Sunny climate, stormy climate | Weekly digest #11
Let's start Monday with a quick climate recap from the week gone by!
For the ones who are new here - Every week I bring to you 5 stories about the changing climate and its impact on us!
3 stormy ones - concerning stories that are a source of alarm
2 sunny ones - green shoots that tell you that all is not yet lost
It’s been a pretty eventful week and so much has happened across the world that it was a real struggle to cover all updates in just 3 stories on the stormy side. I have tried to bunch up individual events into themes, but even with that, this edition is going to be slightly longer than the usual. So, buckle up!
Stormy news
It’s raining floods!
Last week we saw flash floods in at least 4 countries across 3 continents. In a bizarre turn of events, rainfall records were getting broken simultaneously in places spread out across the globe.
India
Delhi’s iconic Red Fort was flooded as the Yamuna waters flowed into the city; source: Adnan Abidi/Reuters Parts of North India (incl. Himachal, Punjab, Delhi) saw very heavy rainfall that led to flash floods in multiple states.
The Beas river overflowing in Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh; Source: Reuters The trigger for the extremely heavy rainfall was an interaction of 2 weather systems - western disturbance (moisture laden winds coming from the Mediterrenean) and the Monsoon winds. The resulting heavy rainfall led to flash floods and land slides.
Death toll: At least 100 people have died in the floods (according to official records).
Rivers and dams: All major rivers were flowing above the danger mark
Infrastructure: Some bridges were washed away and more than 1000 roads were damaged. Portion of National highway 3 was washed away by the raging Beas river in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh. The damage to infrastructure in just Himachal is expected to cost INR 3000-4000 cr.
Disruption of daily life: More than 16000 people had to be evacuated in Delhi alone. Schools were shut for most of the week in these states. Several towns and villages were cut off and tourists were stranded for days.
Japan
A landslide site is seen in the city of Karatsu, Saga prefecture, on July 11, 2023, a day after heavy rains hit wide areas of Kyushu island; Source: CNN news Japan Meteorological Agency, on Monday called it “the heaviest rain ever experienced” in northern Kyushu.
In 2 days some parts of Fukuoka (a prefecture in Kyushu) received more than 600 millimeters (23.6 inches) of rain, which is more than the area would usually expect for the whole of July, Reuters reported.
USA
The US state of Vermont saw devastating floods after a storm dumped two months of rainfall in a couple of days. Some areas saw more than 9in (220 mm) of rain.
Spain
Now to the most important questions: Is this really because of climate change?
Well, the Tl;dr is the trigger - extremely heavy rainfall is due to an unusual and rare weather system. These events have happened earlier as well however, the frequency and intensity of such events is going up as the planet is warming. Also, the effects (such as landslides) are made a lot worse because of climate change.
For the more curious souls, you can read a longer explanation on my Twitter thread ‘What are flash floods and are they really happening because of climate change’
Heat waves breaking records too!
If it wasn’t strange enough that we saw flash floods in so many different regions at one, we also saw intense heat waves in parts of the world at the same time! So while parts of the world are drowning in a flood, others are burning up. Talk of balance in the universe and all.
Nearly a third of Americans - about 113 million people - are currently under heat advisories, from Florida to California and up to Washington state.
Death Valley in California - one of the hottest places in the world - is forecast to reach 129F (54 deg C), nearing the hottest temperatures ever reliably recorded on Earth.
Southern Europe
The Italian health ministry issued a red alert for 16 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence for the weekend.
Greece shut down tourist attraction such as the Acropolis in the hottest hours to protect visitors
In Spain's Canary Islands, a forest fire that broke out on La Palma on Saturday morning forced the evacuation of at least 4,000 people and has so far destroyed 4,500 hectares (11,000 acres) of land.
China
Parts of China including Beijing have been gripped by a scorching heat wave for weeks.
This is not all!
There are so many places seeing heat waves right now with records getting broken every day, this newsletter would become a 5000 word essay if I tried to cover them all. But if you are curious to know more and follow this live, I recommend following Extreme temperatures around the world on Twitter
What is the Forest (Conservation) Act?
The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, was enacted to prevent large-scale deforestation. It defines what counts as a ‘forest’, puts restrictions on activities that can be carried out on such ‘forests’ and puts restrictions on the governments ability to dereserve a land parcel from the ‘forest category’.
What is the amendment being proposed?
The amendment exempts certain categories of land from the purview of the act. This includes:
Land near border areas for national security projects even when it adversely impacts the forest cover and wildlife in north-eastern states.
Land which changed from forest-use to non-forest-use before December 12, 1996
It also expands the gamut of activities that is allowed on ‘forested lands’. This includes ‘zoos and safari’, eco-tourism, silviculture activities - all of which will put the conservation of forests and the biodiversity they hold at greater risk.
What is happening right now?
The amendment was first published last year and got a lot of opposition from conservationists. A joint parliamentary committee was set up to examine the proposed amendments. However, this week the 31 members JPC endorsed the bill in its entirety. The bill is now expected to be tabled in its current shape in the monsoon session of the parliament starting on July 20th.
Sunny news
The French can now earn up to EUR 25 for getting their clothes mended!
The French may pride themselves at being fashionable, but if staying on top of the latest trends meant throwing their old clothes away, they’ll be forced to think again!
What is the TL;DR?
The French government wants to give people a ‘repair bonus’
From October, people will be able to claim back between €6 and €25 of the cost of mending clothes and shoes in workshops or at cobblers that have joined the scheme.
How will this help?
The French buy on an avg. 10.5 kg of clothes per person every year!
An estimated 700,000 tonnes of clothing is thrown away in France every year, two-thirds ending up in landfill.
Both the production and waste management of fashion has a huge environmental impact.
The move is expected to encourage people to reuse and recycle rather than buy new clothes and thus reducing the environmental impact of clothing.
To know more about the environmental impact of Fashion, see this brilliant act by Hasan Minhaj: The Ugly truth of fast fashion
The AIIB makes it mandatory for all its future investments to be aligned to the Paris agreement
What is the Paris agreement?
It is a legally binding international treaty whose overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
What does the announcement mean
The AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) has announced that starting July 1, 2023 all its investments will have to be consistent with low carbon and climate resilient approaches that allow countries to meet commitments to the Paris agreement
How will this help?
The AIIB is a major financier of infrastructure projects in Asian countries. This includes energy, construction, dams etc.
This move will mean that projects which are not aligned to preserving the climate and adversely impact climate change will find it harder to get financing
As more financial institutions adapt such measures, countries will be eventually be forced to drop projects that have an adverse impact on the environment.
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