Climate Stories 12th April 2024
Depressing as it is, I still read the news. I tend to concentrate on the climate stories and am becoming interested in the trends that I see as bigger patterns start to emerge. There are now floods across Europe in the spring. More stories about food shortages are beginning to appear. This is what you might expect in a developing crisis, not a big bang, but rather a gathering crescendo.
So I’m going to start collecting climate stories and sharing them with you. This may well be painful for both of us, but now is not the time to look away. I’m not going to be tied to a schedule, but I will try to keep it regular enough to be meaningful.
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Torrential downpours and 65mph winds cause flooding chaos
Flooding is predicted to be one of the main impacts from Climate Change in the UK. But it means much more then impassable roads and flooded cellars …
Farmers warn ‘crisis is building’ as record rainfall drastically reduces UK food production
Weather is what you see when you look out of the window. Climate is the much bigger pattern of temperature, rainfall and other measures. But obviously, they are related. Weather patterns in the UK are changing. Rainfall is increasing to the extent that farmer’s fields are too waterlogged for them to plant or for their seeds to flourish.
OLIVE OIL CRISIS LAID BARE: THESE ARE THE DEVASTATING FACTORS BEHIND A SHOCK 50% FALL IN PRODUCTION OF SPAIN’S ‘LIQUID GOLD’
Not this week’s story but very much related. Constant drought is drastically reducing Spain’s olive oil harvest. Consequently, the price has soared.
But despite all the indications of trouble, the bad guys carry on with business-as-usual.
US meat lobby delighted at ‘positive’ prospects for industry after Cop28
Once again, an industrial lobby has captured a discussion and bent it completely out of shape. Let’s be clear, to achieve climate goals, meat consumption must be drastically reduced. But due to lobbying, this can’t be said. Madness.
Methane from landfills is detectable from space — and driving the climate crisis
Putting organic waste in your rubbish bin is a bad idea. When it decomposes at the landfill it produces methane which is a powerful greenhouse gas. There are better things you can do with this waste, like prevent it.
Residents of One of Arizona’s Last Ecologically Intact Valleys Try to Detour the Largest Renewable Energy Project in the US
This situation illustrates the failure to grasp the big picture. There is an ecological and a climate crisis (and some others). Ruining a pristine ecology to deliver low emissions power is not a positive move.
Morocco drought: Satellite images show vital Al Massira reservoir is shrinking
Fresh water is the most precious resource. In hot parts of the world, it is in increasingly short supply. As temperatures increase, water in lakes and reservoirs is especially vulnerable.
Colombia drought: Four-minute showers — a parched Bogota rations water
“About ten million residents of the Colombian capital Bogota are being forced to ration water amid crippling shortages due to a severe drought”.
Climate change: ‘Uncharted territory’ fears after record hot March
I see these “hottest ever” stories every month now. All over the world, temperatures are gradually rising, exactly as climate scientists have long predicted. Look forward to the hottest April stories in a few weeks.
