Climate change deaths

Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, June 2nd, 2010 - 26 comments
Categories: act, climate change, ETS - Tags: ,

As predicted, the world is still warming:

It was the hottest April on record in the NASA dataset. More significantly, following fast on the heels of the hottest March and hottest Jan-Feb-March on record, it’s also the hottest Jan-Feb-March-April on record.

The record temperatures we’re seeing now are especially impressive because we’ve been in ‘the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.’ It now appears to be over. It’s just hard to stop the march of manmade global warming, well, other than by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that is.

Most significantly, NASA’s March prediction has come true: ‘It is nearly certain that a new record 12-month global temperature will be set in 2010.″

The warming is gradual. There won’t be any clearly defined moment where we can say “that is the first climate change disaster” or “those are the first climate change deaths”. But historians looking back (if there are any) may well pick the 2003 European heat wave, over 70,000 deaths, as the first major event. There were over 3000 more deaths in the 2006 European heat wave, and 225 in North America. Now it’s happening again:

Hundreds die in Indian heatwave

Record temperatures in northern India have claimed hundreds of lives in what is believed to be the hottest summer in the country since records began in the late 1800s.

The death toll is expected to rise with experts forecasting temperatures approaching 50C (122F) in coming weeks. More than 100 people are reported to have died in the state of Gujarat where the mercury topped at 48.5C last week. At least 90 died in Maharashtra, 35 in Rajasthan and 34 in Bihar.

Hospitals in Gujarat have been receiving around 300 people a day suffering from food poisoning and heat stroke, ministers said. Officials admit the figures are only a fraction of the total as most of the casualties are found in remote rural villages. … Mean temperatures for both March and April were the highest in more than 100 years.

Well it’s only dead “darkies”, as Paul Holmes and Andy Haden would put it, so it won’t get any media coverage in NZ. But this is the pattern of the future, in the long run hitting non white populations the hardest (“Climate change is racist”). And all the while the little people concerned about no one but themselves (like ACT and Federated Farmers) will bitch and moan about the costs of the ETS. And the deaths will keep coming.

26 comments on “Climate change deaths ”

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  1. rainman 1
    2 June 2010 at 9:16 am

    And all the while the little people concerned about no one but themselves (like ACT and Federated Farmers) will bitch and moan about the costs of the ETS.

    I’ve said it before: our economic system selects for sociopaths. No wonder people are more selfish, less empathetic, more concerned with the “other” taking “their” stuff… This will take generations to sort out.

    • Joseph 1.1
      3 June 2010 at 1:15 pm

      Utter drivel.

    • Andy 1.2
      9 June 2010 at 1:00 pm

      Weather is not climate

      You cannot attribute this heatwave to man-made global warming and then shout people down when they claim that the exceptionally long and cold winter in the Northern Hemisphere “disproves” AGW.

      Fair enough?

      • lprent 1.2.1
        9 June 2010 at 2:15 pm

        I’d actually agree with that.

        r0b needed to show a consistent shift in the weather patterns compared to previous ones covering at least a 15 year period (ie more than the solar sunspot cycle and the el nino effects).

        I suspect that what he is pointing out is in fact a result of climate changes. Much as I suspect that the weather effects that allowed the arctic weather that spilled out from the north polar regions into northern europe and northern america at the start of the year was as well. It left the polar regions far warmer than usual, and a lot of people shivering to death.

        However I can’t prove it…

  2. JonL 2
    2 June 2010 at 11:20 am

    Here outside Perth, we’ve had the hottest and driest summer on record (since 1877) – everyone, including farmers know this and are making medium term plans taking this into account What the long term will bring, however……….?

  3. PK 3
    2 June 2010 at 11:21 am

    ***This will take generations to sort out.***

    Relax, Bill Gates has it under control.

    http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article7120011.ece

    • r0b 3.1
      2 June 2010 at 11:39 am

      The man who can’t deliver a secure and stable OS is going to save us? Hmm, sorry, cheap shot, I guess we should be welcoming any and all research.

      But that line – spraying up seawater to seed clouds, seems daft to me. Where does the energy come from to spray that much water up that high? Unless it is all completely renewable, I think the maths will work out for doing more harm than good.

      • Bored 3.1.1
        2 June 2010 at 12:05 pm

        Actually rOb its worst than daft, like the concept of seeding the ocean with algae to absorb greenhosue gas or carbon sequestration for coal fire stations……just creating more problems wasting valuable energy rather than addressing the root causes. Total madness.

        • Croc 3.1.1.1
          2 June 2010 at 12:31 pm

          Total madness.

          It sure is. To quote Derrick Jensen “This culture is insane”.

          To further quote Jensen:

          “How do you stop or at least curb global warming? Easy. Stop pumping carbon dioxide, methane, and so on into the atmosphere. How do you do that? Easy. Stop burning oil, natural gas, coal and so on. How do you do that? Easy. Stop industrial capitalism.

          When most people in this culture ask, “How can we stop global warming?” that’s not really what they’re asking. They’re asking, “How can we stop global warming without significantly changing this lifestyle [or deathstyle, as some call it] that is causing global warming in the first place?”

          The answer is that you can’t.

          It’s a stupid, absurd and insane question.

  4. Sunburnt 4
    2 June 2010 at 9:01 pm

    And what is the Indian government doing about their emissions?

    • r0b 4.1
      2 June 2010 at 9:17 pm

      From memory, not a lot. Does that excuse us from doing nothing?

      It is a contentious and interesting question, the responsibilities and rights of developing nations. Their emissions are increasing fast, but from a much lower base (especially per capita) than the rich nations. Hence China and India are reluctant to reduce, especially without strong leadership from the rich nations.

      Rich nations need to lead. Developing nations need to agree to reasonable upper limits to their emissions growth. The alternative of course is to keep arguing about stuff like this until we all fry.

      • Andy 4.1.1
        4 June 2010 at 11:01 am

        NZs annual net CO2 emissions are around 50 million tonnes

        The South African Medusi coal station that has just been granted funding by the world bank will emit 25 million tonnes per annum.

        http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/09/world-bank-criticised-over-power-station

        In other words, this one power station will emit 50% of NZ’s entire CO2 emissions in the same time period.

        Plus we have China, who are committed to building a new coal fired power station every week until 2020.

        Approximately speaking, China will increase its emissions by the equivalent of NZ’s entire CO2 emissions every 3 weeks.

        An ETS, if it actually works, would delay global emissions by a matter of days, and would cost us a billion dollars a year in perpetuity.

        Maybe we can find a better way to spend our time and money.

  5. Joe Earth 5
    3 June 2010 at 9:40 pm

    I agree with r0b.

    Developing nations need the opportunity to continue to develop their industries to some degree, with controls on their emissions.

    You also can\’t compare death rates in developed and developing countries, where access to medical care and things like fresh water and air conditioning vary.

  6. David 6
    5 June 2010 at 9:44 am

    You believe GISS? Thats hilarious. May I suggest you do some study on the accuracy of the measuring stations, where they are sited (and more poignently “cough artic cough”, where they are NOT sited) and on the homogenization process GISS employs. I mean seriously, do you think taking temps from over 1200 kms away and saying its the same is scientific?
    Try Nasa’s Aquos system for better accuracy.
    http://www.drroyspencer.com/2010/06/may-2010-uah-global-temperature-update/

    (btw on Spencer, he might be a Christian, but the satellite isnt…)

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