Several southern countries are affected by soaring temperatures this summer. The danger warnings for extremely hot hail, and forest fires are raging in Greece and Canada.
– It’s very hot now. Now we are feeling the consequences, and it is getting even hotter. That’s the unpleasant part. It is a large piece of machinery and we cannot cut emissions overnight. That means more global warming before we get control, to the extent that we get it, says climate researcher Bjørn Hallvard Samset at Cicero.
RESEARCHER: Bjørn Hallvard Samset is a senior researcher at Cicero. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB Show more
The Glasgow Agreement involves limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. The Paris Agreement settled on “below 2 degrees”. Samset believes that the current policy is bringing us closer to a warming of 3 degrees.
– Like a ghost town
– It’s dramatic. At 1.5 degrees of warming, even the coldest years will follow what we have measured in 2023. In 10-20 years, this would have been a cool year. If we meet the 2-degree target, no year, exceptionally, will be as “cold” as now.
The climate scientist draws a picture of similar heat waves, and worse, every year.
– It is a clear foretaste of the normal state ahead. For better or worse. Most painful. It is unpleasant and will, among other things, destroy agriculture. Good, now let’s see what we can prepare for and we can start the work. It takes an effort.
SPAIN: Madrid has issued a warning for extreme heat. Photo: Manu Fernandez / AP / NTB Show more
– Childish
One thing in particular worries the climate scientist.
– Eventually, people will refuse to work in hot conditions. Healthcare, power plants, infrastructure cannot stop. They can’t stop working, so what happens when they don’t work in the heat? It does not take long interruptions in the healthcare system before major problems arise. We will have to think about that to a greater extent in the future, how to cope with extreme heat.
He emphasizes that we also do not know the extent of the consequences for nature.
– There are many invisible services that nature provides. It doesn’t take much before one or more of them have problems.
– Suffocating
– You paint a gloomy picture?
– It is the same picture we have drawn for a long time. But now we see and feel it on our bodies.
– Several people write on social media that the media must stop writing about this, and that it is not so hot. What do you think about it?
– It’s just nonsense and completely ignorant. There is something a little childish about it. The records are what they are, and the consequences are well documented. The fact that someone says otherwise on social media means nothing. It is real.
GREECE: This photo was taken in Greece on Wednesday, after a forest fire raged as a result of the heat wave. Photo: Thanassis Stavrakis / AP / NTB Show more
– Worth listening to
On Wednesday, the American climate scientist James Hansen went out in The Guardianand warned that there is more to come unless we reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
– We are damned idiots who do not act on warnings about the climate crisis, he said, among other things.
Samset refers to Hansen as a heavyweight, and a person who is often right in his statements about climate change.
– If there is anyone who can say “what did I say”, it is him. He is worth listening to, even when he is chastising.
– Is it refs we need now?
– Partially. What we need are very clear examples of this being taken seriously by state leaders and business leaders. I can talk at length about how I adapt my house to the climate, but it is something else if Jonas Gahr Støre sets aside money for climate adaptation.
GERMANY: Drought also leads to fires in Germany. Photo: Jan Woitas / AP NTB Show more
– A big problem
He compares the climate crisis to the corona crisis.
– This threatens many more people, but is not taken as seriously.
The collective elaborates:
– Diseases get close to us and we can do something that has an effect right away. With climate change, the way it feels, you need to do something to help others somewhere else in the world that will have an effect in the long run. It is terribly difficult and psychologically understandable. But there is also a big problem. And it is much more urgent now. We see it. It is not about the future. There are strong consequences today.
– Is it too late?
– It is too late to do anything about the warming we have now. But if we cut emissions now, we prevent further warming. And then it’s about adaptation, adapting our society to a warmer climate. The sooner we get started on it, the easier it will be.
Several passed out in the heat
Samset believes it is about priorities, and recognizes that there are difficult decisions to make.
– We have to realize that we are in a hurry. We did it during covid. Then we saw how much we can actually do when we have to.
2023-07-20 11:15:03
#Reacts #nonsense
