Climate crisis

This past week has seen the alarming heat waves in Europe, with the UK seeing highest ever temperatures, exceeding 40C.

Of course, it's hot in Europe, but the scary thing is that heat waves will continue to occur, and more frequently because of climate change.

Climate Change, which scientists have been warning about for decades, now seems to be accepted by the vast majority of people, though the media continues to spread dangerous misinformation about it.

Last year I talked about the Netflix movie Don't Look Up, which parodied humanity's response to an existential crisis in the form of an asteroid on a collision course with the planet. This was an allegory for climate change, and/or Covid, or, more generally, science - depending upon your interpretation.

There were several “Don't Look Up” moments in the media this week. Here's an example of one.

The heat wave has reportedly claimed more than 2,000 people in Spain and Portugal alone. And, as with most other calamities, has and will affect those less able to cope, such as the elderly, or people without adequate shelter. As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, the UK, at least, is ill-equipped to cope with excess heat, with most housing designed to keep the warmth in during cold weather.

As we all know, the major causes of climate change are the burning of fossil fuels. It would be great if we could get off oil, though obviously doing that is easier said than done.

But it's unfortunate that oil companies are making vast profits out of this - with $100 billion USD profit being generated in the last quarter year. Imagine what could be achieved if that profit could be re-directed into investment into technologies that don't make the climate worse.

There's a good article from Kevin Trenberth at the University of Auckland which clearly explains climate change, and that planting trees or capturing carbon aren't viable options for dealing with the crisis. The only real solution is to cut emissions.

By November this year, it's predicted there will be 8 billion humans on the planet. That's a lot of load we're all placing on the limited resources that the planet has.

Sometimes, I despair!