2022 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #42
Mother Nature Always Bats Last!
‘Nature is striking back’: flooding around the world, from Australia to Venezuela
It has been a drenched 2022 for many parts of the world, at times catastrophically so. A year of disastrous flooding perhaps reached its nadir in Pakistan, where a third of the country was inundated by heavy rainfall from June, killing more than 1,000 people in what António Guterres, the UN secretary general, called an unprecedented natural disaster.
While floods are indeed natural phenomena, a longstanding result of storms, the human-induced climate crisis is amplifying their damage. Rising sea levels, driven by melting glaciers and the thermal expansion of water, are increasingly inundating coastal areas, while warmer temperatures are causing more moisture to accumulate in the atmosphere, which is then released as rain or snow.
Scientists have said flash floods are becoming a problem in some countries, with short, severe bursts of rain causing anything from annoyance to mayhem. Some places are whiplashing between severe drought and these sudden downpours, heightening the risk of mudslides and other knock-on effects.
As the world heats further, the sort of floods seen this year from Australia to Nigeria will probably become more common. “We have waged war on nature, and nature is striking back, and striking back in a devastating way,” Guterres lamented after visiting Pakistan in September.
‘Nature is striking back’: flooding around the world, from Australia to Venezuela by Oliver Milman, Ope Adetayo, Donna Lu, Fiona Kelliher & Luke Taylor, Environment, The Guardian, Oct 20, 2022
Links posted on Facebook
Sun, Oct 16, 2022
- 20 Nations at High Risk From Global Warming Might Halt Debt Payments by Lisa Friedman, New York Times, Oct 14, 2022
- The cost to capture carbon? More water and electricity by Sara Sneath, The Guardian, Oct 15, 2022
- September 2022: Earth’s 5th-warmest September on record by Jeff Masters, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Oct 14, 2022
- Alaska cancels snow crab season for first time after population collapses by Andrew Jeong, Climate & Environment, Washington, Oct 15, 2022
Mon, Oct 17, 2022
- Is hope of a net-zero future fading? by Staff, Zurich, Oct 17, 2022
- The great hydrogen gamble: hot air or net zero’s holy grail? by Alex Lawson, The Observer/Guardian, Oct 15, 2022
- US Atlantic coast now a breeding ground for supercharged hurricanes – study by Nina Lakhani, World, The Guardian, Oct 17, 2022
- Do you have ‘eco-anxiety’? Here’s how to find out by Jessica DuLong, CNN, Oct 13, 2022
Tue, Oct 18, 2022
- Permafrost Emissions Must Be Factored Into Global Climate Targets, Says Study by Columbia Climate School, State of the Planet, Oct 17, 2022
- Nigeria Floods Kill Hundreds and Displace Over a Million by Ruth Maclean, World, New York Times, Oct 17, 2022
- Thanks to fossil fuel crisis, wind and solar payback time drops to one year by Jim Regan, Renew Economy/Climate Home News, Oct 17, 2022
- Yes, climate change is bad — but scientists must ‘chill’ when it comes to doomsday scenarios, experts say by Chris Melore, Environment, Study Finds, Oct 17, 2022
Wed, Oct 19, 2022
- New Jersey Sues 5 Oil Giants, Industry Lobby for Climate Fraud by Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams, Oct 18, 2022
- Western Wildfires Cause Extreme Weather Up to 1,500 Miles Away: Study by Julia Conley, Common Dreams, Oct 18, 2022
- Amount of ocean heat found to be accelerating and fuelling extreme weather events by Graham Readfearn, Environment, The Guardian, Oct 18, 2022
- World rocked by 29 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2022 by Jeff Masters, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Oct 19, 2022
Thu, Oct 20, 2022
- Concern about climate change shrinks globally as threat grows, survey shows by Reuters, The Guardian, Oct 19, 2022
- Truck makers tout an electric future. Privately, they’re stalling it. by Anna Phillips, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Oct 18, 2022
- Can floating turbines harvest the world's wind? by Justin Rowlatt, Science, BBC News, Oct 19, 2022
- Global CO2 emissions to grow less than 1% this year thanks to renewables- IEA by Nina Chestney, Business, Reuters, Oct 19, 2022
Fri, Oct 21, 2022
- 'Phenomenal': European Union Parliament resoundingly backs fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty by Julia Conley, Common Dreams, Oct 20, 2022
- ‘Nature is striking back’: flooding around the world, from Australia to Venezuela by Oliver Milman, Ope Adetayo, Donna Lu, Fiona Kelliher & Luke Taylor, Environment, The Guardian, Oct 20, 2022
- As UN Climate Talks Near, a Showdown on Reparations Looms, Analysis by Fred Pearce, Yale Environment 360, Oct 20, 2022
- US Supports Climate Reparations Talks at UN Summit in Egypt by Jennifer A Dlouhy & Eric Roston, Bloomberg News, Oct 21, 2022
Sat, Oct 22, 2022
- Oceans are warming faster than ever. Here’s what could come next. by Brady Dennis, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Oct 19, 2022
- What’s Good for Birds Is Good for People and the Planet. But More Than Half of Bird Species in the U.S. Are in Decline by Katelyn Weisbrod, Warming Trends, Inside Climate News, Oct 22, 2022
- Before and after: See how the Mississippi River and its tributaries have dropped to record lows by Angela Fritz & Brandon Miller, Weather, CNN, Oct 22, 2022
- Category 4 Hurricane Roslyn heads for landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast by Jeff Masters, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Oct 22, 2022
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 22 October, 2022
