Climate change: It’s hot, and people are dying

Link to ThinkProgress article: Heatwaves will become more deadly … new study

As if we didn’t need more evidence of global warming. We see it all around us. The world is on fire, literally. Heatwaves are shattering records all over the world, and wildfires are raging. We haven’t even hit hurricane season yet. Is there any doubt that climate change is upon us? Over 98 percent of scientists around the world say it is.

Unfortunately we have quite a few people in the United States who disagree, including one of our two major political parties and the current president. But for this particular post, I want to focus on a recent study conducted by Monash University and published at PLOS Medicine. The folks at ThinkProgress published an excellent piece referencing the study. I’ve included a link above.

One of the most dire predictions noted in the study was that as populations and greenhouse emissions increase, so do the number of deaths from heatwaves. Dozens of record temperatures have been set in just the past week around the world, and several deaths have been attributed to the extreme heat. But the study also includes ways in which these deaths can be reduced in the future by mitigating greenhouse emissions under scenarios that comply with those put forth in the Paris climate accord. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the president of the United States has withdrawn from the climate agreement. According to the U.S. National Climate Assessment published last year, if we do not reduce emissions in this country as stipulated in the Paris agreement, heatwaves are expected to be 12 degrees warmer by mid-century. The warnings are dire. The science is clear. Our president doesn’t care, and Congress contemplates more tax cuts. The world needs American leadership, and it’s nowhere to be found.

This is the first in our series of Climate Change Tuesdays posts. We hope it provides a better understanding of what we’re facing as inhabitants of this great planet, now in peril and in need of immediate critical care. We will hold our politicians accountable and urge them to act, not so they can keep their precious jobs, but in concert with the rest of the modern world to halt a dire trend that threatens our existence.

The ThinkProgress article link is worth checking out. Facts and science, coupled with ways in which we actually can start to make a difference. But to make a difference, we need leadership. We can start to change that in about 97 days at the ballot box, and then again in 2020.

Our planet depends on it.