ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DISASTER Death, destruction, disaster and denial: What global warming? Why net zero by 2050? Tell me how we do it. Tell me what it costs. Let’s flip the scales and demonstrate the “cost” – aka disaster, death and destruction – wrought by global warming of 1.2 degrees. We’ll do it in pictures which simply and effectively portray the scale of disaster unfolding and that will only worsen in the absence of concerted action toward a carbon neutral economy in which the world is powered by renewable energy. Just some of the catastrophic scenarios of late: • Extreme heat and extensive fires and on west coast US • Unprecedented flooding in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands • Devastating mud slides in Japan • Once in a thousand-year flooding in China • Devastating loss of wildlife in drought-torn Turkey
Extensive flooding in Germany: worst natural disaster in more than half a century Hundreds dead or displaced, villages swept away. “Everything is completely destroyed. You don’t recognise the scenery.” entire communities cut off from power and communications. Billions of Euros in reconstruction costs. Climate and meteorology researchers agree that extreme weather contributed to the widespread flooding in western Europe and that this will become commonplace due to global warming. Nigeria and Uganda also experienced massive, destructive flooding in recent weeks.
Landslide Heavier than normal rains in early July triggered a massive destructive mudslide in Japan.
Fiery hell The catastrophic wildfire in Oregon, west coast US, continues to rage and to spread, razing houses and displacing communities. At last count the fire covered 1,210 square kilometres and smoke was billowing from the west to the east coast of the US Described as one of the state’s largest blazes in modern times due to extremely dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate change have rendered the West coast much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and created more ferocious wildfires that are harder to fight. Worse lies ahead in the warming climate.
Freakish downpour Three days of intense rain in China’s Henan province matched a level seen only “once in a thousand years”, and equalled the region’s annual rainfall. Cataclysmic it may be yet such extreme weather is a taste of what is to become more frequent in the future as global temperatures rise. Hundreds of thousands of residents had to relocate to safer pastures and no fewer than 94 million people were beset due to transport closures as seen in haunting images of commuters trapped in train carriages with rising water levels. Thousand of acres of crops swept away along with livelihoods. Millions upon millions of dollars lost production.
The burnt country: counting the enormous cost
20 SPRING 2021
Cost of Australian summer 2019/202O: bushfires searing the east coast: more than $103 billion. That’s nine times as much as the average of the previous 19 years. The carnage: Approximately 18,636,079 hectares (46,050,750 acres) burnt. 400 premature deaths, 3200 hospital admissions for circulatory and respiratory conditions, and over 1500 emergency attendances for asthma, increased use of mental health services or loss of work productivity due to sick leave. And tragically nearly three billion animals – mammals, reptiles, birds and frogs killed or displaced. Thousand of acres of crops swept away along with livelihoods. Millions upon millions of dollars lost production.
