From India to Europe, US to Australia, what or who's to blame for catastrophic climate events?
It may not be fair to directly attribute climate change to an extreme weather event. Yet, humans compound these events into disasters with ill-planned development coupled with mindless burning of fossil fuels. The resultant long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns are worsening America's tornadoes, Australia's wildfires, Europe's heatwaves and Himachal's flash floods
Haphazard infrastructure creation in a tectonically active region, add to it an erratic, forceful monsoon, and what do you have: Flash floods and landslides of an unprecedented scale, as recently witnessed in the hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Is this a climate crisis playing out?
Cut to Europe, which recently reeled under a heatwave. Italy had temperatures you’d usually associate with a New Delhi summer, in the 45 degree vicinity. And prolonged spells of hot weather were witnessed in southern and eastern Europe, from France and Spain to Poland and Greece. Is this a climate crisis playing out?
The US’ geography has made it a regular target for everything from tornadoes and hurricanes to wildfires and ice storms. Is climate change increasing the intensity and frequency of these extreme weather incidents?
The year 2023 has also seen record severe wildfires, from Greece to Canada, and Chile to Australia, burning tens of thousands of acres. Is climate change creating the adverse weather conditions that makes it easier for wildfires to spread?
It may not be fair to directly attribute climate change to an extreme weather event. Yet, humans compound these events into disasters with ill-planned development coupled with often mindless burning of fossil fuels. And it’s the resultant long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns that are worsening America’s tornadoes, Australia’s wildfires, Europe’s heatwaves and Himachal’s flash floods.
