We need to talk about the weather | Progress | News and debate ...

What on earth has happened to the weather? Sandy interrupting the final week of the US elections, flooding in Aberdeen, flash floods in Edinburgh, hailstones in East Kilbride. Scottish holidaymakers evacuated because of forest fires near Marbella and flooding in Cadiz ?

Around the world, we have seen extreme weather like floods, droughts, and heatwaves. These are exactly the kinds of events that scientists have warned about for decades and say will get worse as the climate warms:

???? This year, Britain experienced its wettest summer in a hundred years. Heavy storms overwhelmed sewer systems and contributed to an invasion of ?monster slugs? that pose a serious threat to agriculture.
???? A 20-hour rainstorm in Beijing destroyed 8,000 homes in the summer of 2012. It was the city?s worst rainstorm in at least 60 years. Millions of people in China were affected by flooding. The Three Gorges Dam overflowed and forced nearly 1.2 million people to relocate.
???? This year in India, early drought in the monsoon season was followed by one of the worst rainfall events in 30 years.

Manmade climate change is making its presence felt and every day humans add 90 million tonnes of global warming CO2 pollution in to the atmosphere.

Now more than ever we need to be talking about what is happening with the weather and, of course, what we are prepared to do about it.

As the planet warms up more moisture is trapped in the atmosphere, because warmer air holds more water. The result is more extreme rainstorms, which lead to devastating floods. At the same time, moisture evaporates from the soil more quickly, leading to prolonged drought and drying up forests, making forest fires more likely. Drought also damages crops, putting up the price of food for some of the poorest people in the world and the most vulnerable right here at home.

On November 14 and 15 Al Gore?s organisation the Climate Reality Project will be hosting the second of their annual 24 hours of reality live stream broadcasts called 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirty Weather Report. Over 24 hours, we plan to share with the world how dirty weather in a warming climate is affecting people?s lives.

You can view last year?s broadcast here.

We are calling this year?s event the Dirty Weather Report because the extreme weather we?ve experienced isn?t ?normal.? It?s dirty. It?s polluted weather, and it?s the result of carbon pollution from dirty fossil fuels.

This year there will be a programme of events from every continent, bringing together first-hand testimony of climate change with expert witnesses to discuss what is going on with the climate, why it is happening and how you can play your part in turning the tide against it.

So join us on 14 and 15 November for 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirty Weather Report and join with millions of others across the world to learn more about how climate change is connected to extreme weather and what we can do about it.

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Evan Williams is an environmental economist, director of the Climate Reality Project UK and was the UK presenter (hour 19) on last year?s 24 Hours of Reality. He tweets @evanmw

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Photo: Pete Hunt

environment and climate change

Source: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/11/13/we-need-to-talk-about-the-weather/

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