Post by sandypine on Jul 6, 2024 19:30:05 GMT
Here we go for almost twenty years they have been waiting for a stronger than normal storm so it can all be blamed on climate change.
"Hurricane Beryl gives us a glimpse of the horror that awaits us
The climate crisis is not going anywhere, nor can we wash our hands of it
July 3, 2024 5:24 pm(Updated July 4, 2024 10:04 am)
Damaged constructions and trees are pictured after the pass of Hurricane Beryl in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, July 1, 2024, in this image obtained from social media. Ralph Gonsalves/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.
The lack of focus on climate change from our two biggest parties in this election isn’t just disappointing, it’s irresponsible (Photo: Ralph Gonsalves/Reuters)
There’s nothing like a natural disaster to remind us of the sheer idiocy of our hubris in relation to the climate crisis.
If record temperatures, wildfires, frequent flooding and progressively extreme cyclones weren’t already enough to galvanise humanity to take this issue seriously, the arrival of a new storm this week, Hurricane Beryl, couldn’t be a louder wake up call.
Warmer seas caused by climate change are making the fiercest storms more common. Hurricane behaviour is changing too. The first hurricanes of the year usually form in mid-August, and the strongest don’t normally appear until late August and September. But in forming just as June turned to July, Hurricane Beryl is the earliest category five hurricane ever recorded.
It has torn through the Caribbean with increasing intensity. It has ripped roofs from buildings like paper. It has threatened and taken lives. Left people homeless. Decimated entire communities. It even momentarily stole focus from Western elections that have rather ironically put the climate crisis on the backburner – despite those Western nations being disproportionately responsible for producing more emissions. And yet, its significance will undoubtedly do very little to encourage richer nations like ours to reduce carbon emissions.
For one, this is an issue that, to countries like the UK, primarily impacts people “over there” (at least, for now). The populations of the countries most affected are also largely black and brown, and we all know how much racial background impacts European empathy towards victims of geopolitical and natural disasters.
Away from the identity of the victims, the odds of an event like Hurricane Beryl serving as a wake up call are especially slim here given the fact that the climate crisis has been relegated to a “wedge issue” in UK politics.
We’re a nation of increasingly climate-sceptic people on a continent that has, in large part due to the spread of populism, leaned progressively into climate obstructionism. Young people too, are swallowing climate crisis misinformation, with a third of British teenagers aged 13-17 agreeing with the statement: “Climate change and its effects are being purposefully overexaggerated”.
Rather than taking leadership and working to reverse those trends through public campaigns and more impactful policies, most of the main political parties have chosen to placate these misinformed members of the public in the hope of securing votes.
None (excluding the Greens) plan to cancel approved licenses for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea (the Tories, Reform UK and possibly the Lib Dems plan to accelerate them). And in May, the High Court found that the Government’s climate action plan was so insufficient that it was ruled unlawful.
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Our largest political parties may not accept the urgency of tackling this issue, but more of us are acutely aware of the perils of hoping this issue goes away. Bob Ward, policy and communications director for the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, told Context News: “Neither of the main parties, I think, wants to talk about it because they don’t feel they have a particularly strong case… We’re now at such a critical point it’s just unthinkable that it won’t be a major part of government.”
CBI chief exec Rain Newton-Smith also lamented political apathy around climate change, calling out the “deafening silence from all the parties about the issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, net zero and our planet” with a reminder that “whoever forms the next government can’t be pro-growth and deliver for our people, planet and communities, without being pro-green”.
And in June, 408 scientists wrote an open letter to UK political leaders, calling for them to – at the very least – sign up to five pledges to achieve net zero by 2050, take more action to adapt the UK to climate impacts, move away from fossil fuels, prevent more licences for North Sea oil and gas and provide more funding for developing countries for green development.
The climate crisis is not going anywhere. Nor is it an issue that we can wash our hands of. The UK’s role in producing more emissions isn’t just well documented, it is part and parcel of its “success” story. According to analysis by Carbon Brief, “the UK is responsible for nearly twice as much global warming as previously thought, due to its colonial history”.
Despite this, we’re still very much in the business of shifting blame elsewhere, or refusing to, as Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said at COP28, “share the burden”. Part of that burden would mean providing poorer countries with climate financing and striving for a future in which we – the whole world – can support one another when faced with disasters such as these.
Donations in the wake of events like Hurricane Beryl would be a start now, but we need to think in preventative terms too. And though there is limited evidence that today’s climate-related natural disasters will drive swathes of people halfway across the world – people fleeing crises tend to go to neighbouring countries instead – that’s not to say it’s impossible, or that we shouldn’t prepare to see this crisis as a problem shared, especially in terms of encouraging open migration. There’s no guarantee that people in richer Western countries won’t soon become some of the 1.2 billion people expected to become climate refugees by 2050.
The lack of focus on climate change from our two biggest parties in this election isn’t just disappointing. It’s irresponsible. And it shows total disregard for humanity. Whether or not you accept that climate change is important, our leaders’ willingness to ignore this crisis is like refusing to see beyond the tip of your nose during a zombie apocalypse.
We can obsess over myopic issues all we want. It won’t do a thing to shield us from the horrors that await us."
Climate changes no matter what we do.
inews.co.uk/opinion/hurricane-beryl-gives-glimpse-horror-awaits-3147291?ico=best_of_opinion
Yes it is record breaking- records go back about 100 years. It is the earliest category 5 recorded, hurricane Emily on 16th July was the previous earliest category 5. However what is important here is experts are warning the whole season will be stronger than usual and, as the link above illustates, the climate lobby are out in force demanding action. Labour no doubt will respond.
What is ignored is things like geothermal activity whereby just under 80% of the slightly warmer sea at this time of year can be attribute to mid ocean geothermal activity. However no opportunity is ever missed to blame it all on man and demand we dress in sackcloth and ashes and self immolate.
Climate changes no matter what we do.
"Hurricane Beryl gives us a glimpse of the horror that awaits us
The climate crisis is not going anywhere, nor can we wash our hands of it
July 3, 2024 5:24 pm(Updated July 4, 2024 10:04 am)
Damaged constructions and trees are pictured after the pass of Hurricane Beryl in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, July 1, 2024, in this image obtained from social media. Ralph Gonsalves/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.
The lack of focus on climate change from our two biggest parties in this election isn’t just disappointing, it’s irresponsible (Photo: Ralph Gonsalves/Reuters)
There’s nothing like a natural disaster to remind us of the sheer idiocy of our hubris in relation to the climate crisis.
If record temperatures, wildfires, frequent flooding and progressively extreme cyclones weren’t already enough to galvanise humanity to take this issue seriously, the arrival of a new storm this week, Hurricane Beryl, couldn’t be a louder wake up call.
Warmer seas caused by climate change are making the fiercest storms more common. Hurricane behaviour is changing too. The first hurricanes of the year usually form in mid-August, and the strongest don’t normally appear until late August and September. But in forming just as June turned to July, Hurricane Beryl is the earliest category five hurricane ever recorded.
It has torn through the Caribbean with increasing intensity. It has ripped roofs from buildings like paper. It has threatened and taken lives. Left people homeless. Decimated entire communities. It even momentarily stole focus from Western elections that have rather ironically put the climate crisis on the backburner – despite those Western nations being disproportionately responsible for producing more emissions. And yet, its significance will undoubtedly do very little to encourage richer nations like ours to reduce carbon emissions.
For one, this is an issue that, to countries like the UK, primarily impacts people “over there” (at least, for now). The populations of the countries most affected are also largely black and brown, and we all know how much racial background impacts European empathy towards victims of geopolitical and natural disasters.
Away from the identity of the victims, the odds of an event like Hurricane Beryl serving as a wake up call are especially slim here given the fact that the climate crisis has been relegated to a “wedge issue” in UK politics.
We’re a nation of increasingly climate-sceptic people on a continent that has, in large part due to the spread of populism, leaned progressively into climate obstructionism. Young people too, are swallowing climate crisis misinformation, with a third of British teenagers aged 13-17 agreeing with the statement: “Climate change and its effects are being purposefully overexaggerated”.
Rather than taking leadership and working to reverse those trends through public campaigns and more impactful policies, most of the main political parties have chosen to placate these misinformed members of the public in the hope of securing votes.
None (excluding the Greens) plan to cancel approved licenses for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea (the Tories, Reform UK and possibly the Lib Dems plan to accelerate them). And in May, the High Court found that the Government’s climate action plan was so insufficient that it was ruled unlawful.
Read Next
Global warming happening at fastest speed in history
SCIENCE
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Read More
Our largest political parties may not accept the urgency of tackling this issue, but more of us are acutely aware of the perils of hoping this issue goes away. Bob Ward, policy and communications director for the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, told Context News: “Neither of the main parties, I think, wants to talk about it because they don’t feel they have a particularly strong case… We’re now at such a critical point it’s just unthinkable that it won’t be a major part of government.”
CBI chief exec Rain Newton-Smith also lamented political apathy around climate change, calling out the “deafening silence from all the parties about the issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, net zero and our planet” with a reminder that “whoever forms the next government can’t be pro-growth and deliver for our people, planet and communities, without being pro-green”.
And in June, 408 scientists wrote an open letter to UK political leaders, calling for them to – at the very least – sign up to five pledges to achieve net zero by 2050, take more action to adapt the UK to climate impacts, move away from fossil fuels, prevent more licences for North Sea oil and gas and provide more funding for developing countries for green development.
The climate crisis is not going anywhere. Nor is it an issue that we can wash our hands of. The UK’s role in producing more emissions isn’t just well documented, it is part and parcel of its “success” story. According to analysis by Carbon Brief, “the UK is responsible for nearly twice as much global warming as previously thought, due to its colonial history”.
Despite this, we’re still very much in the business of shifting blame elsewhere, or refusing to, as Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said at COP28, “share the burden”. Part of that burden would mean providing poorer countries with climate financing and striving for a future in which we – the whole world – can support one another when faced with disasters such as these.
Donations in the wake of events like Hurricane Beryl would be a start now, but we need to think in preventative terms too. And though there is limited evidence that today’s climate-related natural disasters will drive swathes of people halfway across the world – people fleeing crises tend to go to neighbouring countries instead – that’s not to say it’s impossible, or that we shouldn’t prepare to see this crisis as a problem shared, especially in terms of encouraging open migration. There’s no guarantee that people in richer Western countries won’t soon become some of the 1.2 billion people expected to become climate refugees by 2050.
The lack of focus on climate change from our two biggest parties in this election isn’t just disappointing. It’s irresponsible. And it shows total disregard for humanity. Whether or not you accept that climate change is important, our leaders’ willingness to ignore this crisis is like refusing to see beyond the tip of your nose during a zombie apocalypse.
We can obsess over myopic issues all we want. It won’t do a thing to shield us from the horrors that await us."
Climate changes no matter what we do.
inews.co.uk/opinion/hurricane-beryl-gives-glimpse-horror-awaits-3147291?ico=best_of_opinion
Yes it is record breaking- records go back about 100 years. It is the earliest category 5 recorded, hurricane Emily on 16th July was the previous earliest category 5. However what is important here is experts are warning the whole season will be stronger than usual and, as the link above illustates, the climate lobby are out in force demanding action. Labour no doubt will respond.
What is ignored is things like geothermal activity whereby just under 80% of the slightly warmer sea at this time of year can be attribute to mid ocean geothermal activity. However no opportunity is ever missed to blame it all on man and demand we dress in sackcloth and ashes and self immolate.
Climate changes no matter what we do.
