The IPCC's latest report should be a wake-up call to governments everywhere, but it's going to take more than science to force action by the biggest global emitters, writes Barry Sheppard.
heatwave
Never have so many heat records fallen by such a large margin than in the past week鈥檚 historic heat wave in western North America, report Bob Henson and Jeff Masters.
The provisional State of the Global Climate 2020 report, released this week, shows that climate change continued its relentless march in 2020, reports Climate and Capitalism.
Scientists have projected that warming climate could cause combined heat and humidity to reach levels rarely, if ever, experienced before by humans. According to a new study, such conditions are already appearing, writes Kevin Krajick.
聽When flying foxes drop dead from the heat, parts of the Hume Highway melt and Penrith in Sydney鈥檚 west is the hottest place on Earth with a temperature of 47.3掳C, it is clear that extremes of heat are having a devastating impact. 聽
The extreme heat during early January in south-east Australia was global news and follows the 鈥渁ngry summer鈥 of 2016鈥17.
Temperatures across the Middle East this week have soared in an unprecedented heat wave, forcing residents to stay indoors.
In the Iranian city of Basrah, located in the epicentre of the heat wave, temperatures exceeded 48掳C for the seventh day in a row on August 1.
On the same day, the Iraq capital of Baghdad sweltered through its fourth consecutive day of temperatures higher than 48 degrees. Governments from both countries have been forced to declare public holidays to protect people from the sweltering temperatures.
It is ominous. As the federal government's joke climate change 鈥淒irect Action Plan鈥 passed the Senate with the support of coal baron Clive Palmer and his Palmer United Party, the first heatwave of an early Australian summer had just smashed new temperature records for the hottest day in October.
The Bureau of Meteorology said October 25 was Australia鈥檚 warmest October day on record, kept since 1910. Average maximums across the nation reached 36 degrees Celsius.
As this century progresses, the record high temperatures experienced across Australia in the past few months will no longer be dangerous departures from the norm, but a regular feature of Australian summers. This is one of the conclusions reached in a draft of the fifth assessment report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was leaked and published online last month.
A 鈥渄ome of heat鈥 has settled over Australia, causing a heatwave in every state and territory and widespread bushfires. Tasmania has been the worst hit with 150 homes damaged or destroyed.
If you are not at least a little bit scared about the Russian heatwave or the huge floods in Pakistan, then you really should be. Extreme and dangerous weather events will be far more common in a warmer world.
These devastating fires and floods are a taste of our future climate 鈥 unless we can force a political breakthrough on climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions sharply.
The disasters of the past few weeks sound an unmistakable warning: we鈥檝e emitted so many greenhouse gases already that we are losing a safe climate.