A recent letter to the Sheffield Star dismisses the combined knowledge of all the world’s climate scientists because we have had a bad summer! The writer should consider if the UK’s cold wet summer is actually the result of climate chaos.
The jet stream is a ribbon of air high up in the atmosphere. It is often the driving force behind the weather we experience in the UK. Small shifts in the jet stream’s position can lead to big differences in the weather we experience. In recent weeks, the jet stream has been either directed towards the UK or shifted further south, which has predominantly brought cooler air over the UK, bringing unseasonable winds and rain.
But the Jet Stream is currently very unstable. Arctic News posted this image of the Jet Stream seen from directly above the North Pole. There is very little structure to it, it’s slow and turbulent, full of whorls and there is very little below 40 degrees North. This is not normal!
Meanwhile, in mainland Europe, there is a powerful and prolonged heatwave. It is forecast to continue across the Balkan peninsula and Eastern Europe, with temperatures reaching 42-44 °C. This is more than ten degrees C above the average for the mid-July period. These temperatures will cause many deaths and the failure of many crops.
It’s not just the Jet Stream that is changing. The deep ocean currents that keep the UK’s climate mild are in danger of coming to a standstill, due to the melting ice from Greenland and the Arctic. If this fails our climate could become very much colder.
When we burn fossil fuels the CO2 has to go somewhere. About a quarter is absorbed by the oceans, a quarter by trees and plants through photosynthesis and the other half pollutes the atmosphere. The oceans are becoming acidic due to the CO2, threatening coral reefs and all creatures that make shells. This in turn threatens all marine life. Chemistry will limit the amount of CO2 the ocean can absorb and there are already signs it is reaching this limit.
Worrying new research released this week shows that the land is now emitting as much CO2 as it absorbs. Photosynthesis decreases as temperature increases, but respiration (plants releasing CO2 to the atmosphere) increases. Industrial farming means carbon previously locked up in the soil now escapes. The increase in wildfires, burning trees that have been absorbing carbon for decades and the increase in drought leading to plant decay now means the land is giving off as much CO2 as it is absorbing. As yet the media don’t seem to have picked up on this at all. Surely it should be on all the front pages.
Atmospheric CO2 continues to rise. It is now 426 parts per million. When I was born it was just 316ppm so it has increased by 35% in my lifetime. This increase will speed up as the land and ocean carbon sinks become less effective.
Global temperatures continue to rise. We may not have noticed it here this summer, but remember it is an average and some places have been affected far more than others. The polar regions have experienced the biggest temperature increases, leading to more ice melting. This June was the hottest since records began in 1850. It was the 13th consecutive record warm month and the 12th at least 1.5 °C above preindustrial temperatures.
The latest report from Yellow Dot Studios shows extreme weather is biting right across the globe. The Prime Minister of Grenada described the destruction of Hurricane Beryl on the island of Carriacou “Armageddon-like” as most buildings were flattened. On July 2nd there were floods in El Salvador and Venezuela. On July 4th as Americans celebrated Independence Day more than half the population were suffering from extreme heat. On the same day, a tornado killed 5 people and damaged many buildings in Shandong, China. On July 5th Palm Springs in California experienced record heat of 51.1C. On July 7th there was flooding in Turkey and Las Vegas reached record high temperatures. There was then flooding in Rajasthan, India, Houston, Texas and Veracruz, Mexico.
Meanwhile, the Just Stop Oil protesters I wrote about last week have been imprisoned for between 5 and 4 years. These are peaceful campaigners, not wanting to hurt anybody, but rather help us avoid climate catastrophe which would result in the deaths of billions of people. How can it be right to imprison them for terms longer than violent offenders or people who have killed by dangerous driving? Water bosses who poison our rivers with sewage are rewarded with bigger bonuses rather than put in jail. Oil companies continue to endanger our civilisation. Who does the law protect?
Society has made it unacceptable for racists and homophobes to spout their bile. Why then do we put up with those who continue to rubbish climate science like Nigel Farage and Donald Trump or those that actively seek to delay meaningful action on it, like many politicians and so-called “think tanks”? People should be embarrassed to be associated with them. They are saying that continuing our current polluting and wasteful lifestyle is more important than the lives of our young people, future generations and everything we value about our planet. They are fossil fools and should not be paid attention to.
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Thank you Graham! Brilliant article…succinct and hard hitting.
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