OVERLOOK
Victoria Su | August 2, 2022
Thousands of firefighters have been deployed in France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and other parts of Europe, that were formerly unaccustomed to extreme heat, to battle off wildfires due to severe heat waves. The government has taken action to limit traveling on extremely hot days, move classes online, and hold meetings discussing responses to the heat wave. While global warming has been making extreme temperatures much more common, scientists are still investigating specific weather events that could be intensifying the warming climate. Some solutions include: staying at home, limiting sunlight exposure, planting more trees, and painting roads white to lower temperatures.
ANALYSIS
Sarah Morra | August 2, 2022
The climate crisis is not an unfamiliar point of issue in today’s world. However, the current climate of our world is becoming increasingly deficient with inadequate action being taken. As temperatures continue to rise, there have been several occurrences of heat waves and wildfires sweeping across the globe, especially in Europe, now more than ever.
Britain is bracing for record high temperatures that have never been seen before. These substantial record breaking temperatures mean a myriad of detrimental effects on the UKs wildlife, infrastructure, mortality rates, power, and water and transport systems.
Wildfires and unbearable heat levels across areas of Europe have progressively become more common throughout the past few years. However, today, it seems to be worse than ever. Several crews in the south of France had been dealing with wildfires that had consumed more than 22,000 acres of land. The increasing occurrences in wildfires across Europe have prompted the evacuation of thousands of civilians and the disruption of peoples livelihood. Not only has France been facing destructive wildfires but dozens of blazes in Greece, Portugal, and Spain.
“Obviously, the longer the heat wave, the greater the repercussions as the issue of forest fires, and also on people’s health,” said Rubén del Campo, a spokesman for Spain’s meteorological agency. The effect on the health of helpless civilians has been destructive. There have been reports of hundreds of excess deaths throughout Europe during periods of high temperatures.
The Earth is continuously warming with profound after effects. The state of our Earth’s climate crisis is increasing in intensity and importance. Future effects and circumstances will only continue to worsen if further action is not taken. Temperatures will continue to heighten, wildfires will continue to frequent Europe each year, there will be an increase in periods of drought and a plethora of other injurious effects. The current leaders of the world need to take action as the threshold of irreversible damage is fastly approaching. The Paris Agreement has the incentive and target goal of limiting the Earth’s warming below the 1.5 °C threshold.
This calls for all countries to band together and take climate action to reduce gas emissions. Furthermore, a United Nations science report predicted dramatic and dangerous effects on our world as a whole if warming exceeds this threshold.
It is essential that action against the climate crisis is being taken. Us as individuals cannot reverse the effects of warming, however, we must urge our world leaders to do so to save us and our planet before it is too late.
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Image Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/europe-heat-wave-no-surprise-1.6524404