Catastrophe, pollution, dirty subsidies and nature capitalism: another week in the climate crisis

(The Guardian, 4 Sep 2022) The chance of extreme events is increasing because emissions aren’t slowing down. The hard work to transform the economy has barely begun.

You don’t have to be paying much attention to be aware that the climate and environmental crises are not slowing down.

The flooding in Pakistan is estimated to have submerged a third of the country’s habitable land, destroyed more than a million homes, crippled infrastructure, farms and clean water supplies and killed at least 1,200 people. Tens of millions have had their lives disrupted. The fallout will include food and housing shortages and rising disease.

There have been extreme floods in Pakistan before – notably in 2010 – but scientists say this is empirically worse. As Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, has explained, it follows an observed trend of an increase in rainfall on extremely wet days and is in line with projections that south Asia will be hit by more intense rain events in summer as the planet heats. We know that for every 1C of heating, the atmosphere can hold 7% more moisture and that is reflected in extreme rainfall and flooding.

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The Guardian, 4 Sep 2022: Catastrophe, pollution, dirty subsidies and nature capitalism: another week in the climate crisis