Text / Xu Yifan
Editor / Qi Fei
"The horrific heat and historic fires of 2023 mean that humanity has opened the door to hell, and inaction will have dire consequences." In his opening remarks at the 2023 Climate Ambition Summit at UN Headquarters in New York on September 20, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "Our focus is on addressing climate issues, and our mission is imminent. ”
June-August was the hottest period in the world since records began in 1940, with an average global temperature of 16.77 degrees Celsius, 0.66 degrees Celsius above the average temperature from 1990 to 2020, according to a September report by the European Union's climate monitoring agency Copernicus Climate Change Service. The formation of the Elin, combined with climate change that is already occurring, has created the conditions for rising temperatures, making this summer hotter than usual.
Since the beginning of this year, many places in China have been hit by high temperature and heat waves, and North China and Northeast China have experienced super precipitation; Europe is also plagued by heat, which has led to dry weather and wildfires; Similarly, many places in North America have been hit hard by wildfires, thousands of wildfires in Canada have burned, thick smoke has spread to the United States, and the United States has also been unable to escape wildfires, and a terrible wildfire in Hawaii killed hundreds; Despite the midwinter in South America, an unusual winter heat wave has brought record heat to some cities... The threat of climate change is looming over the globe, and no country is immune.
◆Houses and buildings in Lahaina were burned down after a wildfire broke out in western Maui, Hawaii.
Extreme heat sears the globe
Ashik Sukumaran, who lives in the southern Indian state of Kerala, never imagined that one day he would save even tomatoes.
For Indians, tomatoes are an indispensable daily ingredient. But since May this year, the price of tomatoes has soared nearly sixfold. By early August, tomatoes on the market were priced at about 250 rupees per kilogram, equivalent to 21 yuan, more expensive than gasoline. So much so that the local McDonald's and Burger King had to give up adding tomatoes to the burger. It wasn't until early September that the price of tomatoes finally fell back to more than 30 rupees.
Extreme weather bears a lot of responsibility for this price change. In the first half of this year, a heat wave hit India ahead of schedule, followed by continuous precipitation, with tomatoes sensitive to weather changes bearing the brunt of the brunt of the high temperature making it less colorful, and too much rain would cause plants to lack oxygen and wither.
Ashik told Phoenix that this summer they had to cut back on tomatoes and only put some while cooking fish curry, in order to control the cost of buying ingredients. In addition to tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and other ingredients are also rising in price, and in September, the price of tomatoes has finally fallen, and the price of onions has begun to skyrocket again, making the cost of eating a meal more and more expensive.
Shibu, 49. K.N.), who also lives in Kerala, said temperatures were around 30 to 33 degrees Celsius in previous years, but one day in April this year, the area experienced a high temperature of 38 degrees Celsius. Heeb told Phoenix that due to the high humidity, the actual body temperature was around 41 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in Kerala.
The heat lasted for about a week, and Hib had to stay home and work and avoid going out between 11 p.m. and 3 p.m. In previous years, he only had to turn on the fan for a few hours a day, but this year he had to turn it on all day, causing the electricity bill to skyrocket.
But he knows he's lucky to be able to work from home, and jobs like couriers can't escape the scorching sun. Most local households have fans, but air conditioning is rare, and as for slums, there may not even be fans.
Shubhranshu Choudhary, a social activist in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, told Phoenix that he grew up in a place called Buka, where mud houses are rudimentary and fans are rare.
In rural areas, many children even go to school in shacks with tin roofs. But brick buildings are no better, and Chaudari says such houses have limited ventilation. Therefore, even if the government issues warnings to stay indoors, it will not help people live better in the hot summer.
Indians have always lived in high temperatures, but rising temperatures have challenged the limits of many people's survival. And for Europeans, who are used to coolness, the heat is even more confusing.
◆Kolkata, India is hot and humid, and people bathe on the side of the road to cool down.
Rosalyn Smith is 67 years old and has lived in Italy for 35 years. Compared to when she moved in more than 30 years ago, the heat appears earlier and lasts longer. "Italians always say summer is the 'beautiful season,' but that's no longer the case, and I always look forward to it ending sooner." Rosalyn sighed.
To escape the heat, Rosalyn would go to live in a nearby mountain hut at high altitude, but to no avail. She told the Guardian, "The heat wave and mosquitoes followed, and I was bitten terribly. This is very abnormal, 5 years ago there would be no mosquitoes at this altitude. ”
Last summer, the heat killed more than 60,000 people in Europe, and this year is even more torturous than last year. Although Europe is already one of the most developed regions in the world, it is still ill-prepared to deal with the intense heat. The houses here were originally built to protect against the cold, with less shade from the outside and poor ventilation levels. Moreover, compared with the 90% of American households, the proportion of air conditioners installed in the homes of ordinary European residents is quite low.
◆Due to the continuous drought, the water level of the Vaal River in the Netherlands is constantly decreasing, and the boathouses on the river side are almost all on bare land.
Data cited last year by the Washington Post showed that only 3 percent of households in Germany were air-conditioned, compared with less than 5 percent in France. From past experience, summer in Europe can only be described as warm, not experiencing sustained high temperatures like the southern United States, and not as humid as in East Asian countries, and will feel cooler physically.
Europe, which once scorned the "air conditioning addiction" of Americans, now has to join in. In recent years, the sales of air conditioners in Europe have increased significantly, and this year's growth trend is more obvious. Italian air-conditioning retailers found that by late July, air conditioning sales had doubled compared to the same period last year, and Spain's air conditioning sales had also increased by 15% compared to last year.
East Asia, where humidity is high, air conditioning is even more indispensable. Cheng Lin (not his real name) lives near Tokyo, Japan's capital, and he never turned off the air conditioner for a week in early August. In the six or seven years since he came to Tokyo from Beijing, he felt that "every year is getting hotter and hotter, and in these two years, hot weather has become more and more common."
This July, thousands of people in Japan were rushed to the hospital every week for heat stroke, and in the last week of July, the number reached 11,000. According to the Fire Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 35 people died of heat stroke in a month.
After the rainy season, the temperature in August remains high, and the sun is exposed every day. Cheng Lin told Phoenix Weekly that the high temperature directly affects the arrangement of walking the dog. "When I went out at 9 a.m., the ground was already quite hot, and I could only find a shady place to walk for ten minutes. In the evening, you have to wait until after 10 o'clock to cool down completely before you can take it for a little more walk. Even if you go out for a walk late at night, you will sweat. ”
In previous years, Cheng Lin would also think about how to save electricity, such as turning off the air conditioner regularly or just turning on the dehumidification function to make the house not too hot, "but now, I don't think about saving electricity, just be comfortable." Due to the increase in the price of electricity base, Cheng Lin expects that the electricity bill will skyrocket this summer, "It is estimated that it will double the previous one, almost six or seven hundred yuan per month." ”
The heat wave does not stop enveloping Tokyo, but also Hokkaido, Japan's summer resort. In late August, Sapporo City observed a record 36.3 degrees Celsius, and the Japan Meteorological Agency issued the first heat stroke warning for all of Hokkaido.
Lu Yu, who teaches at a university in Sapporo, told Phoenix Weekly that it was the first time she had experienced such a hot summer in her nine years of settling in Hokkaido. "In previous summers, the days above 30 degrees Celsius added up to about a week, and there was never a continuous high temperature. Therefore, local people rarely install air conditioning in their homes. ”
At the end of July, she said, Hokkaido was hotter than usual, and there was no air conditioning or fan in the classrooms, making it hard for teachers and students to endure. After being caught off guard by the high temperature, the fan became the hottest local appliance this summer. After all, Lu Yi said, it takes a wait to install air conditioning, and in addition, locals go to public places such as cafes to cool off.
This unusually high temperature caused an elementary school student in Date City, Hokkaido, to die of heat stroke. Lu Yi said that the incident shocked everyone so much that many schools were closed because there were few classrooms equipped with cooling equipment. During her off-campus training trip, some outdoor activities had to be temporarily cancelled to prevent students from heat stroke or food poisoning.
At the beginning of September, although the hot weather is no longer there, it does not have the refreshing feeling of previous years, and the temperature is still around 27 degrees Celsius. Lu Yu worried, "After such a hot summer has passed, will it usher in an extremely cold winter?" ”
The floods pushed India's middle class back into poverty overnight
In addition to the heat, heavy rain is another face of extreme weather.
In August 2018, Ashiq and Hebb's homes did not escape flooding. Kerala received 96% of above-normal precipitation in August as unusually severe monsoon rains swept across the continent, and although the dams were almost fully activated, water levels continued to rise and many low-lying areas were submerged.
◆An Indian woman watches residents wade through flooded streets next to flooded houses in the southern Indian state of Kerala on August 17, 2018.
This has led Kerala to experience its worst flooding in a century, killing nearly 500 people, displacing 1.4 million people and damaging thousands of homes.
As a social worker, Heeb was involved in post-flood relief operations, coordinating volunteers, contacting people in the business community to donate relief supplies, and cleaning houses. Heeb told Phoenix that he had traveled to a place in Kerala called Ronnie to participate in disaster relief. It's a middle-class neighborhood where locals never thought they'd one day fall back into poverty, but after the floods, everyone was sad.
"Someone was begging for water or food, they lost everything. After seeing the house (flooded), people did not cry, laugh or speak, and fell into numbness. A natural disaster can destroy your life and rob you of your happiness in a day or two. Heeb said.
In Kerala, floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall are not uncommon. As urbanization progresses, wetlands and lakes, which were meant to be natural protection measures against flooding, are disappearing. A 2018 assessment by India's central government found that 44 rivers flow through Kerala, one of India's 10 most flood-prone states.
The state government has been criticized for mismanagement of the dam in discussions about the devastating floods, but looking back shows that extreme precipitation is linked to weather disturbances in the tropical Pacific and therefore remains inseparable from climate change.
Similarly, northern China was hit by floods in late July, and after experiencing heavy rainfall, flash floods around Beijing caused heavy losses in Tianjin and Hebei. As of August 8, 1.29 million people had been affected by flooding, 59,000 houses collapsed, 33 people died, and 225,000 mu of crops were damaged, in addition to some water conservancy and mountainous infrastructure, according to the Beijing municipal government.
Record heavy rains were caused by Typhoon Dusuri, and another typhoon, Kanu, also created conditions for massive precipitation. Speaking of the heavy rain, Liu Junyan, director of the climate and energy program at Greenpeace's Beijing office, an international environmental protection organization, explained to Phoenix Weekly that this year's typhoon is relatively special and very intense, bringing a large amount of water vapor and precipitation in specific areas, such as climbing hills after encountering mountainous areas in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, so mountain precipitation is serious.
"Such super typhoons can be attributed from the climate." Liu Junyan said that the typhoon is so strong, a power source is the sea temperature, the temperature is high enough seawater can make the typhoon forward more force, go farther north.
Oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface and are essential for climate regulation. Liang Zhou, a doctoral candidate at Florida State University's School of Earth, Ocean and Atmosphere, explained to Phoenix Weekly that the ocean has a significant ability to control carbon dioxide, on the one hand, carbon dioxide can be dissolved in the ocean, on the other hand, plants in the ocean, such as algae, can absorb carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.
Today, global warming is already affecting marine life and marine ecosystems. Liang Zhou pointed out that there are two main aspects of this impact, one is ocean warming, and the other is that the absorption of more carbon dioxide leads to ocean acidification.
"One of the immediate effects of ocean warming is to cause coral reefs to bleach or die, which is an unhealthy state and while it is possible to return to normal, reefs are prone to death if they experience bleaching multiple times." Moreover, the bleached coral reef is no longer ornamental, and it is also a loss of tourism resources. Liang Zhou said.
In late July, surface ocean temperatures near Florida rose to 38.4 degrees Celsius, causing several reefs to bleach completely or even die. Coral reefs are both the survival of many marine life and generate billions of dollars in revenue for the state through fishing and tourism.
Liang Zhou added that the impact of seawater warming on fishery resources is also great. When the water in the upper layers of the ocean warms, the water at the bottom is relatively cooler, making it difficult for the upper and lower layers of seawater to exchange, which makes it less efficient to transport nutrients from the bottom to the surface of the ocean, resulting in fewer plants and microorganisms, and transmitting the effects to fish through the food chain.
Wildfires and drought rage
After extreme heat and rainfall, there are many more disasters that come from it. For example, when high temperatures and droughts persist, creating the conditions for wildfires to appear.
◆In the city of Rancho Mirage in California, Interstate 10 was flooded and silted due to torrential rains brought by Tropical Storm "Hillary", causing traffic disruption.
On June 7, when New Yorkers opened the curtains, they found the city shrouded in yellow smoke, and the air quality that day reached its worst level since the United States began monitoring data.
Previously, record high temperatures and reduced precipitation triggered the Canadian bushfires, which still rage today. By early September, more than 1,000 wildfires were still burning in Canada, 70% of which were out of control.
According to data from the Canadian Interdepartmental Forest Fire Center on September 3, more than 6,100 forest fires have occurred in Canada this year, with a cumulative area of 164,000 square kilometers. It is estimated that forest fires in Canada have caused 290 million tonnes of carbon emissions this year, surpassing the record of 138 million tonnes set in 2014. This figure accounts for more than 25% of global emissions.
◆Near the Haihe River in the Northwest Territories of Canada, some members of the 22nd Royal Regiment of the Canadian Infantry Regiment are conducting firefighting operations.
And in August, Maui, Hawaii, experienced the deadliest wildfire in the country's modern history, turning the resort into a purgatory on earth. The fire was not only a nightmare for Maui residents, but also an ecological disaster. Although Hawaii occupies less than 1 percent of the U.S. land area, it is home to 44 percent of the country's endangered plants. It is difficult to predict how many plants will come back to life after the fire.
While wildfires spread across Maui, the Iberian Peninsula was experiencing similar disasters, leaving the governments of Spain and Portugal in disarray.
The fire in Portugal originated in the southern town of Odemira, where strong winds blew it towards the tourist Algarve. Alastair Leithead is a former BBC journalist who lives near Odemila. He said there was a fire last year and parts of his house burned down. When he was notified and had only an hour to flee, he hastily packed some luggage and quickly drove away with his dog.
Now the disaster is repeated. When the fire raged a few minutes' drive from home, "everyone panicked." Lighthead saw how high winds fueled wildfires, "with extremely fast winds, hot, dry winds blowing in and doubling the fire in just a few hours."
High temperatures are the absolute initiators. The week of the wildfires saw temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in much of the Iberian Peninsula, with some places as high as 46.4 degrees Celsius. The Spanish meteorological service said the large amount of hot dry air from North Africa brought the heat wave "stronger, wider and longer lasting" than in July.
Less than a month earlier, Rhode Island was also hit hard by wildfires. This is one of the most popular resorts in Greece, but for days it has been shrouded in heat, rising to 45 degrees Celsius. Wildfires followed, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
◆On July 22, 2023, a wildfire broke out near Lindos, Rhodes, Greece, and tourists were evacuated in large numbers.
In addition to Rhodes, wildfires in the Evrås region of northern Greece have also brought unprecedented destruction. The Copernicus Climate Change Service analysed satellite imagery of the area and found that the wildfires raging in Evros were the largest in the history of the European Union. The fire engulfed at least 770 square kilometers of land, damaged schools and houses, and injured many aid workers while fighting the fire.
Too dry not only fuels wildfires, it can also lead to drought. As temperatures rise, water evaporation in plants and soil rises significantly, causing food production, livestock deaths and even water shortages in many regions.
The climate crisis "gray rhinoceros" accelerated
In China, the phrase "extreme weather" has not been frequently mentioned by public opinion until this year, but it has long threatened human survival.
◆ In Stoney Point in New York, heavy rains caused flooding in the Hudson River Valley, and emergency workers drove boats to rescue residents whose homes were besieged by floodwaters.
Liu Junyan sorted out the significant extreme weather events experienced at home and abroad in the past three years: in 2020, the Yangtze River basin experienced major floods, which at the time were called "violent plums" or "ultra-long plum rainy season", and in the autumn of the same year, many provinces faced severe drought challenges; In 2021, Henan Province experienced heavy rainfall for a long time, and in October of that year, Shanxi Province did the same; In 2022, the subtropical high and the Mongolian high are connected, and high temperatures run through the northern hemisphere, and Europe, North America, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China are shrouded in high temperatures.
For a long time, however, these disasters were mostly seen as stand-alone events and rarely discussed in the context of "climate change leading to an increase in extreme weather."
At the same time, in many places, climate change has always been considered a distant topic – far from our time, far from our stage of development. In addition to the fear of losing their homes in the island countries at sea, this seems to be an issue reserved for developed countries.
However, it is the scientific consensus that climate change leads to frequent extreme weather. After experiencing intense heat in many places in the northern hemisphere, the World Weather Attribution Organization (WWA) conducted studies in China, southern Europe, and parts of the United States, and concluded that without climate change, it is "almost impossible" to have such high temperatures in multiple places at the same time.
◆On July 18, 2023, a record heat wave occurred in Phoenix, Arizona, with billboards showing temperatures reaching 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius).
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has long said that extreme weather is the "new normal." In a speech delivered in July, he warned that the era of global warming had been replaced and that the planet had entered an "era of boiling."
This is no exaggeration. Extreme weather is not a "black swan", but an undoubted "new normal", threatening the life safety and living environment of every individual. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that once global warming breaks through the "climate tipping point", the frequency and intensity of climate disasters will rise sharply. Nine of the world's 15 "climate tipping points" have been activated, and the climate crisis "gray rhinoceros" is accelerating towards humanity.
According to the World Health Organization, an additional 250,000 people will die each year as the climate crisis intensifies, and a quarter of these deaths can be attributed to "preventable environmental causes." The World Bank projects that up to 132 million people will be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to climate-related health impacts and up to 1.2 billion people will be displaced by 2050.
However, our sense of urgency is far from adequate. Liu Junyan said frankly, "'Climate change' is not a word that is well spread in the Chinese world, it not only represents climate and change, but also includes the occurrence of disaster events and their extremes, which is a systemic problem." ”
She argued that climate change should be moved from a discourse dominated by technology and policy to a human-centred discussion.
"When we talk about climate change, we are either talking about green and low-carbon development, energy system change, or the impact of climate change at the scientific level, but neither narrative is enough to impress ordinary individuals and make individuals feel the effectiveness of their actions." Liu Junyan said, "What is an effective narrative? It's about putting people at the heart of the real crisis, talking about climate change. ”
Greenpeace's first 2018 climate risk report, Cryosphere Emergency: A Study of China's Glaciers Under the Impacts of Climate Change 2018, not only discusses changes in the cryosphere, but also how it relates to people living in cities and how it affects changes in water resources. In 2021, another urban risk report released by Greenpeace also mentioned that extreme weather disasters are closely related to everyone, and should not be regarded as something that will happen in 100 years.
Liang Zhou pointed out scientifically that for the earth itself, climate change is not so terrible, and the earth has also warmed up sharply in history, and it is the creatures living in the present that are really affected. "Even if the temperature is higher in the future, the Earth will still exist, but most species will not be able to adapt to such rapid climate change, then these species may become extinct."
When large areas of coral reefs die due to warming waters, Liang says some marine microbes are more adaptable than expected, "especially phytoplankton that are very tolerant and less vulnerable."
However, humans are probably less adaptable than these species. The lethality of extreme weather is already quite concrete, with heat causing heat stroke and death, spreading mosquitoes and diseases, flooding homes and crops, and torrential rains catching city dwellers by surprise for leaking homes.
Extreme weather can even unwittingly affect a country's cultural heritage. Northern China, which has been dry and rainy, has seen a rare increase in precipitation and rising humidity, and extreme precipitation may cause damage to cave paintings and ancient buildings. During the heavy rainfall in Shanxi in 2021, more than 1,700 immovable cultural relics were in danger of roof leakage, wall cracking and collapse, foundation collapse, and building collapse.
Therefore, Liu Junyan wants to present to the public the facts: "First, the climate crisis is an ongoing phenomenon; Second, the climate crisis is closely related to our production and life and our spiritual sustenance. ”
In addition, extreme weather can also interfere with the functioning of society, which not only threatens food security, but also tests the stability of the energy system, especially hydropower and wind power.
As more and more Europeans install air conditioners, so do concerns about electricity supply. In 2021, Europe experienced a lack of electricity and gas, and the war between Russia and Ukraine the following year made Europe eager to get rid of its dependence on oil and gas imports.
When it encountered an energy crisis in 2021, Europe's clean energy was once affected by the weather, but it cannot be ignored that due to the early focus on energy transition, hydropower and wind power have accounted for a considerable proportion in Europe, but the traditional energy withdrawal is too fast, resulting in a test of energy supply.
China faces a similar dilemma, on the one hand, in order to slow down global warming and accelerate the control of carbon emissions, China has deployed clean energy on a large scale, on the other hand, due to the reality of "rich coal, poor oil and less gas", if coal and other fossil energy are abandoned prematurely, clean energy is still not enough to support the stability of Chinese production and life.
Faced with the challenges of the energy transition, Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries of the European Commission, said at a press conference on September 26, "This requires greater cooperation between the EU and China, because implementing the Paris Agreement and tackling climate change is a global task, and world leaders must shoulder their responsibilities and play their part." ”
◆Sinkvičius is the European Commission's Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries (Source: EU Embassy in China).
In response to a question from Phoenix Weekly, he said that the best and most important way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2035 and decarbonize the economy by 2050 is to reduce and completely phase out fossil fuels, which cannot be bypassed.
Hinkvičius believes that the upcoming 28th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai is a critical moment that requires understanding the positions of countries around the world, even if global warming cannot be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The EU will also update its emissions plan to play a global leadership role and call on others to join it in taking action within the framework of science and responsibility. "These efforts will only be meaningful if the world works together." A country or group cannot achieve its goals alone. ”
However, at a time when extreme weather is frequent, the window for countries to cope with change is getting shorter and shorter.
Liu Junyan pointed out that the biggest danger of climate change is its uncertainty, but we have not yet realized what to prepare for the future. "One of the reasons is that we're not sure what the risks are going forward. And when improving infrastructure in response to extreme weather, it is important to be purposeful and prepare within reason. ”
She gave suggestions for this, "On the one hand, we must carry out risk assessment, and then appropriately improve the urban construction standards; On the other hand, emergency response should be done to make up for the lack of infrastructure with manpower and mechanisms, including from the issuance of early warning signals to the linkage of various departments, so as to minimize the impact of disasters. ”
Liang Zhou also mentioned that the improvement of the early warning system is very important, and to let families and individuals have an awareness of abnormal weather, "For example, Florida will release a climate disaster outlook for the next five days every week, and the US National Hurricane Center will also release the latest hurricane situation report in real time." I personally care about this information and will plan for different situations. Once I received a hurricane warning, I parked my car in an open area in advance to prevent the surrounding trees from falling due to high winds and hit the car, and stocked up on emergency food, especially a lot of mineral water. In the event of a weather disaster, you must first rely on self-help. ”
◆The floods caused by Hurricane Idalia flooded residential homes in Florida, USA.
Climate disasters exacerbate social injustice
When extreme weather strikes the globe indiscriminately, the consequences can vary greatly across regions and groups.
Liu Junyan analyzed that damage and risk assessment should be carried out from three dimensions, the first is the disaster itself, whether the probability and intensity of extreme weather are increasing, and the other two dimensions are called vulnerability and exposure. "Vulnerability refers to the ability of a region or a particular group to withstand disasters and post-disaster rehabilitation; Exposure refers to the people, infrastructure, economic resources, etc. who are exposed to the risk. ”
This difference is also reflected within a country. Liu Junyan pointed out that compared with 2012, the emergency management level of Beijing's urban area has been significantly improved, this time the main urban area has not suffered much damage, but the infrastructure level of the surrounding area is poor, and the emergency response and management are not very up. Moreover, most of the young and middle-aged population in these areas have migrated to urban areas, leaving behind mostly elderly and children, and their self-help ability is poor.
In the United States, extreme weather has a greater impact on society's most vulnerable communities. The Washington Post reported on August 16 that most storm fatalities occurred in hurricanes after 2004, and that 90 percent of all deaths occurred in the more vulnerable county groups in American society, including the elderly, Native, African Americans and brown people.
Raul Cruz, a biostatistician at Indiana University in the United States, points out that for people from historically disadvantaged and impoverished communities, when a storm hits, it can prevent you from getting the preventive treatment you need. In addition, hurricanes can exacerbate underlying illnesses by disrupting electricity, transportation, and the ability to obtain food or shelter.
In India, the difference is even more pronounced. Medical institutions and resources in large cities are relatively abundant, and the local government will prepare for extreme weather and provide telephone consultations, so that residents can get help in the first place. In contrast, medical resources are scarce in rural areas, and people living here don't go to formal institutions at all in the face of heat stroke, and "most people rely on quacks in the village," Chaudari said. And when the government requires people to stay indoors to escape the heat, slums remain like steamers, further driving up the death rate.
This disparity is also reflected between countries. For example, Liang Zhou said, even if a drought strikes, the impact will be less on developed countries, "which have more robust early warning systems and better infrastructure to deal with possible droughts."
When drought brings famine in East Africa, children become the most vulnerable. According to a UNICEF report released on 1 September, African children are among the most affected by climate change, are more vulnerable than adults, do not have access to adequate social services, and climate finance does not care for this group.
◆ Somali refugees fetch water from containers in Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, one of the largest camps in Africa.
The same is true for farmers, who, whether heavy rains or droughts hit, destroy a year's worth of hard work. This year, northeast China was also hit by Typhoon Dusuri, and this vast black land was hit hard. After days of rainfall, a large number of rice fields were flooded, and the five permanent members, which have long been known for their rice, faced a reduction in production.
The gender dimension is also indispensable when talking about the climate crisis, as women are often in a more vulnerable situation. Liu Junyan explained, "Gender inequality is representative of inequality in the social structure, and the climate crisis will further exacerbate existing inequalities as a result. ”
She mentioned that women occupy the main force in many traditional industrial structures, especially in some rural areas and agricultural production, such as India, Pakistan and other South Asian countries, women are the main bearers of family production and life, when the climate disaster comes, they will be the first to be impacted, which exacerbates inherent inequality. In addition, studies have shown that persistent heat can agitate emotions, thereby exacerbating the occurrence of domestic violence.
"In the future, when discussing climate change and energy transition, women should also be more involved." Liu Junyan appealed, "At present, women are in a marginalized position in various industrial and economic decision-making mechanisms and energy systems around the world. Only when women are involved can their marginalized professional roles be changed and brought more perspectives. In addition, Liu Junyan mentioned that the economic and political discourse power of developing countries in the international community is often hijacked by developed countries, trapped in the existing system and international financial system, and unable to claim for themselves. Therefore, the most vulnerable countries and regions cannot blindly wait, and when disasters come, they must rely on self-help and mutual assistance.
In the face of the arrival of the "gray rhino" of the climate crisis, for the vast number of developing countries, it is also necessary to re-examine the meaning of development. "Our current understanding of development is the logic of growth, but development is not linear, the core is back to human well-being. It is not only a monetization index, but also equity, happiness, fairness, and harmonious coexistence with natural ecology, and only by re-understanding development can we examine what the current path is. Liu Junyan said.
(Thanks to Ashik Sukumaran for helping with this article)