Ch. 34 It's Already Happening
"I want you to act as if our house is on fire.
Because it is."
-Greta Thunberg
In the previous chapter we talked about some of the devastating possibilities our human family is faces due to increasing temperatures and global warming. There is some Bad Stuff, some Really Bad Stuff, and some Horrific Stuff. So let's take some time to see what our current situation is, with regards to all this... stuff.
Using headlines from the last few years, we can get a little snapshot of just how things are going.
IMPORTANT: Please carefully read every headline and excerpt below. It is imperative that you understand what is happening right now. Not someday, maybe. But right now.
Humanity just lived through the hottest 12 months in at least 125,000 years
Laura Paddison, 2023
"Since June this year, every month has been the hottest such month on record. Global warming between January and October 2023 reached 1.43°C (2.57°F) above the pre-industrial average, putting this year firmly on course to be the hottest on record."
"Every bit of coal, oil or gas that ever gets burned adds a little bit more to the temperature. As temperatures rise, dangerously hot and humid weather has begun to spread to more places."
HEAT DEATH
"The new deaths bring the toll from the extreme temperatures to 48 since the hot season began on March 17, mostly due to heat stroke and some to dehydration. At the same point in Mexico's hot seasons of 2022 and 2023, the health ministry had reported just two and three heat-related deaths, respectively."
"During this year’s Hajj period, daily high temperatures ranged between 117 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit (46 to 49 degrees Celsius) in Mecca and sacred sites in and around the city, according to the Saudi National Center for Meteorology."
WET BULB TEMPERATURES
‘Extreme threat’: Large swathe of southern US at dangerous ‘wet bulb temperature’
Jeremy Tanner, 2023
"What’s startling is that some experts are saying that wet-bulb temperatures have been approaching, sometimes even exceeding, the measurement of that metric at which humans can survive outdoors."
AIR
"The record two-year growth rate observed from 2022 to 2024 is likely a result of sustained high fossil fuel emissions combined with El Nino conditions limiting the ability of global land ecosystems to absorb atmospheric CO2, said John Miller, a carbon cycle scientist with NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory."
"American Lung Association’s 25th annual report finds that 131 million people in the U.S. are exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution."
"The acreage burned so far this year has already eclipsed the 10-year-average, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), at 183% of normal for this time, and the seasons of highest risk still lie ahead."
"Hurricane Beryl was the earliest category 4 and category 5 hurricane recorded in Atlantic Hurricane Season history. This monster was also tied for the 25th strongest hurricane on record. Our first major hurricane typically doesn't form until Sept. 1, meaning Beryl was about two months ahead of schedule."
SEA LEVEL RISE
"Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey found that warm ocean water is seeping beneath the ice sheet at its 'grounding line' — the point at which the ice rises from the seabed and starts to float — causing accelerated melting which could lead to a tipping point, according to the report published Tuesday in the journal Nature Geoscience."
"In a study published last week, scientists using satellite imagery and hydraulic modeling found that warming tidal currents are permeating the massive block of ice at depths as great as 3.7 miles, causing 'vigorous melting.'"
"Every year, especially when the strong winds whip up the sea in November and December, water fills the streets and enters the homes. Climate change isn’t only leading to a rise in sea levels, but it’s also warming oceans and thereby powering stronger storms."
"The long-term cause is climate change due to lack of rain and excessive heat causing excessive evaporation and drying, according to Berardelli."
"'Even with the record high precipitation in the 2022-2023 winter season for parts of the West, the decadal pattern is for continual aridification in the West,' said Maxwell. This means the West keeps getting drier and hotter. 'It's being amplified by human-induced climate change,' he said."
REFUGEES
"A 2021 World Bank reported estimated that the climate crisis could drive more than 200 million people to move within their countries by 2050. In 2020 the Institute for Economics and Peace put the number of people at risk of displacement by 2050 at over one billion."
"While the reasons they fled vary, climate-induced pressures compound with factors such as conflict and poverty, a complex web driving displacement in the region that will only continue in the years to come, experts have said."
"Record rainfall has meant farmers in many parts of the UK have been unable to plant crops such as potatoes, wheat and vegetables during the key spring season. Crops that have been planted are of poor quality, with some rotting in the ground."
"Dengue infections are on the rise as many nations have reported increasingly hot temperatures, which create ideal conditions for the mosquitoes that spread dengue to hatch en masse and carry higher amounts of the virus."
"Human rights advocates want the International Criminal Court to begin gathering evidence on the way climate-amplified extreme weather, heat, drought and flooding are driving armed conflict, crimes against humanity and war crimes."
"Conflicts are growing longer. Blame complexity, criminality and climate change"
"Even with steep emissions cuts, however, climate change will bear a heavy economic cost, the paper finds. Even if global heating was restrained to little more than 1.5C (2.7F) by the end of the century, a globally agreed-upon goal that now appears to have slipped from reach, the GDP losses are still around 15%."
"Consequences will worsen unless more is invested in clean energy and cities adapt to changing environments, a federal report finds
The U.S. now experiences an extreme weather event in which damages and costs top $1 billion every three weeks."
A DEAD OCEAN
"The average dead zone over the past 37 years has measured at about 5,200 square miles, but this year's is estimated to be about 5,827 square miles."
"Even under intermediate scenarios, the ocean around Antarctica could be on track for an increase in acidity of between 40% and 80%, depending on the region and level of emissions."
A POISON OCEAN
"Studies have described how bacteria in oxygen-depleted bottom waters off Namibia consume organic matter and produce prodigious amounts of hydrogen sulfide."
It's already happening
Again. None of what we talked about in the previous chapter is hyperbole or fear mongering. Every one of the Bad, Really Bad, and even Horrific things we discussed is already happening.
This is no longer something we can ignore and pretend isn't happening, because it is.
To be clear... the planet is warming. Every year it gets warmer and we are still pumping record amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Not only are we not slowing global warming down, we are actively accelerating it. I do not know how to make that point any more clearly.
Every one of these impacts of global warming listed above will get worse. Worse every single year until we choose to do something about it.
That means that your kids, my kids, and their kids have this to look forward to...
- More heat deaths
- Increasing lethal wet bulb temperatures
- Worse air quality
- Bigger and more destructive storms, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.
- Too many wildfires to control
- Food and water shortages
- An influx of hundreds of millions of refugees
- Increasing disease
- Increasing war and violence
- Economic instability and financial crashes
- A dying ocean
Under Heat deaths “just two and three heat related strokes” recommend change to (“just 2 strokes and 3 heat related deaths”)
ReplyDelete1300 people died during haji, what year are this casualties compared to, and what were the numbers?
ReplyDeleteWet bulb weather subtitle should have the word “Southern” capitalized
ReplyDeleteUnder AIR, the beginning of the quote is missing a “
ReplyDeleteUnder 2024 State of Air, the quote is missing it’s first “
ReplyDeleteUnder Natural Disaster, missing closing “ then when the paragraph quote begins, missing a “
ReplyDeleteWhen you enter a subtitle you’re not closing the quotes. Then , you list the source. As you resume, you need to add a start and close quote.
ReplyDeleteUnder sea level rise “grinding line” should be ‘grounding line ’ as it is an emphasis within a quote. Also the open and close quotation marks need to be completed. We cannot resume a sentence quote without another opening quote. Every opening quotion mark, requires a closing quotation mark
ReplyDeleteYou should not lump the title, subtitle, source and body in between 2 quotation marks
ReplyDelete'Even with the record high precipitation in the 2022-2023 winter season for parts of the West, the decadal pattern is for continual aridification in the West,' said Maxwell. This means the West keeps getting drier and hotter. HE ADDS “It's being amplified by human-induced climate change.”
ReplyDeleteYou opened with an apostrophe and closed with an apostrophe and a quotation mark after the phrase “dryer and hotter” note the words, HE ADDS, “It’s being amplified…..” This is better phrasing IMO
Under A Real Hell- change the word “compound” to “compounded”
ReplyDelete“'Climate and conflict are two leading drivers of (our) global food crisis,' the secretary-general said, '” Where wars rage, hunger reigns – whether due to displacement of people, destruction of agriculture, damage to infrastructure, or deliberate policies of denial.”
ReplyDeleteHe Adds “Meanwhile, climate chaos is imperiling food production the world over.”
(Please consider this structure and punctuation)
I understand that Lump Quotations are acceptable, but only for the congruent body of the quote. The person reproducing these quotes breaks the quote up by sourcing within the body of the quote, breaking it up and requiring another open and close quotation mark. Call me if you want to discuss.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter was an excellent guide of what we can expect if we continue to behave as we do. Very comprehensive and a bit scary. It truly deepens the understanding of the the urgency of our predicament. Nice work!