The New York Times: In Weather Chaos, a Case for Global Warming
This summer has seen a very high number of intense weather events across the globe; including the Russian heat wave and resulting wildfires and the floods in Pakistan which have, thus far, displaced over 20 million people. But no corner of the world has been left untouched; summer 2010’s heat waves plagued much of the Eastern U.S., Africa, and Asia, — flooding in Nashville, Tennessee alone is projected to have cost over $1 billion.
Through this series of unfortunate events, the evidence of climate change has continued to mount. According to The New York Times reporting, many incidents occurring from January 2010 to present has caused great concern within the scientific community; many have said these events are “probably” the result of climate change.
Although almost impossible to prove if single events are the result of global warming, Gavin Schmidt, a climatic researcher at NASA said
If you ask me as a person, do I think the Russian heat wave has to do with climate change, the answer is yes if you ask me as a scientist whether I have proved it, the answer is no — at least not yet.
Echoing most models of climate change, one researcher at the National Climatic Data Center told NYT,
Extreme events are occurring with greater frequency, and in many cases with greater intensity…. [heat waves, are] ‘consistent with our understanding of how the climate responds to increasing greenhouse gases.
A failure to mitigate climate change helps to ensure an increasing number of extreme events, deteriorating public health, harm to global water and food security, and economic losses. Climate change must be stemmed, and the time for action is now.
