"The Climate disaster is here"

 A Guardian headline on 14 October 2021 says "The Climate disaster is here:  Earth is already becoming unlivable. Will governments act to stop this disaster from getting worse?" (LINK)  “We are on a catastrophic path,” said António Guterres, secretary general of the UN. “We can either save our world or condemn humanity to a hellish future.” 

The article describes what the temperature increases mean and will mean as temperatures increase. Poor countries will suffer more than rich ones, but in the end everyone will suffer. As a church we give money for wells in Africa. That is important for people today, but if that is all that we and others do, it will not save the lives in the longer run. The article gives many examples of consequences. Here is one example:

"A 'heat dome' that pulverized previous temperature records in the US’s Pacific northwest in June, killing hundreds of people as a billion sea creatures roasted alive in their shells off the coast, would’ve been 'virtually impossible' if human activity hadn’t heated the planet, scientists have calculated, while the German floods were made nine times more likely by the climate crisis. “

And another:

 "A severe heatwave historically expected once a decade will happen every other year at 2C. 'Something our great-grandparents maybe experienced once a lifetime will become a regular event,' said Rogelj. Globally, an extra 4.9 million people will die each year from extreme heat should the average temperature race beyond this point, scientists have estimated. "

And another: 

"Some of the most dire impacts revolve around water – both the lack of it and inundation by it. Enormous floods, often fueled by abnormally heavy rainfall, have become a regular occurrence recently, not only in Germany and China but also from the US, where the Mississippi River spent most of 2019 in a state of flood, to the UK, which was hit by floods in 2020 after storms delivered the equivalent of one month of rain in 48 hours, to Sudan, where flooding wiped out more than 110,000 homes last year."

It is not enough to worry. Everyone must take what actions they can. Even small steps are better than nothing, We must act to save God's creation!


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