Universities help in Our understanding
The record-breaking heatwave in parts of the US and Canada has brought the mercury rise up to nearly 50 deg C normally seen in the Middle East and in deserts in Northern India. The international team of leading climate scientists concluded that these extreme temperatures at the end of June 2021 would have been impossible without the influence of human-caused climate change.
Canadian temperature record of 49.6°C occurred in the village of Lytton - well above the previous national record of 45°C. Shortly after setting the record, Lytton was largely destroyed in a wildfire. Clearly, the rise in temperature cannot be dealt with just by installing more air-conditioners that would add to more greenhouse gases. That very high heat waves have an impact of wildfire, droughts, new diseases, and water shortages.
Ground temperature in Arctic Circle has recorded unprecedented temperature reaching 47 deg Cent in some parts of Siberia. The melting of ice in the arctic circle, which is happening at twice the rate predicted by the climate models is now extremely dangerous to all forms of life on the Earth. Further, as the white ice cover is lost and as the dark water is exposed to the Sun absorbing more heat thus 'snow balling' the rise of temperature.
Universities and Institutes in the USA, Canada Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, and the UK are presently conducting studies as part of the World Weather Attribution group in research of this latest heatwave. University of British Columbia, University of Oxford, University of Washington and other two dozen centers of research in the institutes are developing the models and carrying out practical research on the linkage between higher temperature and extreme weather events. and universities. Every extreme event and heatwave is made more likely, more frequent, and more intense by climate change. The 'record-breaking' is occurring by 4-5 deg C, which is unusual. Now California, the richest state in the USA is getting ready to face the heatwave by installing large cool chambers.
What strikes more, after watching these extreme global events, is that Climate Change is indeed cruel. It would not wait for the pandemic to be over. It also does not differentiate between rich and poor. The intensity of the events strikes the poor people in northern India as much as the rich people of the USA and Canada with much higher GDP. Still, we count only the deaths of humans in such events. Till today the northwest states of Canada have lost 200 lives. But over 1 billion marine animals have been dead so far as per one study is not headlines yet. Because we assume that humans are superspecies.
What is needed to recognize the real impact on our planet we need an international collaboration that analyses and communicates to the farmers, common people, and students the possible influence of climate change on extreme weather events that touch their lives. That's precisely what Smart Campus Cloud Network (sccnhub.com) is doing with its 350+ registered members of universities and institutes. It's Not Zero Net Zero' project teaches with hands-on experience in the educational campuses that until overall greenhouse gas emissions are halted, global temperatures will continue to increase and events like these will become more frequent.
Rajendra Shende,
Chairman,TERRE Policy Centre
Former Director ,UNEP