Pakistan Flood Disaster
August 24th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
This being the hottest August I can remember in my entire life, as well as the longest consecutive string of heat and humidity just in general, I’m a little bit hard pressed not to connect the weather to global warming. I’m clear – at least as clear as a layman can be expected to be – on the distinction between weather, weather patterns and climate. Climate change is by definition measured over time. But, the extremes in weather that come with that change seem to be here already. Hottest day, month, year on record. Tropical storms and floods are so common they don’t even make the news anymore.
As much as I find the humidity and heat unrelenting and awful I can’t help but brace myself for the world of Gwynne Dyer’s “Climate Wars” where people are literally driven from their homes by flooding and drought and storms and will need to find new places to live. The flooding in Pakistan is horrible and people continue to die. I haven’t heard any indication that the situation there is a permanent one so they can look forward to rebuilding but I dread the day that a coastline is rendered unlivable and the rich and powerful climate deniers simply direct the news elsewhere.
Further recent photos in the New York Times
Update:
From Huffington Post - 9 Nations That Topped Their Highest Temperatures This Summer (photos)
