed to be due to a combination of Climate
Change and El Nino effects, an annual weather phenomenon that warms the waters
of the tropical Pacific Ocean. But the latest highs have been made worse by the
formation of two anticyclones (namely Cerberus and Charons) which are
high-pressure systems held in place in the jet stream, a narrow rapidly moving
flow of air in the upper atmosphere funneling heat up from the deserts of
Africa and across the southern Europe.
However,
there is no denying the fact that these extreme weather events are the direct
consequences of a human-induced climate change process. If the present trend
continues, it will be unlikely to restrict the global rise of temperature below
the 1.5 0C limit by the end of the century as
compared to the Industrial Revolution times in accordance with the Paris
Agreement of 2015. If this ever happens, the entire Arctic ice would melt and
flow as water into the world’s seas submerging and inundating many of the
coastal cities and islands. India having a long coastline of nearly 7000 km,
major cities including Mumbai, Chennai and Vishakhapatnam are under threat of
being submerged below 3 ft deep water. The fact that nearly 2500 people died in
India in 2015 due to heatwave conditions is a grim reminder of nature’s fury.
Amidst this global turbulences of weather patterns, the US special presidential envoy
for climate, John Kerry, met his Chinese
counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Beijing recently to discuss some of the climate
change mitigation measures especially to cut down China's growing methane
emission (a potential greenhouse gas)
and its ever spiraling consumption of coal. Both the countries,
the USA and China, are by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the
world accounting for nearly half of the world’s carbon footprint. China is also
the world’s biggest producer
and consumer of coal-generated electricity, a major source of emissions for
global warming. The country has promised to hit its peak carbon
emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. China is also the largest
producer of renewable power from solar and wind sources, and Kerry praised
Beijing’s ‘incredible job’ building up capacity in moving towards a carbon-free
world.
Climate change has also been severe in
other parts of the world. The recent torrential rains and flooding in India,
flash floods in South Korea and the prolonged dry and drought periods in Africa
are the tale-tell stories. Hence, climate change has affected the lives and
livelihoods of people all over the world and the recent extreme heatwave
conditions are just wake-up calls for us to act . Under the circumstances, the
humanity has no alternative but to embrace a nature-friendly lifestyle for a
green and sustainable future.
Education Officer
Regional
Science Centre
Bhopal
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