Historic heatwaves in Europe and across the world

Brut America

Thousands of heat-related deaths ... raging wildfires ... extreme heat ...  A scientist explains what's going on.

Transcript

00:00This is what we've been talking about when we've been projecting climate change and what

00:08its impacts are going to look like.

00:21We're not prepared for the future as it's going to get even more intense because of

00:26global warming.

00:27We have people who are dying at home.

00:29We have outdoor workers who are disproportionately exposed to extreme heat and are dying on the

00:34job in this day and age.

00:58What we're seeing in Europe is really astounding.

01:00We're seeing conditions in places like London hitting 40 degrees Celsius for the first time.

01:06This heat is co-occurring with really dry conditions and so that has led to a lot of

01:12wildfires in Europe.

01:14We've seen the same thing happening in the southwestern United States, for example, and

01:20that can create obviously damage and tragic loss for the communities in those areas.

01:26It also creates poor air quality for areas that are kind of downwind of those fires.

01:44Today in Central Texas, it got up to 108 degrees.

01:47I have this pit sitting right in the sunlight.

01:50It's at about 225 degrees.

01:51And if you look close enough, that sucker is just barely smoking.

01:59Certainly climate change is one of the contributing factors.

02:02Global warming is caused by the combustion of fossil fuels.

02:06In terms of the specifics, in Europe, there's a heat dome that's a result of a high pressure

02:12system that's kind of transporting hot air from Africa up into Europe and that air is

02:18just kind of sitting on top of the European continent right now.

02:23In the United States, we're seeing a big heat dome also sitting over places like Texas,

02:29the southwestern United States.

02:32We also are seeing extreme heat in China right now too.

02:35It's really remarkable how so many places across the world are experiencing record-breaking

02:41heat at the same time.

02:48You have this kind of heat over major populations, you get a big draw on that electric demand.

02:57It looks like we may have just switched over to generator power.

03:00Our lights just went out.

03:01Extreme heat is really one of the, I think, clearest signs that we're seeing of climate

03:07change and one of the ones that's just going to manifest really dramatically as the earth

03:16continues to warm.

03:18We did a study in the United States.

03:20We found, for example, in Miami, the heat index, or again, feels-like temperature, there

03:24have been historically 41 days in which the feels-like temperature has been 100 degrees

03:31Fahrenheit or above.

03:33We found at mid-century, without action on climate change, that number would grow to

03:37134 days with those kinds of conditions.

03:46When you especially focus on the fact that we are not enacting the measures needed to

04:01reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly and meet the Paris Agreement temperature targets,

04:06we're nowhere near on track to any of those temperature goals.

04:09Part of what gives me hope is that the technologies that we need to solve the climate crisis,

04:15we do have in hand.

04:17It's not about coming up with something that we don't have or we don't know how to do.

04:22Now it's about getting the political will.

04:25Unfortunately, that's where we're really stalled.

04:29I think the elephant in the room that's really important to address is the role of the fossil

04:33fuel industry.

04:35They have, since the mid-1960s, been engaging in intentional campaigns to create confusion,

04:43to create disinformation about climate change and climate science, to thwart action on the

04:49issue, and to make sure that society is hooked on their products.

04:52I think they are in the pockets of a lot of politicians, and until we separate that out

04:59and have politicians really doing what's in the best interest, truly, of their constituents,

05:05and in light of what evidence and science says, we're going to keep having this problem.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended