“UN Sustainable Development Goals. Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent, disrupting national economies and affecting lives.”
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If not many times before, year 2017 has proved how anthropogenic climate change effects countries and people around the world. Scientific research, even within climate research, of course has to extend over longer periods of time, suggesting that the disastrous climatic events that have occurred in 2017 will not immediately be acknowledged as human-caused climate change, but rather be added to long-term evaluations/observations of the world´s climate.
Whether anthropogenic or not, the continuous disastrous climate events around the world, including the unapologetically strong hurricanes Harvey and Irma that hit the East Coast of the United States this autumn, the still ongoing immensely destructive wildfire in Northern California, the loss of 40% of this year´s total crop yield in Finland due to excess rainfall, one of the worst droughts for decades hitting Southern Europe and destroying majority of crop in 2017, floods killing more than 1.200 people in Bangladesh, India and Nepal – is there any country that has not yet suffered from some kind of climate change related disaster in 2017?
The costs of the hurricanes Harvey and Irma alone in the United States could rise up to as high as 200 BILLION USD (200.000.000.000). Human (and, animal) lives being saved is of course more important than any amount of money, but can we afford these kinds of climate change and weather-related events? It is a fact that preventing further harm and taking necessary action will spare all of us and, in the long run, protect all of us from further damage and harm. It was not until the disastrous tsunami hit the South East Asia that the affected countries invested heavily into early (tsunami) warning systems, and e.g. hotels installing tsunami escape route signs. What else has to happen until necessary actions are being taken?
Watch Sky News´s video “Climate Change: What Happens If The World Warms Up By 2°C:
Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys. For climate/environment-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank. Subscribe to Leading With Passion to receive my latest posts.
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Anne-Maria Yritys 