WASHINGTON POST • July 24, 2021
Commuters in China could only stand on seats in a desperate attempt to keep their heads above floodwaters when record-breaking rains inundated the subway system. In Oregon, a 61-year-old maker of handcrafted ukuleles died as searing temperatures made an oven out of his home – one of at least 800 victims of “the most anomalous heat event ever observed on Earth.” Massive floods deluged Central Europe, Nigeria, Uganda and India, killing hundreds. A fast-moving wildfire erased a Canadian town. More than a million people are close to starvation amid Madagascar’s drought. In Siberia, tens of thousands of square miles of forest are ablaze, potentially unleashing carbon stored in the frozen ground. What more can statistics say about the flooding, the wildfires, the droughts and hurricanes and other deadly events?” a UN climate change executive said. So far, many countries have failed to meet even the modest targets they set for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Experts and activists believe this moment may offer the last opportunity to change course before many effects of climate change become irreversible.