A new Australian report has coined the phrase “angry summer“:
Angry Summer’ made worse by climate change: Commission
The latest report from the Federal Government’s Climate Commission says the weather extremes experienced around the country this summer were made worse by climate change.
The report – The Angry Summer – says the extreme heat, floods and bushfires experienced around country were all aggravated by a shifting climate, and it warns the trend is likely to continue.
More details here and here. It’s no coincidence that the same thing has been happening in America:
Historic U.S. drought will continue into spring and summer, experts say
Nearly five months after expanding to cover the greatest area on record, the devastating drought of 2012 continues to spread woe across the central and western U.S. And, according to climate researchers, severely dry conditions will persist throughout the spring and summer.
Meanwhile in NZ…
Counting cost of big dry
The big dry has parts of the country firmly in its grip. The president of Federated Farmers in Waikato fears the drought could have an even greater economic impact than those in 2007 and 2008 – estimated to have cost the country $2.8 billion.
Internationally the trend is all bad, and likely to get worse. According to the World Bank it is already the case that “Severe Droughts Drive Food Prices Higher, Threatening the Poor“.
Agriculture – food – is fragile. I suppose at some point we will decide to take action against climate change (though it is already too late to avoid massive damage). But when? How bad does it have to get?
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