September 2022

The climate change emergency we are experiencing is a bit of a paradox. We are currently experiencing a drought in many places around the world. However, the truth is that with the high temperatures, more surface water from planet Earth has evaporated and is suspended within the atmosphere above our heads and around us, and I mean billions of tons of water! So, why does it not fall as rain? The answer is – that it does, but only when the atmospheric conditions allow it. The Met Office say “The Earth’s atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface. Pressure is measured in hectoPascals (hPa), also called millibars. Areas of high and low pressure are caused by ascending and descending air. As air warms it ascends, leading to low pressure at the surface. As air cools it descends, leading to high pressure at the surface. In general, low pressure leads to unsettled weather conditions and high pressure leads to settled weather conditions.” The strength of these conditions is governed by solar energy.

The problem now is that when it does rain, more of it falls than it has in the past and this causes floods. All of this is because greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane are trapping heat energy within the global atmosphere. So, the average temperature of the planet surface is rising leading to more extreme conditions, namely, more heat and more rain. There is also likely to be stronger wind. Such as in 1987.

So, what does this mean for nature (the biosphere)? These factors, heat, floods and strong wind act as selective forces. Those animals and plants etc not coping, will become victims, and those that are able to cope with the conditions, will survive to breed. In the long term, this will lead to new species evolving on the planet. A process that takes many centuries. It was climate change due to a meteor that did for the dinosaurs.

What does this mean for humans? Well, if we are causing these changes by burning fossil fuels, our conscience should induce us to reverse the trend, because this natural selection will differentiate the survivors from the victims. In France, 15,000 people died of heat related causes in the very hot summer of 2003. Also, I am seeing animals in France now that books published in 1999 say should be further south. The one thing that is constant in nature is change. We surely must stop burning fossil fuels.