Extreme weather: dancing towards disaster?
Heat, drought, fires and floods - Europe is severely and increasingly affected by extreme weather phenomena and their effects. In Libya, more than 5,000 people have died since Monday after severe floods. How can the consequences of climate change be addressed swiftly and effectively? For commentators, one thing is clear: so far the politicians have brought up the rear on this issue.
No one really trying to avert a catastrophe
Artı Gerçek despairs in the face of the politicians' ignorance:
“In Turkey, apart from the scientists and certain peripheral circles no one is making climate change a fundamental issue. We don't discuss the disasters and catastrophes caused by climate change in their real contexts. Despite the fact that in July and August of this year temperature records were broken all over the world as well as in Turkey. ... In addition, we have seen temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees [compared to 1990], a level which according to the Paris Climate Agreement must not be exceeded. The only way to prevent or slow down the global catastrophe is to limit capitalist production. But that doesn't seem likely either.”
Climate goals should be the top priority
For the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the weather extremes are a reminder not to neglect climate policy:
“Yes, it's true: there are other important issues. And like Russia's attack on Ukraine, they can overshadow everything else for a while. ... But the climate crisis, with all its manifestations, will not disappear from the political agenda. It generally comes to mind without warning, but then it hits with full force. The next time it hits Germany, it will be clear to everyone once more why climate goals should have 'top priority' for once. Sadly, as things stand now, so little will have happened in the meantime.”
Greeks must wake up from their cynical lethargy
Corruption and mismanagement must no longer be tolerated, stresses Alexis Papachelas, editor-in-chief of the pro-government daily Kathimerini:
“This phenomenon is gnawing at the survival of the country, when some people turn a blind eye to quality defects and delays in public works or when a mayor takes the funds earmarked for anti-flooding projects and uses them to organize festivals that bring votes. ... We need to understand how suicidal and stupid our choices often are. ... We cannot change nature or geography. The challenge is for all of us to wake up - from the prime minister to the last citizen - and understand that if we don't break out of our inactivity and cynical lethargy, we will end up a 'failed state'.”
Life in a permanent crisis
Giorgos Rakkas, political scientist, sociologist and municipal councillor for the We Live in Thessaloniki parliamentary group, comments in HuffPost Greece:
“Climate events are becoming more intense and more frequent. And the upheaval of the existing climate equilibrium is contributing to a 'permanent crisis'. ... On this issue: the climate catastrophe will have a major impact on economies such as ours. Even before the outbreak of the Evros blaze, Allianz Insurance estimated that heat waves and the resulting fires would cost Greece 0.9 percent of its GDP. And a detailed report in The Economist described how the strong tourism industry in southern Europe is at risk.”
Need for radical action like during the pandemic
In an article in La Libre Belgique, engineer Gianni Farini calls for the measures against climate change to be similarly radical to those against Covid:
“Individual gestures are welcome and helpful, but seem insufficient at this stage. If appropriate (rather than excessive, as in China) and timely measures were able to prevent an even higher number of Covid victims, they can also succeed in preventing the foreseeable climate disaster. In temporal terms, the fight against climate change may be less urgent than that against Covid was at the time, but the consequences will be all the more dramatic.”
Our future is at stake
In eldiario.es, Fernando Prieto, an environmental scientist with the Spanish NGO Observatory for Sustainability (OS), bemoans a lack of resolve:
“In the recent election campaign, which took place in the middle of a heat wave and extremely high temperatures, there was practically no diagnosis, and the solutions proposed by the four major parties fell far short of what is required to confront the vital and major challenge posed by the climate crisis. ... One would think that the dreadful summer of 2022, with its 42 heat waves, according to AEMET [the Spanish State Meteorological Agency], would make people take the situation seriously, but that was not the case. The summer of 2023 has set records across the globe in terms of temperatures and extreme weather. ... We need to take decisive action against the fossil fuel industry and adapt all sectors to climate change. Our future is at stake.”
Constructed without regard for nature
In Bulgaria, floods south of the port city of Burgas have caused severe damage to roads and bridges. Deutsche Welle's Bulgarian service criticises the building authorities for failing to adequately regulate the excessive construction along the coast:
“One of the reasons why institutions exist is to defend long-term public welfare against short-term interests. From now on, only these institutions will be able to ensure that the local population of the municipality of Tsarevo [south of Burgas] does not destroy the natural environment out of greed. So far, however, they are doing exactly what the locals expect: repeating how dreadful the natural disaster is and promising money.”