Searing heat wave in US: global cooperation needed to combat climate change
A Washington Post news report last week on extreme heat in the US which has “killed at least 28 in the past week” has prompted me to write this story. Last August, I had written in my blog (following the wild fires in Canada and the US) that we’re living in a time of serious environmental catastrophe. Unfortunately, world leaders are blissfully unaware of its impacts on the environment, and its implications for society, economy and policy.
According to a BBC report, Canada’s boreal zone— a mixture of forest and wetland—makes up more than half of its land area. Wildfires burned a record185,000 sq km of the country in 2023, an area the size of Syria. In western Canada, 163 of these fires went underground and smoldered until this spring.
The Post report should be a wake-up call for urgent action on climate change.
Most of the heat-related deaths, the Post report says, have been reported in California, Oregon and Arizona, but high temperatures have caused deaths as far east as Maryland, the report has added.
Searing heat in recent years is nothing new in the US. Due to global warming, heat wave has been sweeping through much of the country. “We’ve forest fires in the West, Hurricane Beryl has wreaked havoc in Texas this month. We’ve tornadoes almost every week,” says Alokananda Bagchi, who had taught at Michigan State University. “We’re seeing the ravages of climate change much earlier than had been anticipated, and it feels as though our planet is headed for destruction at breakneck speed,” Bagchi, who has been living in the US since 1991, rues.
The Post report had also said that as of last Wednesday (July 10), “more than 135 million people across the Lower 48 were under heat alerts…” Federal data shows that deaths from heat have increased in the US steadily, in recent years climbing to over 2300 in 2023. About 1600 heat-related fatalities occurred in 2021 and there were approximately 1700 in 2022.
The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies had published a report in the journal Climate Change last year stating that by the year 2050 the western US will experience not only more wildfires, but they will start earlier in the year, some of which can travel hundreds of miles away from the fire and potentially cause lung problems for anyone who breathes in these tiny particulate of soot and ash.
Much of Canada, like the rest of North America, has experienced record heat recently as climate change continues to warm the planet. Prof Lord Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank, in his book “The Global Deal: Climate Change and the creation of a new era of progress and prosperity,” has said: …”the process of climate change starts with the actions of the people and ends with the impacts on people….” A leading authority on what we can do in the face of such threat, Prof Stern has said action on climate change requires the greatest possible international collaboration, led by the US and China, who are by far the greatest emitters of greenhouse gases.
The Biden administration had announced a plan to make the US carbon neutral by 2050. “This will never happen in a million years,” said American columnist Bradley Blankenship.
It’s a matter of great concern that private jets in the US make up approximately 67% of all private jets worldwide. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s private jets are registered in the US, according to data from Airbus Corporate Jets. According to the US Census Bureau, 91.7% of the US households own at least one car, up from 91.3% in 2018, and 22.1% of the household had three or more vehicles in 2022, a 5.2% increase from 2018.
According to a report by a local expatriate, as of the end of June 2023, it is estimated that there are 420 million vehicles (including trucks) in China. Until 2020, the US has held the top position in terms of the number of vehicles, but China now has surpassed it, the report says.
America has produced around 400 billion tons of CO2 since 1751, enough to account for 25% of all anthropogenic emissions globally—and doubles China’s share. This fact alone, coupled with the fact that China with a far larger population and industrial base, produces half as much CO2 per capita, demonstrate that the US bears a unique responsibility toward poorer countries.
Poor countries — the least responsible for the climate change- will be hit earliest and hardest. Prof Stern has rightly pointed out that we cannot afford the risks of ignoring the costs and consequences of global climate change. Instead of engaging in a blame game, it is high time world leaders closed ranks and got together for the greatest possible international collaboration to save the planet.
Are the US and the Chinese governments listening?
