The spike in global temperatures is contributing to climate disasters that will only get worse unless we take action.
Across the globe, extreme weather is becoming the new normal.
- Destructive wildfires
- Record hurricanes
- Deadly heatwaves and drought
- Torrential rains and flooding
From season to season and year to year, weather events that were once rare occurrences are now increasingly commonplace.
Why is this happening?
Human activity is causing rapid changes to our global climate that are contributing to extreme weather conditions.
When fossil fuels are burned for electricity, heat, and transportation, carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps solar radiation, is released into our atmosphere.
Over the past century, massive increases in carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gas emissions have caused the temperature on our planet to rise. That spike in global temperatures is fueling climate disasters that will only get worse unless we take action. Experts say we have a decade to avoid climate catastrophe.
Read on to learn more, find out what Earthjustice is doing to help the planet change course, and how you can help.
1. Wildfires burn longer and wider
Larger fires in hot, dry years
Wildfires have always been a natural part of life in the western United States. However, as this region grows hotter and drier, wildfires are growing in size, ferocity, and speed.
In recent years, California has become ground zero for meteorological turmoil. With record dry, hot conditions across the state, seasonal high winds (known as Diablo in Northern California and Santa Ana in the southern part of the state) caused destructive wildfires to grow and spread at an unprecedented rate.
Temperatures in California’s Death Valley recently reached upward of 130°F on the region’s hottest days recorded in over a century. In Northern California, drought and wildfires combined with erratic winds to create the destructive weather phenomena known as a fire tornadoes.
Seventeen of the 20 largest fires in California history have occurred since 2000 — and it’s no coincidence that the state’s hottest and driest years were in the same timeframe.
The Camp Fire in 2018 — California’s most destructive, and deadliest, wildfire in history — destroyed an average of one football field worth of land every three seconds and killed 68 people, according to Cal Fire. A year later, wildfires raged up and down the state — the largest one, the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, forced more than 180,000 people to flee their homes.
2. Hurricanes are becoming more intense
Storm systems draw their energy from warm ocean water
Hurricanes are growing more powerful as global temperatures rise because these storm systems draw their energy from warm ocean water.
One of the most powerful storms to ever hit the United States struck the Gulf Coast in the early hours of Aug. 27. Hurricane Laura rapidly gained strength over the nearly 90°F waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The Category 4 storm caused catastrophic damage to structures and suspected chemical fires among the region’s petrochemical plants.
In the future, we can expect to see more hurricanes along the lines of Hurricane Laura and 2017’s Hurricane Maria, which devastated the islands of Dominica, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Officials estimated that 3,000 people died in the aftermath of the catastrophic storm that dropped nearly a quarter of the Puerto Rico’s annual rainfall in one day and unleashed maximum sustained winds of 175 mph.
Hurricane Katrina ripped into the Gulf Coast in August 2005, devastating entire cities and hitting Black communities like those in low-lying New Orleans parishes especially hard. The storm claimed more than 1,800 lives, displaced hundreds of thousands of residents, and left behind $161 billion in property damage.
Fifteen years after this costly disaster, our nation remains just as susceptible, if not more so, to the threat of increasingly violent hurricanes.
3. Extreme heat gets hotter
Dangerous dilemmas and health risks during the pandemic
As global temperatures rise, the hottest temperatures — and the number of areas impacted by extreme heat — are also rising. That means more scorching hot days in more places.
Take the Texas cities of Austin and Houston, for example. Over the past 50 years, Austin has seen the number of days with temperatures above 100°F increase by one month, while Houston has recorded an additional month with temperatures above 95°F. In California, temperatures are estimated to have increased 3°F in the past century.
Through 2100, scientists predict hotter temperatures and more frequent and intense heat waves in every region of the U.S., according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Heatwaves in California during the COVID-19 pandemic have created a dangerous dilemma.
With residents staying home to avoid virus exposure, increased demand for air conditioning is fueling more carbon pollution and putting a strain our energy system. Hundreds of thousands of residents are facing rotating power outages, while others are stuck inside without a cooling system. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke has forced many to keep their windows closed.
These conditions exacerbate health risks for vulnerable people who are already bearing the brunt of COVID-19. And these risks will only grow as hotter temperatures push the limits of our energy system, and climate change and habitat destruction drain the planet of its ability to contain diseases.
4. Drought conditions persist
Moisture evaporates from waterbodies and soil
Higher temperatures also lead to drier conditions. When global temperatures rise, moisture evaporates from waterbodies and soil. In California, temperatures are estimated to have increased 3°F in the past century.
Droughts in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world have become more severe and long-lasting thanks to climate change.
In fact, the American West is currently in the midst of a mega drought that ranks among the worst in the past 1,200 years, according to a recent study by scientists at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
5. Warmer temperatures drive increases in precipitation
Areas that have historically trended toward heavy precipitation will get wetter
Warmer air increases evaporation, which means that our atmosphere contains an increasing amount of water vapor for storms to sweep up and turn into rain or snow.
Just as drier areas are likely to get drier with rising global temperatures, those areas of the world that have historically trended toward heavy precipitation will only get wetter.
In the contiguous United States, rainfall in 2018 broke records, with an average of 36.2 inches falling over a 12-month period — more than 6 inches above average.
6. Sea level rise causes flooding
Oceans are warming; land ice is melting
As the planet warms, ocean waters are also warming — and expanding. At the same time, warmer temperatures are causing land ice — think glaciers and ice caps — to melt, which is adding water to the world’s oceans.
As a result, average global sea level has increased eight inches in the last 150 years.
Right now, the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico are experiencing some of the highest sea level rise in the world, which, combined with record rainfall, has led to catastrophic flooding.
What can we do?
There is a solution: Break free from fossil fuels
Americans across the political spectrum are feeling the urgency of our climate deadline and calling for action on a scale that matches the threat. People want a healthy environment and a thriving economy.
Unfortunately, fossil fuel companies are doing everything in their power to hold us back. They’re intent on burning every last ounce of oil, coal, and gas — even if it means the planet burns, too. And the Trump administration is doing everything in its power to help them.
WE CAN SOLVE OUR CLIMATE CRISIS BY MOVING URGENTLY TO ZERO CARBON EMISSIONS AND 100% CLEAN ENERGY.
Earthjustice is leading the fight against the administration’s environmental rollbacks in the courts — and we’re winning. Over the past three years, the court has ruled in our favor more than 80% of the time. These victories rein in lawless giveaways to industry and level the playing field for clean energy to outcompete fossil fuels.
Our attorneys use the law and partner with climate leaders and communities on the frontlines to:
Move beyond fossil fuels, by keeping fossil fuels in the ground, cleaning up coal ash, and more
Clear the way for clean energy, by setting ambitious climate goals, removing barriers to clean energy, and more
Make sure everyone benefits, by advancing just climate solutions, expanding access to solar, defending tribal lands, and more.
Take on the next frontiers, by protecting climate forests, promoting climate-smart agriculture, stopping the petrochemical buildout, and more.
This fight to preserve a livable planet touches everyone. Working together, we can do more to break free from fossil fuels and build a healthy, sustainable world for future generations. Together, we can lead systemic change in service of the earth and justice for its people.
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