Damage Report: 11th July, 2017.

The following is a roundup of just some of the last week’s extreme weather disasters from around the world. This article was created to help end climate change denialism and to persuade the fossil fuel industry and the Trumps of this world to put their resources towards mitigating the crisis rather than fuelling it.

While it’s technically easy to compile all this information, it’s emotionally traumatic to catalogue all the tragedy and suffering which is apparently escalating so dramatically. My condolences to all those directly affected. Whatever you’re doing to avert, or otherwise survive the sixth great extinction, stay strong and be excellent to each other.

It’s useful to be aware of how bad things are, but it’s equally if not more important to remember that there are solutions to these challenges which we should also be focusing on.

Please note: Some of these links are to dubious corporate media sources which Ann Narkeh Media would ordinarily boycott. However, taking the escalating ecological crisis seriously is an exception, because it is one of the many conversations which urgently need to be dragged into the public sphere. If they get clicks for significant, truthful coverage, it might persuade them to do more of it.

ALASKA: Bogoslof volcano has erupted again.

ANTARCTICA: 20,000 Sq mile Larsen C ice shelf expected to break off at any moment.*

CANADA: Ongoing, out of control BC wildfires have forced 14 thousand people and rising to evacuate. 29 new fires broke out over the weekend, bringing the total to 218 with many of these 0% contained. Meanwhile Saskatoon was flooded amidst damaging wind and ‘bullet like’ hail.

CHINA: 1.2 million evacuated, at least 56 people dead as over 60 rivers burst their banks in the South.

CZECH: Deploying drones to help search for abandoned drainage systems to fight third consecutive year of drought.

FRANCE: Many parts of the country including Paris have flooded again.

GREENLAND: Accelerating loss of ice sheet is main contributor to sea level rise.*

INDIA: Floods in Assam and across the North West claim over 25 lives. Situation ‘to worsen’.

ITALY: Drought and ‘a billion euros of agricultural damage‘.

JAPAN: Flooding forces thousands to evacuate. 500 people cut off from help. Deathtoll risen to 18.

KENYA: Drought is driving women and girls as young as 12 into sexual exploitation.

NIGERIA: Unprecedented, torrential rainfall and flash flooding has submerged much of the country and killed at least 18, so far.

NORTH KOREA: School hours have been limited so students can water crops to help fight drought.

PHILIPPINES: 6.5 Magnitude earthquake. At least two people dead, hundreds injured. This comes amidst flooding and landslides which has seen hundreds evacuated.

SPAIN: Relentless drought is making it difficult for plants and animals to survive.

S AFRICA: Dam levels ‘critically low‘ in ongoing Western Cape drought. Stricter water rationing being established.

US: Damaging winds,  flash flooding, hail across mid-west as the hydrological extremes of floods and drought conditions threaten the south while north-western wildfires consume at least 37 homes in North California with thousands evacuated.  Billion dollar weather disasters are at near record pace for the US in the first half of 2017. Disaster capitalists are gobbling up wheat amidst a drought in the Great Plains. (paywall)

UK: Flooding across the country, amidst +30C heatwaves.

This list is by no means comprehensive. You might also be interested in this report from the World Meteorological Organization, regarding the last two months of this “spell of exceptional global warmth” that has now lasted since mid-2015. This article offers another overview of the unprecedented heatwaves currently gripping the planet and their consequences.

*A study by Henry Patton, a researcher at The Arctic University of Norway warns that a similar collapse of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets at the end of the last ice age led to chaos across the European continent with floods forming ‘mega rivers’ that swept some of the continent (including the English Channel) clean, affecting the human habitability of the region.

The extinction symbol is intended to help raise awareness of the urgent need for change, in order to address the crisis.

extinctionsymbol.info

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