Science has been warning for years about climate change, which often causes weather disasters, human casualties and great damage, but despite pessimistic forecasts and warnings, many politicians, as well as citizens, in the most developed countries do not take it seriously enough, the world media write.
Global warming is happening - here and now
According to documented scientific research on the Earth's climate, temperatures in the past two decades have a trend of rapid growth, which corresponds to the scientific consensus that climate change is caused by human activities, because the levels of greenhouse gases - such as carbon dioxide and methane - have increased. New York Times (The New York Times).
NASA scientists announced Wednesday that 2018 was the fourth-warmest year in the last 140 years of record keeping. The same information was published by the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NYT points out that both studies suggest that the melting of the polar ice caps will lead to even more extreme weather conditions.
The results of rapid warming can be seen from heat waves and prolonged droughts in Australia, to flooding in coastal areas of the United States, and in the disappearance of Arctic ice and shrinking glaciers. Scientists have linked climate change to more destructive hurricanes such as Michael and Florence last year, or last week's polar cold in Central America.
"We're no longer talking about a situation where global warming is something that's going to happen in the future," said Garvin A. Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Research, which did the analysis. “It's here. Now," he said.
In addition to being the fourth warmest year, 2018 was also the fourth costliest year for weather-related damage in the United States, the first year that wildfires cost more than hurricanes. Due to weather problems, 91 billion dollars were spent, which is still less than in 2017, when disasters caused a record damage of 306 billion dollars.
"But it reflects a broader trend of more frequent and intense extreme weather events, including hurricanes, floods, droughts and fires that scientists say can be expected in the future," wrote the New York Times, recalling that the annual global temperature ranking is usually published in mid-January, but a partial government shutdown prevented federal scientists from completing the analysis.
Australia burns while the US freezes
"We have evidence that [increasing temperatures will affect] health, economic growth, labor productivity, agriculture, crime and conflict," said Dr. Amir Jina, assistant professor of environmental and development economics at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, reports the paper Forbs (Forbes) and states that despite scientific research, many are still skeptical about global warming.
Although 2019 was a cold start for the US, as Chicago had colder temperatures than Antarctica at the end of January, the polar vortex - which wandered south from the Arctic - does not indicate a cooling climate. At the same time, Australia is going through the most infernal heat, writes Forbes, citing newly published scientific research on climate change. "Not only are severe snowstorms possible in a warming climate, they are even more likely," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Parts of Australia hit by floods after droughtGiven that temperature changes are regionally different, not all parts of the world experienced warming equally, the paper states, emphasizing that scientific research on global warming does not move US President Donald Trump, who denied climate change and withdrew from discussions on global warming. "But it motivates the free market, which could make the American president and his positions impotent," the paper concludes.
Although the Australian public is aware of global warming - because it directly witnesses it - "the country does not have many options, as long as electricity generation relies on coal and natural gas, writes Kevin Silverstein in his commentary for Forbs. He adds that the country also has no shortage of cynics about global warming - mentioning Maurice Newman, chief business adviser to the former Australian prime minister, who claims that "science doesn't count" and that the fight against climate change is part of a "global conspiracy". of the United Nations.
"Climate change is real. Change is not easy. In some cases, it is run by politicians. Or it is handled by multinational companies that are collectively stronger than any resistance. Everyone understands that the economy and the environment are irrevocably linked - that the future of the planet, literally, depends on eco-responsible management," wrote Silverstein for Forbes.
Americans want but do not believe in change
Looking back at the great human losses and significant material damage caused by weather disasters in America last year, and despite the fact that Donald Trump completely ignored global warming and climate disasters in this year's State of the Nation Address - which is an opportunity to define and determine the country's priorities , Americans are more worried than ever, Nsikan Akpan wrote in his commentary for PBS.
A majority of Americans, 73 percent, believe global warming is happening and want a change, PBS wrote, adding that an analysis released late last year by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University's Center for Climate Change showed that "Democratic concerns about this topic have increased over time, but also that more Republicans are worried about global warming than in previous decades - 32 percent of them." The survey also found that only half of registered voters believe they can change the decisions of their local governments and businesses, and that far fewer believe they can influence state, federal and corporate actions.
"American voters, including Republicans, want a 'Green New Deal' (Green New Deal) but also more fossil fuels", claims PBS and points out that the 'Green New Deal' could be a "bridge between the two parties", as it was proposed by the Democratic party - as a "massive program of investment in clean energy businesses and infrastructure", which would initiate the transition to clean energy through targeted investments in network infrastructure, energy efficiency and green economy."
Although a growing number of Americans express support for a shift to green energy - a smaller but significant number still want fossil fuels, PBS wrote, adding that this "paradox may explain why American voters are largely to blame for climate change." When asked who should be responsible for global warming, a majority of Americans -- three out of four -- blame the corporations and industries that produce a significant amount of the greenhouse gases that drive global warming. However, nearly the same number - 67 to 68 percent - blame themselves, Congress and the president," PBS wrote.
Intergenerational justice
In the "Opinions" column for British The Guardian (The Guardian), journalist and author of the novel 'The Wall', John Lanchester says that climate change is the deadliest legacy we leave to future generations.
Lankester says that while working on the novel he realized that he was obsessed with intergenerational inequality, or specifically - "the question of intergenerational inequality related to climate change", and that he eventually realized that for future generations real estate prices, pensions or savings will be insignificant compared to the effects global warming.
"If you look at the reports of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as the projections of what a warmer world will look like, and how quickly it can come, you realize that we are facing the prospect of the most radical form of intergenerational inequality the world has ever seen. It would be a world where different generations not only have different versions of the social and economic contract, but grow up with fundamentally different maps of the world. A world four degrees warmer—the world we're headed for, in some of the worst-case scenarios—is a world of floods, droughts, overheating cities and coastlines, crop failures, unprecedented levels of mass migration, all arriving in the gap of three or even two generations.
The need for intergenerational climate justice could not be stronger. The prospect of leaving our descendants with a broken world is the clearest call to action on climate change we will ever get," the Guardian reports.
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