Climate Change

More intense and longer duration wildfires have ravaged countries all around the world. The thread that weaves all these wildfires together is global warming and the catalyst is heat, the harbinger of fire. Extreme heat exacerbates wildfires making this the new abnormal. Warmer temperatures dry out vegetation which fuels the fires, less precipitation and dry winds also play a role.  It is hard to refute the link between the climate crisis and wildfires. A June attribution study showed that climate change is responsible for last year's heat and wildfires in the northern hemisphere. An IPCC special report also made the...

Hot dry conditions sparked an early start to fire season in Australia and people are demanding more climate action from the federal government that has refused to acknowledge the seriousness of the crisis. As the situation continues to worsen, protests have broken out across the country, however, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is has made it clear that he will not get serious about climate action. Australia is suffering from record breaking heat and the worst wildfires in 35 years. As many as 500 million animals have been killed, more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed and 4.86 million hectares (12...

This year there were a slew of predictable climate related events. There were also some rare global warming impacts including massive volumes of ice melt in Greenland and tropical cyclones that intensified at one of the fastest rates ever observed. According to the IPCC ice is melting and sea levels are rising at an accelerated rate.  A quick review of temperature records tell us what we need to know. Since the 1980s, each successive decade has been warmer than any preceding decade and the most recent decade is the hottest on record. Driven by deadly heat waves and drought we...

This year will go down in history as one of the warmest years on record and 2019 will also be remembered for the month of July which is the hottest month ever recorded.  The months of June, September and October also broke records. Except for January of this year, each month in 2019 has been in the top three hottest on record. Although parts of North America were colder than usual in October,  it is important to remember that we are talking about global average temperatures. According to NOAA, temperatures in the rest of the world were all above the...

As reported by UN News, on December 1, 2019, UN Secretary-General António Guterres outlined the “increased ambition and commitment” that the world needs from governments during the coming days of the COP25 UN climate change conference which opens in Madrid.  Guterres called for “accountability, responsibility, and leadership” to tackle the global climate crisis. “My message here today is one of hope not of despair,” said Guterres addressing journalists at a press conference in the Spanish capital on Sunday, after revealing the key takeaways from the World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate report, due to be published during COP25.“The last...

After a string of heat records, we saw another all time global average heat record set for the month of October.  According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, October 2019 beat out October 2015 for the dubious distinction. This is the fifth month in a row that has broken or almost broken heat records. October is the 418th consecutive month with above average temperatures, it follows the hottest September and the hottest summer that included the hottest month ever recorded (July). Eight of the ten warmest years have occurred in the last decade, the five warmest years have...

The Earth is warming and biodiversity is dying as the ecological web of life is breaking down. We have already witnessed significant decreases in the number of birds and insects including pollinators like bees and the future for these and many other species is bleak unless we rapidly change course.  We must not allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense that we are doing anywhere near enough to address the crises we created. We are not living up to our Paris emissions reduction targets and we are rapidly running out of time to reign in climate change.  If...

Recent power outages in North America offer us an opportunity to reflect on the importance of reliable access to electricity. Extreme weather events are the leading cause of power outages. This includes storms that generate high winds and flooding, it is also due to drought that increase the likelihood of wildfires. In October millions of people in California endured protracted power outages. This was due to  the largest ever voluntary blackout by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E). The utility shut down power as a preventative measure to reduce the likelihood of wildfires sparked by downed power lines. In recent...

Many of the world's most serious environmental problems would be addressed if we were to make ecocide a crime. This would also protect Indigenous livelihoods and lands. Here are excerpts from an article titled Ecocide, genocide, and the disregard of alternative life-systems by Tim Lindgren. It was published in the International Journal of Human Rights. As defined by Polly Higgins, in a book titled Eradicating Ecocide: Laws and Governance to Prevent the Destruction of Our Planet (London: Shepheard-Walwyn, 2010). Ecocide refers to “the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency...

Image credit KJCT 8 ABC.com Hurricane Dorian is yet another wake-up call. Dorian has broken all kinds of intensity records including being the strongest storm ever to make landfall. Dorian slammed into the Bahamas as a category 5 storm bringing with it widespread flooding and wind speeds gusting up to 220 miles per hour.  In its wake buildings have been damaged and destroyed. Five people are known to have died but the casualty count could increase even thought the storm has weakened to a category 2 storm. This slow moving storm still packs a punch with wind speeds exceeding 110...