I'm sure I don't have to remind you of what we've just witnessed with Hurricane Harvey recently. But here are a few more examples of supercharged events happening in other parts of our world.
In July, Death Valley, Calif. endured the hottest month ever recorded on Earth.
In late July, Shanghai registered its highest temperature in recorded history, 105.6 degrees (40.9 Celsius).
In mid-July, Spain posted its highest temperature ever recorded when Córdoba airport (in southern Spain) hit 116.4 degrees (46.9 Celsius).
In late June, Ahvaz, Iran, soared to 128.7 degrees Fahrenheit (53.7 Celsius) — that country’s all-time hottest temperature.
In late May, the western Pakistani town of Turbat hit 128.3 degrees (53.5 Celsius), tying the all-time highest temperature in that country and the world-record temperature for May.
Why is this happening? It's pretty simple really. A general rise in worldwide temperature supercharges the world's weather systems stretching the extremes of what happens everywhere. Humans are burning too much fossil fuel causing heat trapping gasses to increase in our atmosphere which causes temperatures to rise.
The longer we choose not to correct this imbalance the more intense our weather events will become.
Nature's 2 X 4 awareness board will just keep hitting us over the head until the imbalance gets corrected.
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So why are we not hearing such news reports? Naomi Klein recently addressed this issue.
This, we are told, is out of a desire not to “politicize” a still unfolding human tragedy, which is an understandable impulse. But here’s the thing: every time we act as if an unprecedented weather event is hitting us out of the blue, as some sort of Act of God that no one foresaw, reporters are making a highly political decision. It’s a decision to spare feelings and avoid controversy at the expense of telling the truth, however difficult. Because the truth is that these events have long been predicted by climate scientists. Warmer oceans throw up more powerful storms. Higher sea levels mean those storms surge into places they never reached before. Hotter weather leads to extremes of precipitation: long dry periods interrupted by massive snow or rain dumps, rather than the steadier predictable patterns most of us grew up with.
Now IS the time to talk about climate change and do so incessantly. There is no better time. And once again I'll turn to Naomi for the reasons why.
Talking honestly about what is fueling this era of serial disasters — even while they’re playing out in real time — isn’t disrespectful to the people on the front lines. In fact, it is the only way to truly honor their losses, and our last hope for preventing a future littered with countless more victims.
I've grown tired today waiting to hear the two words most needing to be uttered as Hurricane Irma approaches the coast of Florida. If any of you happen to hear them on any cable news network as the hurricane approaches I'd appreciate you reporting about such in comments.
Thanks! And stay safe if you are in the path of this horrific storm. It is truly a holy shit moment.