Article
Varsa Mahananda
28 w
The hottest summer on record might be the coldest compared to the coming years
Read that again. The hottest May on record was followed by a brutal June that saw 1,500 people dying from the extreme heat. Ironically these record hot months might actually be considered unusually cold compared to what is to come in the decades ahead. Summers are going to get hotter, monsoons more erratic while winters are getting colder.
“The rate of warming is accelerating, almost doubling, compared to between 1970-2008. We are very close to the tipping point and can't afford to cross it.” - Professor Johan Rockström
Are we past the ‘normal’ now?
People keep saying, “this is not normal". We should realize, this ‘not normal’ might be our new normal now. There is not going to be anything normal anymore. We have to start getting used to more and more eccentricities in weather conditions. Bone chilling cold, scorching heats, extreme gusts of hurricane, flooding monsoons, you name it.
This June has been terrible for millions of people in many regions. About 1,300 people died during their Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, while over 41,000 people suffered from heat strokes in India, with the death toll reaching over 143. Six people died in Greece. There was a 125-toll in Mexico due to the scorching heatwave. Riots are breaking out in areas like Algeria due to water scarcity. Places in the United States have become 35 times more prone to heatwaves, thanks to human-induced climate change, scientists said.
António Guterres at the Climate Change Conference in 2021
This is an excerpt from a speech given by UN Secretary-General António Guterres at UN Headquarters in New York City:
“The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”
Climate change is not a passing thing. And even if mankind rises to the challenge and manages to cut global emissions in record-time, things will still get worse before they get better. Extreme heat would mean that extra moisture is absorbed into the atmosphere leading to huge bursts of rain in one go, instead of the regular division of monsoon throughout the season. This leads to floods.
So even though the amount of rainfall recorded for the season remains the same, the division of rains is not equalized, thus leading to minimal relief for people, and added trouble for farmers, among other issues like water shortage and flooding. Farmers in India are making plans to switch to crops that are more resilient to heat and need less water to grow. That is a big change.
Back in Delhi, where the temperature soared to 52 degrees last month, my mother told me that even the air conditioning is not really doing a great job of cooling the room anymore.
Professor Johan Rockstrom, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research presented the latest science when joining The Climate Hub at the June UN Climate Meetings in Bonn, Germany on June 10. “There has never been so much scientific reason for concern as it is today. We have just had the first taste of a 1.5 degree celsius world. It has cost us 300-600 billion US dollars worth of invoices for all the extreme events across the world. They are starting to hurt people in the entire world”, he said.
In the U.S., climate change is already shaking up the insurance industry. Global insured losses from natural catastrophes exceeded USD 100 billion for the fourth consecutive year in 2023, according to Swiss Re. Homes in many parts of the central US are especially vulnerable to severe convective storms, and these storms are now representing nearly 70% of US property losses. As a result, reinsurers have had to adjust by raising rates. This affected the most vulnerable people because not everyone can afford a rise in property prices or property insurance prices.
An area of Brazil, which is four times the size of Denmark, was flooded in May, taking the death toll up to 155, not to mention half a million who were forced to leave their homes. Reconstruction costs in this area of Rio Grande do Sul could amount to some $4billion.
We see extreme weather conditions in China this June. About 35% of corn production has been affected by severe drought in North China where some rivers had dried up a month ago. On the other hand, 38 people were killed due to torrential rains and flooding in China’s most populated province, Guangdong.
Unfortunately, we are not spending enough on either adaptation or mitigation. We are spending so much money on reconstruction and redevelopment and disaster management, when we need to spend only a fraction of the money in the right direction (clean energy), thus saving these huge expenses caused due to global warming in the long run. It might still continue to get worse for some time, but it will eventually start getting better. We already have the plan and the money, we just need to unlock it.
Photo by Markus Spiske
However, we seem unable to see beyond the short-term scenario. These numbers are gonna get much higher with every tenth of a degree of warming. A recent study at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research estimates the costs of environmental damage from a warming world will be six times higher than the price of limiting global warming rise to 2 degrees Celsius.
Which also means we are in a real hurry to fix this. Because as Professor Rockström points out,“The rate of warming is accelerating, almost doubling, compared to that between 1970-2008. We are very close to the tipping point and can't afford to cross it.”
UNDP Forecast made earlier this year
Even now, people across the world are struggling to cope with the brutal heat waves, with new temperature records being set region after region. Even nights show no respite from the scorching heat. Temperatures reach 49 degrees in the day with no cooling respite at night with temperatures only going down a few degrees, especially in Africa and India. People without air conditioning are unable to cope.
Unexpectedly strong tornadoes and hurricanes affecting the United States as a whole while places like Houston and North Carolina are flooding due to rise in sea levels. Even regions that are accustomed to extreme weather changes, are shocked by the increasing impact of these extreme changes the world is facing as a whole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2WrZqv1aao&t=88s
Jonathan Overpeck, interdisciplinary climate scientist, School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) at the University of Michigan, said, “Given that we have seen unprecedented global warming over the past 11 months, it is not surprising to see worsening climate extremes so early in the year. If this record warming continues, 2024 will likely be a record year for climate disasters and human suffering.” And it is coming true.
A lot of changing weather patterns can be noticed as the planet continues to become warmer. The El Niño winds which flow in parts of the central Pacific that modify weather conditions throughout the world are also weakening, thus affecting the natural warming and cooling of the planet.
Cold countries are also facing the brunt of global warming
Think of Stockholm, located in the Scandinavian region of Sweden, which recorded its highest of 29 degrees in June this year. This country is located quite close to the North pole. It is not meant to get that much heat! The concept of a fan might have been alien to Scandinavians only a few years ago. Now, many families own table fans. Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark started importing table fans during summer a couple of years ago. Shops quickly kept running out of stock because of the rise in demand.
It might seem like a small number as compared to countries like India, but if you consider the fact that the sun is closer to Earth in these areas, the heat hits differently. I have lived in India for most of my life, yet, ironically, I experienced sunburn for the first time during my summer here in Stockholm. I am not saying it will happen to everyone, but the sun here is closer, without any dust to reflect the radiation, so the impact could be harsh.
Also, the houses here are built to keep the cold out. With rooms without ceiling fans, and houses built to capture heat (for the relentless winter months), it is not a welcome summer for the people living here.
Asia, Africa, USA are facing the worst effects as we speak
Even while the whole world is getting affected by extreme weather conditions, the worst hit are going to be countries in Asia. These places are gradually going to become uninhabitable quite soon. And not just Asia, a few parts of Africa, and if we are not able to bend the emissions curves very soon, a lot of these regions may not be livable anymore.
Photo by Marcin Jozwiak
According to the World Bank Group, climate change could force more than 200 million people to move within their own countries by 2050 unless concrete climate and inclusive development actions are taken. Imagine relocating the huge population that resides in these countries as a whole. That itself is going to turn into global chaos. Yet here we are, most of us unawares, playing the denial game, acting like it will go away if we ignore it long enough.
The Solution?
Jacob Beautemps, Science Youtuber and Researcher, said at the June UN Climate Meetings, “Climate change means bad news and people are sick of hearing bad news. It is a blame game where you are blaming each other for what went wrong.”
People fighting for a better climate future
Jacob further added, “There are people working full-time to destroy the planet. So we should have people working full-time to save our planet as well.” People, with their already comfortable spaces, already built up businesses, do not want to give up their throne of comfort and luxury in order to phase out of one business into another. However, this change would only be temporary and the demand for green energy will grow once we have a replacement, more affordable energy system in place.
There is a lot of climate denial happening around us. The reason for that is mostly fear. Human beings have a tendency that’s called ostrich mentality. If I can’t see it, maybe it will go away. So informing people about what is happening is not enough. They already know what is happening. They need to be told how to work around it. People do want to help, but they just don’t know how.
Phasing out of fossil fuels into green energy
The great news is that we have all the knowledge, all the solutions and all the money we need to fix this problem.
The bad news is that much of the money still moves in the wrong direction, supporting climate destruction rather than climate solutions. There is also a lack of flow of funding from the global North to the global South. Burning of fossil fuels is directly related to climate change and we have to accept this reality. Read this post where a CNN report makes the connection between both.
Ingmar Rentzhog, CEO and Founder, We Don’t Have Time, says, “We have a lot of solar panels in Sweden which are much cheaper than in a country like India. That should not be the case. Solar energy in India should be much cheaper because that’s where the sun is. Sweden hardly gets any sun most parts of the year. So what’s not working?” Learn more about how to move the money in the direction to avoid all this loss to life, property and money.
We need to find green solutions to replace fossil fuels in countries like India where the effects of climate change are going to be the worst hit. And we are already seeing these changes. And they are not pleasant.
Key takeaways:
- Move the Money – from the problems to the solutions
- Climate is changing for the worse and we cannot deny it
- Steps need to be taken to curb the worst
- Only five years left till we reach tipping points
- Making green energy more affordable and competitive by removing the trillions of dollars spent on subsidizing fossil fuels
- Redefining what growth means to an economy. Is it industrial growth or environmental? A choice has to be made
- Embracing change: It is possible to make the switch into green energy
Read more about the Move the Money campaign led by the largest social media for climate change: We Don’t Have Time:
Give Climate Love 💚 to UNDP: #MoveTheMoney | We Don't Have Time
A heartfelt thank you to the UNDP for partnering with us on our new campaign - #MoveTheMoney We've developed a campaign page filled with guides on how you can effortlessly #MoveTheMoney. By following a few easy steps from our guide, many people have alre
https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/0c55ed39-2cb3-45ee-8b11-5a4a304743b8
Check out the global surface temperature recorded over the last 12 months between June 2023 and May 2024:
Join us at the Davos Hub!
Broadcasts
Re-watch all our COP29 broadcasts
We need to stop methane and #BuyMoreTime
Yes, we make a difference!
Businesses and leaders will listen and reply on We Don't Have Time
The Climate Action App
We plant a tree for every new user
Welcome, let's solve the climate crisis together
Write or agree to climate reviews to make businesses and world leaders act. It’s easy and it works.
•
•
•
27 w
Very sad..indeed we are running out of time.
•
•
27 w
Terrifying fact, there is definitely no time to wait
•
•
•
27 w
Climate change is already happening now and it is scary to see that people, politicians, and businesses don't seem to realize this. People are already suffering and dying from climate change, the world's biodiversity is already collapsing, and some tipping points have already been crossed. We don't have time for climate inaction. We need to act now. Every action counts. Every degree avoided means fewer deaths.
•
•
28 w
Immediate and sustained action is critical to mitigate the severe impacts and prevent even more extreme temperatures in the years ahead.
•
•
28 w
@princess_nel_268 With immediate measures we can be able to avoid catastrophic consequences and secure a sustainable future.