Scientists have spent years researching the alterations in the climate caused by climate change, alterations caused among others by the emission of greenhouse gases by humans, as well as its consequences in ecosystems around the world. The evidence provided by science is deeply overwhelming and indisputable, as noted by the 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and the next draft assessment report, which is expected to see the light of day in 2022.
Climate change is usually associated with one of its main consequences, the warming of the globe, but it implies many other consequences, which we could summarize in that the meteorological phenomena will be increasingly extreme. Average temperatures will increase, and they are already doing so, but we will suffer more torrential and concentrated rains, increasingly long periods of drought, warmer and longer summers, delay in cold conditions in winter, new atmospheric phenomena to which we do not we were used to it, like the ‘medicanes’ or Mediterranean hurricanes, as well as more and more frequent sea sleeves. We have already forgotten the devastating effects of the storm Gloria last winter, whose consequences were devastating for the Valencian coastline.
Filomena is just one of these exceptional phenomena, which will be less and less so, to which we will have to get used to. Climate extremisms, associated with this process of climate change, will become everyday for everyone and we will have to learn to deal with these catastrophes more frequently.
For a few months, at the University Institute of Anthropology (IUA) of the Catholic University of Valencia we have been interviewing older people who live in rural areas and who are used to living with nature (farmers, fishermen, shepherds, beekeepers, etc. ) to collect testimonies about their perception of the differences between the climate of when they were young compared to today. The conclusions, still provisional, are unanimous and overwhelming, reporting the importance of the alterations in the environment, in the closest nature, of the interviewed actors. Less rain, and consequently more drought, fewer fountains and springs, but also more intense and torrential rains, less cold in winter and more heat in summer, but also more intense and disproportionate snowfalls, as well as strong frosts, generally out of season , which will lead to dire conclusions for early fruit crops. Woe to the early almond!
These alterations in the climate have effects that the rural environment clearly perceives and that affect crops, pastures, livestock yield, storms at sea and, therefore, working days to fish. The beekeepers tell us that these changes are altering the regime of honey harvests, causing significant declines in production, as farmers told us about the alterations in their harvests. Let us only remember the drought that we suffered this fall and that has prevented numerous cereal fields from being planted in conditions.
The consequences of these alterations are direct and close. They do not only affect the polar bears of the North Pole, the glaciers of the Himalayas or the Alps, or the nomadic herders of the Sahara desert, but they are already affecting our closest environment on a daily basis. Given this, we have no choice but, on the one hand, to take seriously the actions necessary to mitigate these effects in our society, which means changing our lifestyle to reduce the consumption of solid fuels, plastics, and the use of private vehicles. , polluting or not, but also promoting the consumption of seasonal products and proximity. How expensive are strawberries in December or oranges in August! And I don’t mean its price. We will also have to rethink travel. Do we have to visit Patagonia before getting to know Europe well? Every effort we make will be little to adapt to this new reality. On the other hand, we will spend more and more money, much more than that not destined to mitigate the effects, to repair the damage and destruction caused by this increasingly erratic weather and abrupt manifestations.
Many of the people interviewed at this time have finished their interventions by pointing out that “time is unbridled, unleashed”, but only a little later they concluded that “just as unbridled as people.” Only if we collectively and individually make firm and responsible decisions can we mitigate their effects in the medium term.
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