Images of the Impacts of Climate Change:
- More Wildfires
- Floods and Slides
- Drought & Migration
- Cost: $4 Trillion
Source: Climate Signals.org, via Climate Nexus.org
source: Climate Signals.org
Extreme Weather Events in Europe
& Elsewhere
Click on the map to visit ERSI.com, global leaders in GIS mapping.
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It is not a surprise that Europeans are more determined to deal with climate change than people in N. America, since Europe experiences frequent extreme weather. Likewise, parts of Africa, the Pacific rim and mid-East are only too familiar with the growing number of destructive events. With stronger hurricanes, floods and wildfires now seen in N. America too, one hopes that concerns are rising and sentiments will follow, so that the US and Canada take accelerated actions against fossil fuel use. The US is a huge carbon polluter, at 15% of global emissions.
Estimate of the Costs of Disasters
Here is a guesstimate of the world cost of disasters or extreme weather events, based on:
- $1.5 trillion in US disaster costs ftrom 1980 to 2018 (200+ billion dollar events). Note that these are growing rapidly each year, due to build-out in coastal regions and due to increased intensity of events.
- 2018 population sizes in other parts of the world, relative to US
- GDP per Capita, in parts of the world, as a percentage of the US
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That’s $5 trillion. If this estimate is close to the truth, then why does everyone say it is too expensive to deal with the costs of transitioning off fossil fuels?
Article in CBS News – By Irina Ivanova April 5, 2019: Per Blackrock, Climate change could deliver a $4 trillion hit to the financial system. Paraphrased: $3.8 trillion municipal bonds are at risk, as cities pay for damage and destruction of more extreme weather events.
Peat Fires in Saddleworth, UK. – 2018
Yes, that is all of England, Scotland and Ireland on the image.
Siberia Fires, 2016. Souce – theconversation.com
Tsunami, Alaska, 2015 – Largest Ever
Climate Central graph of NOAA & Climate Central data
NYT Article – Migration due to climate
By Lauren Markham; June 29, 2018, New York Times contributor.
Quotes: “The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that since 2008, 22.5 million people have been displaced by climate-related or extreme weather events. This includes tragedies like the widespread famine in Darfur, monsoons and flooding in Bangladesh and the catastrophic hurricane in Puerto Rico. The more out of whack our climate becomes, the more people up and leave their homes. As our world heats up and sea levels rise, the problem of forced migration around the world is projected to become far worse.
And in refusing to take climate change or responsibility for our planet seriously, the Trump administration is encouraging the conditions that will increase unauthorized migrations to the United States and elsewhere.”
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Amazon deforestation, 2007 – 2018
Laos dam flood – 1,000 persons missing
California wildfires, 2018 – 20 x 20 sq mi. Largest ever.
Click on the image to read the 2018 AP – WaPo article described
Lake Palacocha, Peru
From TheGuardian.com – “Climate change has turned Peru’s glacial lake into a deadly flood timebomb”. Quote: “A temperature rise of 0.5-0.8C between the 1970s and the 2000s has seen a third of Peru’s ice caps vanish in the last four decades.” Another chunk of glacier could create a flood wave of up to 30 metres over a ridge of rocks and down the mountain, impacting 50,000 persons in a flood zone.
Who Is Climate Enemy # 1 ?
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Costs of Climate Change expected to be highest in the red states; both personal and financial.
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The Land of Oz:
Wickedly hot weather in Australia, summer 2019
max temperatures are shown