Disastrous flooding in China and Pakistan, drought in Brazil, drought and record heat in Russia, heavy floods in the American Mid-West while the East Coast bakes in record heat and is battered by violent storms, and the Arctic ice continues to melt. Around the world, we are witnessing more volatile, violent and extreme weather, which has inflicted a high cost, both in personal suffering and economic. The death toll from floods, fire and heat is being counted by the thousands, while hundreds of thousands have lost their homes, and their livelihoods. The loss of rice production in the far east is staggering, the fires in Russia have reduced agricultural output by at least 25%, and springs storms reduced this year’s Canadian grain production by an estimated 35%. This weather related loss of agricultural production result in additional personal and economic burdens.
NASA recently reported that the first seven months of this year were the warmest on record while the just released U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 2009 State of the Climate Report using data combined from a number of sources shows that 2009 was the warmest on record, the first decade of the 21st Century was the warmest on record, as in turn were the decades of the 1980’s and the 1990’s.
While the recent extreme weather is entirely consistent with climate change, short-term weather is not climate. However the 30 years of constantly increasing global temperature is a pretty strong statement about our changing climate. It is increasingly apparent that climate change is not a topic for future speculation, but rather a current reality. While no single weather event can be said to be caused by climate change, the variable and extreme weather that we are now observing is the type and pattern of weather long predicted by climate change science. If fact, the oft-maligned 2007 IPCC reports described regional weather patterns that perfectly match the events mentioned above.
It is too late to debate whether or not climate change is real, or think of it as something that may happen in the future. Climate change is real, and it is happening now. It is no longer a question of how we can prevent climate change, but rather a question of how can we best adapt and will we take the steps necessary to slow the rate of climate change for future generations. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America demonstrates that climate change will be irreversible for at least 1,000 years after a complete elimination of CO2 emissions and that the effects of climate change will be greater as the CO2 level increases. Thus it is clear that the longer we fail to act, the more dire the consequences. And the sad reality is that we are no closer to acting on climate change than we were 100 years ago. The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen was a total fiasco, ending without the widely anticipated binding agreements. As the international Bonn meeting in preparation for the 2010 conference in Cancun ended in disarray, there is no reason to hope that the issues that could not be resolved in Copenhagen will be resolved in Cancun one year later. And displaying a total lack of leadership the U.S. Senate has failed to even consider climate change.
As we continue to dump greenhouse gases, and other pollutants, into the atmosphere climate change will continue to gain momentum. Floods, drought, fire, blizzards, extreme hot and cold temperatures, and violent storms will increase. Species extinctions, crop failures, water shortages, non-productive oceans, and storm damage will add to human misery, and extract an increasing economic cost.
Welcome to the new normal.
