Russia, Pakistan show need for climate action

[IndianaGreen]

Russia, Pakistan show need for climate action

Sunday, August 15, 2010
By Simon Butler

If you are not at least a little bit scared about the Russian heatwave or the huge floods in Pakistan, then you really should be. Extreme and dangerous weather events will be far more common in a warmer world.

These devastating fires and floods are a taste of our future climate — unless we can force a political breakthrough on climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions sharply.

The disasters of the past few weeks sound an unmistakable warning: we’ve emitted so many greenhouse gases already that we are losing a safe climate.

Russia has not gone through a comparable heatwave in the past 1000 years, said the Russian Meteorological Centre on August 9.

The centre’s Alexander Frolov told newsagency RIA Novosti: “We have an 'archive' of abnormal weather situations stretching over a thousand years. It is possible to say there was nothing similar to this on the territory of Russia during the last one thousand years in regard to the heat.”

http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/45144