In 2017, American journalist and writer David Wallace-Wells published an article in "New York" magazine entitled "The Uninhabitable Earth", which later became a book. It describes how certain parts of the world are following climate change they are changing to the extent that people will no longer be able to live there in the foreseeable future. Wallace-Wells is often quoted, but because of his analysis, he has also been accused of spreading panic.
However, since the publication of the article, his warning has gained even more power, writes the German "Spiegel". It's not just the landscapes in Asia or Africa that are turning into deserts anymore. And in Evropi, on a continent that is warming faster than any other, due to climate change, people are increasingly asking themselves existential questions.
It is enough to look at the news of the past few days to understand the scale of the crisis.
Can climate change be ignored?
A few examples: In the Alps, helicopters deliver drinking water because mountain homes are running out of mountain water; on the Rhine, the water level dropped to only 24 centimeters, making navigation almost impossible; The Danube breaks historical records low water level; tens of thousands of dead as a result heat wave; unrecorded fires in France and Spain; Hungary shut down the Paks nuclear power plant due to the heat, which is why the country currently lacks half of its electricity...
Photo: AP Photo/Manu FernandezThe fire is consuming everything before it in Spain
Climate catastrophe is no longer some distant dystopia. It has long since become everyday, the new normal, even in Europe. The problem is that neither politics nor society is currently even close to meeting this challenge. Instead of doing everything to at least suppress the crisis, measures to protect the climate are even reduced, writes "Spiegel".
However, climate catastrophe can be swept under the rug, until droughts, fires and floods begin to change life as people are used to it.
Will some parts of Europe become uninhabitable?
European summers are changing. Temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, even in the more northern parts of the continent, are becoming the new normal.
According to the European Climate Change Service Copernicus (Copernicus Climate Change Service), heat waves at the end of May and during June brought in parts of France, the United Kingdom and Spain average daily temperatures that were more than 10 degrees Celsius above normal values.
Photo: ap photoDroughts due to climate change are becoming more frequent
In addition to the aforementioned droughts, fires and drying up of rivers, scientists also warn that large amounts of carbon dioxide are being released, which make the soil more susceptible to erosion and flooding when rainfall finally returns.
Analysis by the World Initiative for Weather Event Attribution (WWA) has shown that global warming has further intensified heat waves in Europe in just a few decades. According to them, a similar heat wave in June 1976 would have been about 3,5 degrees Celsius colder than the current one.
WWA's analysis states that the health consequences of this heat wave are only beginning to be felt and points to a scientific study that showed that during the series of heat waves in the summer of 2022, more than 60.000 people died from causes related to high temperatures.
How much will the new air conditioner cost us?
The financial consequences of this ecological crisis are increasing.
The European Environment Agency estimates that extreme weather events cost Europe 738 billion euros from 1980 to 2023. At least 162 billion euros of that amount refer only to the last three years, which indicates the accelerated growth of the problem.
The agency estimated that the absence of serious measures in the fight against climate change could cost the European economy at least 5,6 trillion euros by 2050.
Photo: Pixybay/geraltExtreme heat is raging in Europe, the economy will feel it
No branch of the economy was spared. Droughts reduce agricultural production, fires destroy infrastructure, heat waves affect worker productivity and safety, etc.
Insurance company losses from weather events have also skyrocketed in recent decades. According to data from the European Central Bank, three quarters of damages caused by natural disasters in Europe are not insured.
Many economists believe that investing in resilience to climate change today will be significantly cheaper than constantly paying for the consequences of increasingly frequent disasters tomorrow.
Scientists warn that adaptation to new climate conditions alone will not be enough. Without significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, conditions that create extreme weather are expected to become more frequent in the future.
Only in August: Save three thousand dinars on the annual subscription to the digital edition of "Vremena"! _Take advantage of the discount here and support independent journalism
