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In Deep Red Utah, Climate Concerns Are Now Motivating Candidates

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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

The 2024 election is occurring as the planet’s future is more endangered than ever. Last year was the hottest in recorded history, and the winners of this election will face the responsibility of leading humanity to address our rapidly escalating climate catastrophe. This biweekly column examines races and ballot measures shaped by the climate emergency as well as the powerful interests that seek to sway votes on the issue. Driving on Interstate 215 south of Salt Lake City in late January, I couldn’t help but notice the bumper stickers on the pickup truck in front of me. One featured a rattlesnake and the classic motto “Don’t tread on me,” which dates to the Revolutionary War but has been co-opted by many right-wing ideologues. And the other featured a map of a shrinking lake and the words “Keep the Salt Lake Great,” the motto of a local environmental group focused on protecting Utah’s rivers and ecosystems.  Those dual views perfectly capture the ethos of Utah, a deep red state whose natural beauty is being threatened by more intense heat waves and extreme drought. A proud coal- and oil-producing state, it’s led by conservative lawmakers, and recent national surveys show it’s one of the most Republican states in the country. Back in 2010, the Utah Legislature even passed a resolution that essentially wrote climate change denial into state policy by urging the EPA to “cease its carbon dioxide reduction policies, programs, and regulations until climate data and global warming science are substantiated.” But since then, Utah has been impacted by climate change more than most states – over the last 50 years, temperatures in the state have risen at about twice the global average, and it has faced worsening drought, wildfires, flash floods and extreme heat waves. The impact has been devastating on the health and well-being of residents, with decreasing productivity of farms and higher rates of respiratory disease and asthma, along with other heat-related diseases.   And climate change has seriously damaged one of the state’s natural wonders — that map on the truck driver’s bumper sticker reveals how climate change has shrunk the Great Salt Lake’s footprint by half in the last decades due to the reduced flow of mountain streams that feed the lake and higher demand for freshwater for new development and agriculture. The crisis has also increased climate awareness in the state, with half of residents in a recent survey saying that climate change is an extremely or very serious problem and 64% saying they’ve noticed significant effects from climate change over the past 10 years.  “For voters, climate has become a bigger issue than it has been in the past,” said Josh Kraft, government and corporate relations manager for Utah Clean Energy, a public interest group that launched a historic compact in 2020 that brought together more than 100 of the state’s political and business leaders to stimulate support for clean energy and energize conversations on climate action and clean air solutions. That bipartisan concern with climate change is now impacting politics in the state — where two self-professed climate candidates are running to replace Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate. In total, there are five GOP candidates polling higher than 3% and three Democratic candidates running in the June 25 primary. In the Republican primary, the frontrunner, U.S. Rep. John Curtis, is highlighting the need to address the climate crisis, pushing for more support for clean energy. He founded and leads the Conservative Climate Caucus in Congress and blames his party for not taking climate change seriously.  “We want to work together as Republicans and Democrats, because at the end of the day, we all care about leaving the Earth better than we found it,” Curtis recently told the Sierra Club. “That’s how I talk about it — who doesn’t want to leave the Earth better than we found it?” But climate activists are doubtful, claiming that Curtis is too reliant on industry-friendly solutions such as carbon capture and opposes some of President Biden’s signature climate accomplishments, including the Inflation Reduction Act.  In the Democratic primary, mountaineer and environmental activist Caroline Gleich has made climate action and air quality a key focus of her campaign. She rallied lawmakers in the state to take action to increase water flow to the Great Salt Lake as part of a larger climate agenda that includes cutting subsidies for fossil fuels, taking advantage of Inflation Reduction Act funds aimed at increasing the use of renewable energy in the state, and protecting public lands. “Our mountains, our air, our rivers and lakes, our lives deserve respect,” Gleich has repeatedly said.  Yet she sees a disconnect between public support for climate action and the policies pursued by the state’s political leadership, noting that the Legislature recently voted to increase the tax on EV charging and to reduce the tax on gasoline. “And when you look at who’s funding these candidates, you see there’s a huge amount of oil and gas and fossil fuel companies giving money to them,” Gleich said. Indeed, Curtis is a major recipient — his district includes an area known as Carbon County due to its abundance of coal and natural gas, and he has accepted $265,000 from oil and gas industry-linked political action committees since 2017. Curtis did not return calls from Capital & Main for comment. Gleich’s view is echoed by Zach Frankel of the Utah Rivers Council, an environmental group that distributes the Great Salt Lake bumper stickers. “We’re in a state of climate change denial — politicians might say that it’s real in an election year, but if we start asking them if we should embrace climate adaptive policies, they say no. They assume that any crisis is decades away.” Frankel is encouraged by the growing public concern over climate issues, such as the shrinking Great Salt Lake — the largest remaining wetland ecosystem in the American West — and the growing frustration with the lack of action.  “The state of Utah has refused to embrace any kind of meaningful policy plan to raise lake levels,” he said, predicting that “it will have to get worse before it gets better.” As elsewhere in the country, younger voters in the state seem to be more galvanized than older voters about the issue and demanding action. At a climate strike on the steps of the Utah state house last year, activists condemned the Legislature for not making serious efforts to reduce emissions. A legislator’s move to slash emissions at U.S. Magnesium, which harvests lithium and magnesium from the Great Salt Lake, was scaled back to a mere study of the effects of pollutants created in the process.  “Young people are disproportionately affected by eco-anxiety because it’s their future,” said Gleich, who at 38 is the youngest candidate in the Senate race. “That is what is on the line in this election.” Copyright 2024 Capital & Main

Would-be voters in this coal and oil state signal they’re increasingly alarmed by climate change. The post In Deep Red Utah, Climate Concerns Are Now Motivating Candidates appeared first on .

The 2024 election is occurring as the planet’s future is more endangered than ever. Last year was the hottest in recorded history, and the winners of this election will face the responsibility of leading humanity to address our rapidly escalating climate catastrophe. This biweekly column examines races and ballot measures shaped by the climate emergency as well as the powerful interests that seek to sway votes on the issue.


Driving on Interstate 215 south of Salt Lake City in late January, I couldn’t help but notice the bumper stickers on the pickup truck in front of me. One featured a rattlesnake and the classic motto “Don’t tread on me,” which dates to the Revolutionary War but has been co-opted by many right-wing ideologues. And the other featured a map of a shrinking lake and the words “Keep the Salt Lake Great,” the motto of a local environmental group focused on protecting Utah’s rivers and ecosystems. 

Those dual views perfectly capture the ethos of Utah, a deep red state whose natural beauty is being threatened by more intense heat waves and extreme drought. A proud coal- and oil-producing state, it’s led by conservative lawmakers, and recent national surveys show it’s one of the most Republican states in the country. Back in 2010, the Utah Legislature even passed a resolution that essentially wrote climate change denial into state policy by urging the EPA to “cease its carbon dioxide reduction policies, programs, and regulations until climate data and global warming science are substantiated.”

But since then, Utah has been impacted by climate change more than most states – over the last 50 years, temperatures in the state have risen at about twice the global average, and it has faced worsening drought, wildfires, flash floods and extreme heat waves. The impact has been devastating on the health and well-being of residents, with decreasing productivity of farms and higher rates of respiratory disease and asthma, along with other heat-related diseases.
 



 
And climate change has seriously damaged one of the state’s natural wonders — that map on the truck driver’s bumper sticker reveals how climate change has shrunk the Great Salt Lake’s footprint by half in the last decades due to the reduced flow of mountain streams that feed the lake and higher demand for freshwater for new development and agriculture.

The crisis has also increased climate awareness in the state, with half of residents in a recent survey saying that climate change is an extremely or very serious problem and 64% saying they’ve noticed significant effects from climate change over the past 10 years. 

“For voters, climate has become a bigger issue than it has been in the past,” said Josh Kraft, government and corporate relations manager for Utah Clean Energy, a public interest group that launched a historic compact in 2020 that brought together more than 100 of the state’s political and business leaders to stimulate support for clean energy and energize conversations on climate action and clean air solutions.

That bipartisan concern with climate change is now impacting politics in the state — where two self-professed climate candidates are running to replace Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate. In total, there are five GOP candidates polling higher than 3% and three Democratic candidates running in the June 25 primary.

In the Republican primary, the frontrunner, U.S. Rep. John Curtis, is highlighting the need to address the climate crisis, pushing for more support for clean energy. He founded and leads the Conservative Climate Caucus in Congress and blames his party for not taking climate change seriously. 

“We want to work together as Republicans and Democrats, because at the end of the day, we all care about leaving the Earth better than we found it,” Curtis recently told the Sierra Club. “That’s how I talk about it — who doesn’t want to leave the Earth better than we found it?”

But climate activists are doubtful, claiming that Curtis is too reliant on industry-friendly solutions such as carbon capture and opposes some of President Biden’s signature climate accomplishments, including the Inflation Reduction Act. 

In the Democratic primary, mountaineer and environmental activist Caroline Gleich has made climate action and air quality a key focus of her campaign. She rallied lawmakers in the state to take action to increase water flow to the Great Salt Lake as part of a larger climate agenda that includes cutting subsidies for fossil fuels, taking advantage of Inflation Reduction Act funds aimed at increasing the use of renewable energy in the state, and protecting public lands. “Our mountains, our air, our rivers and lakes, our lives deserve respect,” Gleich has repeatedly said. 

Yet she sees a disconnect between public support for climate action and the policies pursued by the state’s political leadership, noting that the Legislature recently voted to increase the tax on EV charging and to reduce the tax on gasoline. “And when you look at who’s funding these candidates, you see there’s a huge amount of oil and gas and fossil fuel companies giving money to them,” Gleich said.

Indeed, Curtis is a major recipient — his district includes an area known as Carbon County due to its abundance of coal and natural gas, and he has accepted $265,000 from oil and gas industry-linked political action committees since 2017. Curtis did not return calls from Capital & Main for comment.

Gleich’s view is echoed by Zach Frankel of the Utah Rivers Council, an environmental group that distributes the Great Salt Lake bumper stickers. “We’re in a state of climate change denial — politicians might say that it’s real in an election year, but if we start asking them if we should embrace climate adaptive policies, they say no. They assume that any crisis is decades away.”

Frankel is encouraged by the growing public concern over climate issues, such as the shrinking Great Salt Lake — the largest remaining wetland ecosystem in the American West — and the growing frustration with the lack of action. 

“The state of Utah has refused to embrace any kind of meaningful policy plan to raise lake levels,” he said, predicting that “it will have to get worse before it gets better.”

As elsewhere in the country, younger voters in the state seem to be more galvanized than older voters about the issue and demanding action. At a climate strike on the steps of the Utah state house last year, activists condemned the Legislature for not making serious efforts to reduce emissions. A legislator’s move to slash emissions at U.S. Magnesium, which harvests lithium and magnesium from the Great Salt Lake, was scaled back to a mere study of the effects of pollutants created in the process. 

“Young people are disproportionately affected by eco-anxiety because it’s their future,” said Gleich, who at 38 is the youngest candidate in the Senate race. “That is what is on the line in this election.”


Copyright 2024 Capital & Main

Read the full story here.
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The Guardian view on climate-linked disasters: Spain’s tragedy will not be the last | Editorial

More than 200 deaths and widespread destruction in Valencia are the latest sign of danger in a warming worldThe death toll from floods in Spain’s Valencia region has topped 200. A huge clean-up is under way amid desperate conditions, with severe weather warnings still in place. The storms which caused this devastation – with roads turned into muddy rivers, thousands of homes deluged and cars swept into piles – were unprecedented. The gota fría, or “cold drop”, is a regular occurrence when cold autumnal air moves over the warm Mediterranean, causing dense clouds to form. But this rain, according to the Spanish weather service, was 10 times stronger than a normal downpour.Extreme weather in Spain, and the rest of southern Europe, is more commonly understood to mean dangerous heat, drought and wildfires. The regional government is under attack regarding the lack of sufficient warnings and there is no doubt that the severity of these floods came as a terrible shock.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The death toll from floods in Spain’s Valencia region has topped 200. A huge clean-up is under way amid desperate conditions, with severe weather warnings still in place. The storms which caused this devastation – with roads turned into muddy rivers, thousands of homes deluged and cars swept into piles – were unprecedented. The gota fría, or “cold drop”, is a regular occurrence when cold autumnal air moves over the warm Mediterranean, causing dense clouds to form. But this rain, according to the Spanish weather service, was 10 times stronger than a normal downpour.Extreme weather in Spain, and the rest of southern Europe, is more commonly understood to mean dangerous heat, drought and wildfires. The regional government is under attack regarding the lack of sufficient warnings and there is no doubt that the severity of these floods came as a terrible shock.But in another sense, the events of the past week are part of a pattern. While the destruction is unprecedented, the analysis from climate scientists is familiar. Peer-reviewed attribution studies – which use computer models to ascertain the impact of global heating on specific events – take time to produce. But the head of the World Weather Attribution project said initial calculations suggest that rising temperatures made this week’s floods twice as likely. Another scientist, Stefano Materia, said the reduced absorbency of parched earth means droughts and floods should be viewed as two sides of the same coin. Like Hurricane Helene, which caused chaos and killed more than 220 people in the south-eastern US in September, and Storm Boris, which led to severe floods across central Europe, Spain’s deluge is proof of the havoc wreaked by climate instability.This week also brought some more hopeful news. Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU fell by 8% in 2023, taking them to 37% below 1990 levels thanks to the boom in renewables. But the worrying lack of progress at the UN biodiversity summit in Colombia, combined with warnings about the likely impact on global environmental negotiations of a Trump victory, mean that expectations for this month’s climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, are not high. The fact that the host country is set to expand gas production, while energy giants Shell and BP are both scaling back green investments, points towards a political climate of resurgent denial.The Cop biodiversity process, which runs in parallel to the Cop climate talks, has never gathered the same momentum, despite the vital importance of protecting nature – including forests and oceans – and the way this is linked to the climate threat. Despite the framework agreed two years ago in Montreal, most countries do not even have an action plan to set alongside their emissions targets. Much of the argument in Colombia has focused on funding for poorer countries, and the role of government subsidies for environmentally harmful industries.In Spain, a large majority of the public recognises the threat from climate change and favours policies to address it. There, as in much of the world, catastrophic weather events that used to be regarded as “natural disasters” are now, rightly, seen instead as climate disasters. Policies that support people and places to adapt to heightened risks are urgently needed. Clear and timely warnings and recovery plans are part of this. But reducing the threat from dangerous weather, such as that which struck eastern, southern and central Spain this week, remains the greatest political challenge.

Washington State Vote a Harbinger for Wider Carbon Markets

By Timothy Gardner(Reuters) - A ballot initiative to ax Washington state's carbon market would, if passed next week, send an ominous signal to...

(Reuters) - A ballot initiative to ax Washington state's carbon market would, if passed next week, send an ominous signal to other U.S. states and Canadian regions looking to build markets aimed at cutting emissions that scientists blame for climate change.The carbon market, formed by the state's Climate Commitment Act (CCA), has raised more than $2 billion for programs including transit, wildfire protection, and salmon protection since its 2023 launch.It is supported by Native American tribes and environmental groups, as well as BP, a global energy company preparing for the potential wider adoption of such markets.Hedge fund manager Brian Heywood is leading the initiative in the Nov. 5 elections to repeal it. He blames CCA, which puts emissions limits on about 100 of the state's largest polluters, for spiking Washington's gasoline prices to the highest in the U.S. in mid-2023.Heywood, the millionaire Republican and CEO of Taiyo Pacific Partners, holds rallies for the initiative at gas stations, where he gives drivers money to reduce the cost of fill-ups."The guys that have to drive 45 minutes a day in their 2002 Honda sedans, they're the ones that get crushed, and no one's standing up for them, so I am," Heywood told Reuters.Backers of cap-and-trade carbon markets say they can efficiently tackle carbon emissions by harnessing the power of capitalism.In such markets, the government sets gradually falling limits on carbon pollution. Industry can meet the limits by reducing their emissions through investments in clean energy. If they reduce emissions they can sell allowances to other emitters who choose not to make the efficiency investments.Washington's market may eventually link to similar mechanisms in California and Quebec, which backers say would give industries a broader choice of credits.Luke Sherman, a carbon markets analyst at the consultancy Energy Aspects, said which way Washington votes could influence decisions in states like New York, which has proposed a carbon market to meet its 2050 carbon emissions goals, and in New Jersey and Maryland where some lawmakers support carbon markets.It could also help persuade California and northeastern states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to either broaden existing carbon markets to more industries or narrow them."How ambitious they want to be could certainly be influenced by their perception of voter support or rejection of carbon pricing in Washington," Sherman said.Washington state auctions of the allowances also earn revenues that it invests in projects from clean transit to salmon fisheries.Kelsey Nyland, a spokesperson for No On 2117, named after the ballot number, said if the measure passes it would cut billions of dollars in funding hurting "every corner of our state, putting major road and bridge projects addressing congestion, safety and freight mobility at risk of being delayed or even canceled."Community Transit, which serves Puget Sound, said it would lose about $200 million through 2038. Programs that could be hit include bus rapid transit, an efficient service featuring dedicated lanes."The last thing we'd like to cut is service to our customers, but that certainly could happen," said spokesperson Martin Munguia.A poll conducted in October sponsored by The Seattle Times and others showed 48% of respondents oppose the initiative, 30% said "yes" and 22% were undecided.Big fossil fuel companies could help overcome the measure.BP is working to defeat the initiative "because it moves the state backwards on climate action and endangers funding for key transportation infrastructure and other low-carbon projects," a spokesperson said. BP owns Cherry Point, the largest oil refinery in the Pacific Northwest. When asked whether it might oppose the measure because it would make any pollution allowances it owns worthless, BP referred to Washington state rules forbidding the disclosure of details on market positions.Energy Aspects' Sherman said if the measure succeeds, energy companies may have to face new state emissions regulations blunter in nature than carbon pricing."These regulations could be costlier for some emitters than their obligations under the cap-and-invest program," Sherman said.The Western States Petroleum Association has not opposed CCA, but wants changes to avoid fuel price spikes."Regardless of the election results, the program needs some fixes for it to be affordable for consumers and sustainable for the long run," said Jessica Spiegel, vice president, northwest region of WPSA.(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Marguerita Choy)Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

Prince of Wales' Environmental Roadshow to Arrive in Africa Next Week

Prince William’s roadshow for environmental innovation will arrive in South Africa next week as the heir to the British throne announces the winners of his annual Earthshot Prize, aimed at finding new ways to combat climate change and other threats to the planet’s air, water and wildlife

LONDON (AP) — Prince William’s roadshow for environmental innovation will arrive in South Africa next week as the heir to the British throne announces the winners of his annual Earthshot Prize, aimed at finding new ways to combat climate change and other threats to the planet’s air, water and wildlife.William will travel to Cape Town for a series of events culminating in the awards ceremony two days later. The event marks the first time the 1 million pound ($1.2 million) prizes have been announced in Africa, following ceremonies in Britain, the U.S. and Singapore during the competition’s first three years.William created the prize in 2020 to encourage inventors and entrepreneurs to develop technologies to combat global warming and mitigate its impact. Taking the awards ceremony to Africa, a continent with which the prince has longstanding links, gives him a chance to learn more about the innovation that is taking place there, Kensington Palace said in a statement.“Despite contributing the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions, Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the impacts of climate change,’’ the palace said. “Yet in the face of these challenges, nearly all African countries have committed to enhancing climate action through reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and building climate resilience.’’Among the finalists for this year’s prizes are a Kenyan company that makes solar energy systems for homes that aren’t connected to the energy grid, a Ghanaian organization that teaches people how to recycle and reuse waste instead of burning it, and a Kenyan firm that makes small solar-powered refrigeration units to help farmers and fisherman get their goods to market before they spoil.During his time in South Africa, William will meet with local groups to learn how they are working to protect and restore the planet — from protecting biodiversity in the Cape region to transforming the local fishing industry through new technology, the palace said.The trip is William’s first visit to South Africa since 2010 and his first to Africa since 2018, when he traveled to Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya.William has said he was inspired to found the prize after the 2018 trip, when he was struck by a sense of pessimism about the environment even after witnessing conservation work that was underway in Namibia.The Earthshot Prize is named after the late President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 “moonshot” speech, which challenged Americans to reach the moon by the end of that decade. William and his partners have set a similar goal for finding solutions to climate change and other environmental problems by 2030.“Levels of climate anxiety and despondency are high and political interventions are happening too slowly,” the prize says on its website. “We want to unleash the urgent optimism required to accelerate and scale the environmental innovations that will repair and regenerate our planet.”Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

Climate Change Is Making Extreme Downpours in Spain Heavier and More Likely, Scientists Say

Human-caused climate change made Spain’s rainfall about 12% heavier and doubled the likelihood of a storm as intense as this week’s deluge of Valencia, according to a rapid but partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather

Human-caused climate change made Spain’s rainfall about 12% heavier and doubled the likelihood of a storm as intense as this week’s deluge of Valencia, according to a rapid but partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather.Monstrous flash floods in Spain claimed at least 158 lives, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone. An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims could be found. Crews searched for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings Thursday.World Weather Attribution said climate change is the most likely explanation for extreme downpours in southern Spain, as a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to heavier downpours. The group noted its analysis is not a full, detailed attribution study, as the scientists did not use climate models to simulate the event in a world without human-caused warming. Scientists looked at historical observations of rainfall, which they say indicate that one-day bursts of rain in this region are increasing as emissions from the burning of fossil fuels warms the planet.“We haven’t had time yet to do a full attribution study about the flooding that’s just taken place in Spain. But what we have been able to do is to look at observations of rainfall in the area," said WWA expert Clair Barnes. “And based on the recorded rainfall, we’ve estimated that similar events have become about 12% more intense, and probably about twice as likely as they would have been in a pre-industrial climate, about 1.3 degrees (Celsius) cooler, without human-caused climate change.”“I’ve heard people saying that this is the new normal,” added Barnes, a statistician who researches extreme weather events and climate change at the Imperial College London. “Given that we are currently on track for 2.6 degrees of warming, or thereabouts, within this century, we are only halfway to the new normal.” Since the mid-1800s, the world has already heated up by 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit), up from previous estimates of 1.1 or 1.2 degrees because it includes the record heat last year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme’s annual Emissions Gap Report released last week. The world is on pace to hit 3.1 degrees Celsius (5.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. But if nations somehow do all of what they promised in targets they submitted to the U.N., that warming could be limited to 2.6 degrees Celsius (4.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the report said. “These back-to-back events show how dangerous climate change already is with just 1.3 degrees Celsius of warming," Clarke said in a statement. ___The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

Climate change worsened disasters that caused over half a million deaths: Report

The 10 deadliest extreme weather events of the previous two decades, which contributed to some 570,000 deaths, were all intensified by human-caused climate change, according to a new study from World Weather Attribution. The events in question included three hurricanes, four heatwaves, two floods and a drought. Each of the events had features intensified by...

The 10 deadliest extreme weather events of the previous two decades, which contributed to some 570,000 deaths, were all intensified by human-caused climate change, according to a new study from World Weather Attribution. The events in question included three hurricanes, four heatwaves, two floods and a drought. Each of the events had features intensified by either climate change or its downstream effects, the study found. For example, Somalia’s 2011 drought, which contributed to 258,000 deaths, was made worse by a combination of low rainfall between March and May, as well as increased temperatures causing greater evaporation from plants and soil. Similarly, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, which killed 138,366 people in 2008, was exacerbated by climate change making its precipitation more intense and its wind speeds up to 5.2 miles per second more intense, as well as making sea surface temperatures up to 0.66 degrees Celsius warmer. In Russia’s 2010 heatwave, which caused 55,736 deaths, climate change likely made temperatures 0.3 to 4.3 degrees hotter, according to the researchers. “Climate change isn’t a distant threat. It worsened extreme weather events that left more than 570,000 people dead,” Friederike Otto, Co-founder and Lead of World Weather Attribution at the Center for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, said in a statement. “This study should be an eye-opener for political leaders hanging on to fossil fuels that heat the planet and destroy lives. If we keep burning oil, gas and coal, the suffering will continue.” The link between burning fossil fuels and warming temperatures has been observed since the mid-20th century, but the link between that warming and extreme weather is a more recent discovery. While climate change does not appear to actively cause more hurricanes, for example, it likely makes them more intense, and potentially deadlier, by increasing ocean surface temperatures and the level of moisture in the air.

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