Human-influenced climate change: take responsibility!
Our houses are on fire...homes are flooded…we are facing food shortages, water crisis, heat waves…battling health problems due to air pollution…its loud and clear, human-influenced climate change has played a major role in the increasing occurrences of cyclones, drought, wildfires and heat waves across the globe?
For most of us it does raise a question mark on what we – humans – are doing that has substantially increased the threat of ‘climate emergency’. A recently published report – United in Science 2020* – show a significant anthropogenic – human – influence on many of the global natural calamities, climate extremities and events that have occurred in the last few years.
According to the report, during 2016–2020, intensity and frequency of tropical cyclone, higher rainfall and recent floods evidences suggest that anthropogenic influence has augmented the chance of natural calamity. “In this period, the largest economic losses were associated with tropical cyclones. Hurricane Harvey, causing more than $ 125 billion in losses, hit the Houston (USA) area in 2017 – human influence increased the amount of rainfall associated with this hurricane by about 15%. Tropical Cyclones Idai and Kenneth hit Mozambique in March and April 2019 causing a large loss of life."
In numerous parts of the world, droughts have had major impacts, both on society and the economy. “Some droughts show a direct or indirect human influence, including the 2016/2017 East African drought which was strongly influenced by warm sea-surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean, to which anthropogenic influences on climate,” says the report. “In Africa millions of people required assistance after drought-related food shortages.”
Besides drought, unprecedented heat waves caused due to climate change has led to added risks of climatic adversities life wildfires. The report states that the results of a recent attribution study showed with high confidence that the January to June 2020 heat is at least 600 times more likely as a result of human-induced climate change.
“In 2019 and 2020 there were also widespread fires in the Amazon rainforest, with dramatic environmental impacts. The three largest economic losses on record from wildfires have all occurred in the last four years. Summer 2019 and 2020 saw unprecedented wildfires in the Arctic region. Eastern Australia experienced a severe and prolonged wildfire season in late 2019, with major fires in early September that continued into early 2020.” The United in Science 2020 report states that as a result of anthropogenic climate change, the likelihood of the weather conditions that led to those wildfires has increased by at least 30% since 1900.
- S.R.Ranjan
(Singh Rakesh Ranjan)
Freelance Journalist
(Representational images: source)
Global call for action to mitigate anthropogenic influence.
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