- floods in southern China
- Heat wave in north and central China
- Climate change is partly to blame for extreme weather
Floods and heatwave in China
China is currently split in two, with severe flooding and landslides hitting the south of the country while a heatwave is ravaging other parts of the country. However, both extreme weather events have their origins in anthropogenic climate change.
Ok, especially in the south of China there have been floods before, especially in the area of large rivers in the lowlands. However, the National Climate Center of China issued a statement saying that this year is worse and more extreme than usual, not counting that this is said practically every year and so we are seeing a steady increase in the phenomenon. At least one million people are currently fleeing the floodwaters. The Pearl River Delta and the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi are particularly affected. Record rainfall was measured in all regions and numerous rivers burst their banks. In Guangdong province, there were reports from the cities of Guangzhou and Shaoguan, where the streets were under meters of water and people had to be evacuated by boat. The damage is estimated at a quarter of a million euros.
Central and northern China, on the other hand, are suffering from an extreme heat wave that has already broken several records. Similar to Spain, France and Italy, temperatures exceeded 40 degrees and it has never been hotter at this time of year since weather records began. In fact, some local all-time records are said to have been broken. It was expressly warned against being outdoors. With the temperatures, of course, the ozone levels also rise and circulatory problems are inevitable.
The heatwave has seen power consumption hit record highs as air conditioners run at full blast. A good 100 million people live in Shandong province. Electricity consumption there climbed to 93 million kilowatts. This surpassed the previous record from 2020 by 3 million kilowatts. A vicious cycle, because in China most of the electricity is generated from burning fossil fuels, so the answer to climate change is that even more greenhouse gases are produced. A trend that I’m observing in my immediate neighborhood, because more and more air conditioners are being slammed into the walls here, while solar panels are in short supply.
In addition to anthropogenic climate change, there is another reason for the increase in weather extremes in Asia, Australia and South America: the El Nino and La Nina climate phenomena. Currently, La Nina prevails, which ensures a redistribution of the usual distribution of precipitation. Although both phenomena have a natural origin, they have become more frequent in recent years. The reason for this could again be climate change.
In the not too distant future, climate-related natural disasters could lead to global famine. In addition, scarcity of raw materials and energy will continue to disrupt supply chains, so that we Europeans will no longer be able to escape the downward economic pull that has been keeping us in check since the beginning of the pandemic at the latest.
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