Posted on 12/01/2010 3:59:38 PM PST by PROCON
Extreme weather events linked to climate change has caused the deaths of 21,000 people worldwide in the first nine months of 2010, according to Oxfam. This is already twice the casualties of 2009. In a new report More than ever: climate talks that work for those that need them most, the organization outlines the casualties of such weather-related disasters, for example devastating floods in Pakistan which killed 2,000 people and affected more than 20 million.
"This year has seen massive suffering and loss due to extreme weather disasters. This is likely to get worse as climate change tightens its grip. The human impacts of climate change in 2010 send a powerful reminder why progress in Cancun is more urgent than ever," report author Tim Gore said in a press release.
Officials from governments around the world are currently meeting in Cancun at this year's UN Climate Summit, however expectations are low for reaching an agreement.
Despite rising frustration with the international community's unwillingness to tackle climate change, Gore defends the UN as the best venue for such action: "[The UN] is the only forum where the world can decide on an effective global response to an unfolding global crisis. The UN process has helped to generate international pressure in the past few years. This has pushed countries to initiate their own domestic policy, set targets they otherwise would not have done, and start to address the adaptation needs of poor and vulnerable communities."
While a single weather event cannot be solely attributed to climate change, scientists have warned that a warming Earth will increase the number of severe weather occurrences and worsen the severity of such events. This year has produced a litany of severe weather-related events that were surprising in their ferocity: floods across the US, drought in the Amazon, monsoon rains in Southeast Asia, and a record-breaking heatwave in Russia. Given such disasters, both scientists and government officials are becoming less reticent this year in making the connection between severe weather and climate change.
Coincidence?
Ping-a-ling!
In a related story, the world death rate is holding steady at 100%.
Women and minorities are most affected, of course.
I call bs on that.
Just how did they come up with that number?
Methinks it is just a guessestimating to come up with a BS number to justif;y the opinion!
Oh, God, I surely get tired of this kind of shit!
We suffer with climate change here in MA. Last summer it was hot. Now it’s getting colder.
Hmmmm..... it’s happened for the last sixty-six years that I know of.
We need to see the list of “climate caused deaths” over time, like back in the 1930’s, when a number of devastating hurricanes hit the East Coast, or 1954, a bad year for tornado fatalities here in the USA.
No hurricane hit the US at all last year.
Of course, these disasters will stop as soon as a bunch of suits sign a piece of paper.
Wouldn’t it be a problem if the climate never changed?
“Climate change linked to 21,000 deaths in nine months”
Next will be:
Unicorn stampede kills thousands!
Dragons destroy city, thousands homeless!
Vampires attack, thousands sucked dry!
Don’t go outside, zombies everywhere!
Three words, “Hide the decline.”
I heard today that the Pacific Ocean is registering the coldest temps since 1955.....I don’t think GLOBAL WARMING is the problem....and we in the Northwest will find out again.....I was 4 in 1955...and I think I REMEMBER THAT WINTER!
Seriously, who makes up this chit?
How can anyone empirically claim "climate change" caused 21,000 deaths since the climate is always changing ?
“Officials from governments around the world are currently meeting in Cancun at this year’s UN Climate Summit, however expectations are low for reaching an agreement.”
Didn’t want to chance being frozen out ... or airports socked in by snow.
I'm a cold blooded murderer and I know it but I still turn my key, I must repent.
Funny you should mention that. The exact same thing has been happening here in Louisiana. Maybe there's something to this climate change stuff?!?
"Hey Rocky! Watch me pull a number outta my @ss!"
The climate has been “changing” since the beginning of time.
human beings have been dying in climate related events since the beginning if time. Neither is going to change because of anything these people do or say.
If it didn’t emit lies, it wouldn’t be a global warming conference.
Extreme weather doth weather make, whether it means freeze or bake. Man must endure, cause it is silly to think we have a cure.
We had colder conditions a few hundred years ago, and warmer conditions a few hundred years before that.
We had much colder conditions 50,000 years ago (during the last ice age), and much much warmer conditions 65 million years ago (while there were still dinosaurs).
If we go further back yet, we can find evidence of even more extreme conditions (in both directions).
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