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.
Geez, that's gotta be less than cigarettes.
Actually, I’m surprised that they don’t consider this a GOOD thing, since according to them, people are the cause of climate change. Less people=less climate change. It sounds like a good feedback loop to me.
So, why are they complaining about it...?
That works out to about 78 extra people a day added to the 155,000 thousand who die each day. blip.
Ah yes, the world's too damn hot, so they meet where? Cancun? Isn't it kind of warm there? I understand Stockholm is nice and cool right now, why not meet there?
It is because they froze, not from heat
But wait, shouldn’t they also be counting all the traffic fatalities:
“Each year, 1.2 million drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians are killed in traffic crashes.”
http://www.dui.com/dui-library/fatalities-accidents/statistics/traffic-deaths
I am sure the weather had a lot to do with them too. /sarc
I thought the environmentalists were appalled that we’re filling up GAIA with cancer by breeding thoughtlessly and spoiling the land with people?
Why should they care that 21,000 deaths have occurred?
Why post this crap on FR? Seriously, why?
Over 1 million abortions just in the US last year.
It's a total BS number. No substance to it.
deaths of 21,000 people
on a planet who’s population is 6+ BILLION
People never used to be killed by tornadoes and floods and hurricanes and heat waves and cold waves!
</sarcasm>
I also enjoy hearing from the scientific types here on FR who debunk these morons with real scientific backgrounds, and then we all learn something.
Like all FR threads, it's the exchange of ideas which makes us smarter, despite the pure idiocy of the subject matter.
I thought the commie libs had already chalked these 21,000 up to "secondhand smoke". This is a scam!!!
And crap from liberal websites is not welcome at FR. You've been here long enough to know that.
I have posted hundreds of similiar threads here on FR and you are the first one to complain.
If you don't think these threads are FR worthy, complain to a mod, otherwise read and enjoy and sorry you're having a lousy day!
Well, the BLACK dictators who run the $hithole African countries into the ground couldn’t POSSIBLY have anything to do with deaths, right? Gosh, if I was forced into a desert because I opposed the dictator couldn’t have anything to do with living where nothing grows, and it’s about 120 in the shade. I forgot deserts were created by white imperialists who “stole” from people who make $2 per day. That’s how they got rich.
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