Record-setting temperatures in Russia, floods in Pakistan: It's tempting to categorize these as simply fluke weather events. And many media outlets are doing just that. But to do so is a disservice to the public. Acting like ostriches won't help us solve the problem. The media should be helping to connect the dots: what seems extreme now will be tomorrow's norm if we continue to ignore that these events are harbingers of climate change, and they're patterns with real human consequences.
If Moscow were in the United States, it would be located somewhere just south of Juneau, Alaska. Yet since July 29, Muscovites have endured at least five days that have been hotter than the previous record of 99 degrees, set back in the 1920s. Prior to this summer, Moscow had never seen a day with triple-digit temperatures. Now, it's seen several.
These are more than just a few hot days that can be endured by camping out near an air conditioner. The extreme heat -- the worst weather to occur in Russia in 1,000 years -- and the resulting acute air pollution, have caused the death rate in Moscow to double. Almost 15,000 people have died during this summer's heat wave. Wildfires are burning rampantly, releasing more carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas that does the most to cause climate change, into the air. A section of the Siberian tundra one-and-a-half times the size of Texas continues to thaw out.
Potentially more devastating is the effect the heat has had on Russia's grain harvest. Nearly a third of it will be lost from drought and wildfires. This loss will be felt globally; Russia is currently the world's third-largest exporter of grain, and some analysts expect its export to be halved this year, causing prices to skyrocket.
The floods in Pakistan have been equally devastating. They're "worse than the Southeast Asia tsunami... and the Haiti earthquake." 14 million people have been affected by the flooding and several thousand have died. Villages that had yet to fully recover from a devastating 2005 earthquake have been essentially washed away. And the rain continues to pour, destroying more lives and keeping rescue efforts from proceeding. Food prices in Pakistan have quadrupled, making basic nutrition unattainable for many.
As Lester Brown explains in Plan B 4.0, climate disruption will have a devastating effect on our food supply. Two different and catastrophic weather patterns in two totally different parts of the world have resulted in the decimation of harvests and widespread food shortages. Even after the temperature in Moscow goes down or the rain stops in Pakistan, these tragic events will continue to pile up casualties from starvation. As grain prices rise around the world and extreme weather patterns become the norm, starvation and malnutrition, already an overwhelming problem, will become more persistent and farther reaching. The scope of climate change goes far beyond simple environmentalism -- it's a fundamental question of how we power ourselves, our grid, and our economy.
The other day, I heard a news story that made reference to the "debate" on climate change. The only "debate" is the willful deception funded by Exxon and peddled by science-denying ideologues like Sen. James Inhofe, Lord Monckton and Glenn Beck. These ideologues, for example, used last winter's vicious snowstorms in Washington, D.C., to mock those who have been pushing for strong action on climate disruption, not recognizing that those storms were another example of the weather we will soon be forced to accept as normal if we do nothing about climate disruption. While some are starting to change their tune, the media continues to give the more stubborn ideologues credence and legitimize the fallacy of their "debate."
The connection between these weather events and climate change couldn't be more unambiguous. But the mainstream media first avoided referencing climate change, when it should have be the headline. CNN, for example, at first seemed to care more about the political fallout from the Russian heat wave. Instead of simply remarking how unprecedented these weather events are, outlets should be asking why they're happening now and what it means for our future, and that means pointing readers to the many scientific studies that help contextualize this activity and show that climate destabilization will cause more extreme weather. That's not advocacy of one viewpoint or another, it's journalism. (Despite some encouraging signs that the media has finally begun to wake up to the relationship between this summer's brutal weather and climate change, this report by the New York Times shows that some editors are still asleep at the wheel.)
We can keep our heads stuck in the sand and pretend what's happening will go away. Or we can disabuse ourselves of any responsibility, just to say "I told you so." Or we can, for once, look at what's happening now and do what's necessary to mitigate and adapt to the forces of our changing planet.
It's clear what our choice has to be.
Follow Erich Pica on Twitter: www.twitter.com/foe_us
Unfortunately, it appears that a large proportion of the community are incapable of questioning and altering their beliefs when faced with conclusive evidence that conflicts with them. A lot of these people are in high places in the media. This allows the propagation of these anti-scientific messages. The denial message is very simple and compelling - don't worry, everything's ok. and anyone who says otherwise is lying.
Earlier this year, the deniers were reporting a big and ongoing recovery in Arctic ice. Once it became clear that the ice was dropping to it's lowest ever recorded point for the time of year, most went silent on this issue, and went back to telling us the world was actually cooling. When the state of the climate report came out from NOAA, and the proof was in that there was ongoing global warming, the deniers attacks began on the NOAA. Meanwhile the severe weather events over Russia and Pakistan are blamed on the sun.
It is a constant and ongoing circular set of arguments from the deniers, where discrediting one argument just leads them to switch to another.
It's been pretty cold here during this winter - though the cold weather sure took a long time coming. The summers are also very hot, and it's absolutely clear to anyone living here (Sydney) that on average it has been a lot hotter recently than it used to be even 10 years ago.
Many posts on various media spout incredible little snippets of fiction or half truths in an attempt to deny what is so obvious to anyone who dares to look. The classic is that the planet has been hot before. Sure has. Boiling molten rock hot. But there weren't any of us around at the time. It is pretty likely that it will either get to temperatures of over boiling point of water again and we won't survive that, or the frequency and severity of storms will make survival a hit and miss crap shoot with nowhere to hide and we won't survive that either. Come on people, go outside and look for yourselves. The frequency and severity of storms coupled with increasing sea levels, increased quake activity, melting ice, and temperatures have never been seen in my 67 years and we're just at the beginning.
So it won't have to get as hot as you suggest before we hit pretty difficult problems for ongoing survival.
There is only one sane answer, and that is an immediate, aggressive and comprehensive campaign to resolve the crisis. The first step must be to leave the deniers behind. The evidence is beyond overwhelming that the crisis is real and, whether motivated by ignorance, doubt or greed, the deniers are no longer entitled to intellectual respect or the slightest credibility. It is too late for that. The stakes are too high.
It is they who prevent the world from addressing the problem. Their obstruction is already resulting in real harm and, if permitted, their obstinance will result in untold destruction and, very possibly, millions of human deaths. It really is that simple.
It is way past time to act decisively, whatever it takes, to move past the deniers, for the deniers are assaulting this Earth and all living things on it. THEY are the problem.
Everyone who says there is uncertainty about the Earth warming up due to increased CO2 is totally and completely wrong. The is no uncertainty. It is an absolute certainty. Add CO2 to the air and will trap more heat, 1000 out of 1000 tries.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php
The basic equation of global warming is that radiation from the sun reaches the earth and its atmosphere. If the Earth does not emit the same amount of radiation (in terms of energy), the Earth warms up.
Convection, and ocean currents etc. merely redistribute the heat that is in the system. It is the input from the sun, vs. the output from the Earth that is the simple equation of global warming.
Yesterday, James Hansen sent out a snapshot of the frightening state of our world's climate. See our post at http://westcoastclimateequity.org/2010/08/13/james-hansen-what-global-warming-looks-like/.
It is really disturbing to think the other tipping point, that of crossing the line to runaway global warming, may have been passed; that catastrophic wildfires and massive floods have become the new normal. When will our natural survival instincts kick in and motivate us to take the actions we need?
http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php
I believe that if the sun is the primary cause of this weather pattern, it is because changes in the sun's activity that were benign in a more stable climate, are now enabled to cause extreme weather by the atmospheric changes of climate change.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-03/argentina-colder-than-antarctica-spurs-record-power-imports-shuts-plants.html
http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php
http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php
"Corn production is forecast at a record high 13.4 billion bushels, up two percent from the previous record set in 2009, the USDA announced Thursday.
Based on conditions as of Aug. 1, yields are expected to average a record high 165.0 bushels per acre, up 0.3 bushel from last year's record of 164.7.
The 2010 Illinois corn crop is expected to yield 180 bushels per acre, up six bushels from last year's yield and equal to the record yield set in 2004. Production of corn for grain would be 2.23 billion bushels, up 9 percent from 2009.
Favorable conditions led to very early planting dates followed by generally good growing weather with mostly adequate rainfall, although temperatures were somewhat excessive. Crop progress has been far ahead of last year and also ahead of the five-year average. As of Aug. 1, 64 percent of the crop was in the dough stage, compared to 15 percent last year and 37 percent for the five-year average. Corn condition was rated 19 percent excellent, 47 percent good, 22 percent fair, 8 percent poor, and 4 percent very poor as of August 1.
Forecasted yields are higher than last year across the upper Mississippi Valley and upper Great Lakes region, where moderate temperatures and adequate soil moisture provided favorable growing conditions. Expected yields were also higher compared with last year across the southern Great Plains and lower Mississippi Valley."
www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Richard2?action=comments&display=all&sort=newest
All time record high temperatures mean that no, it has not gotten that hot before. Pakistan reached the highest temperature record anywhere on Earth. It has not been that hot before, at least since humans have been around.
So your statement that it has gotten hot before is incorrect.
Dude, you've been duped!!
have a look at: theflatearthsociety.org
know that a large number of people still believe the earth is flat!
The only hope for the magnitude of change that is required now is the institution of the type of mass actions seen in the 1920s to organize unions, or in the 1960s to end segregation. Given the increased apathy of the American public since those days, the likelihood of instituting the action required is nil.
I have known smokers with lung cancer and resected lungs who have continued to smoke, with gruesome consequences. What we are witnessing now relative to climate change is completely analogous, and the consequences will be equally gruesome.