9 de agosto de 2010 | Noticias | Justicia climática y energía
Global Warning
Russia is facing the worst climate crisis in a thousand years, while a giant iceberg breaks off Greenland
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A serious drought, together with an unprecedented heat wave, have hit Russia since late June. The weather conditions have worsened in the past few days. The Russian authorities warn about the increasing deaths as a result of these climate phenomena, which environmental organizations link with climate change.
“We have a record of weather conditions and abnormal situations in the past thousand years. It could be said that nothing like this had happened in Russia for a thousand years, in terms of the heat”, said the head of Russia’s weather monitoring service, Alexandr Frolov, according to Novosti news agency.
The death rate in Moscow has doubled as a result of the heat wave that hits Russia since the early summer. There are usually between 360 and 380 daily deaths in the capital city, whereas now there are nearly 700.
Besides this, there has been an increase in forest fires, which are affecting nearly 174,000 hectares of land.
The drought is really serious and it has reduced the harvest in 30 per cent. Something that will affect the domestic and the external supply, since Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, ordered the suspension of the export of cereal and other agriculture commodities.
Although the decision, which will enter into effect in December, could be reviewed in October, the forecasts are not encouraging since it is estimated that it won’t rain in August.
Besides what happens in Russia, it was reported that 87-kilometer
Petermann iceberg cracked in the north of Greenland, which according to Greenpeace would alter the climate in the coming weeks or months as a result of the large amount of ice that will flow into the oceans.
“The melting of the Arctic ice, forest fires in Russia and the floods in the Himalayas are some of the scientist’s predictions about the effects of global warming and what the world will look like in a global warming environment”, says a press release issued by Greenpeace.
“Nature is telling us it is time to act, the politicians of the world have to stop the rhetorics and must reach binding agreements in the upcoming climate summit that will enable to replace fossil fuels with clean and renewable energies and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the countries with more ambitious targets. Only in this way will we be able to give our children a prosperous and green future”.
Photo: www.greenpeace.org
