Thursday 31 October 2024

Valencia and man-made climate change

An unthinkable tragedy for Europe; a year's worth of rainfall in eight hours and over 150 people dead. People who as they woke on Tuesday 29 October 2024 had no idea that this would be their last day on earth, no idea that their lives would be snuffed out by a climate event of unimaginable magnitude. Drowned by surging water or crushed by toppling buildings.

The image that will stay with me of the Valencia floods is not one of people suffering or buildings destroyed, but of this street chock-full of cars (below), swept along by an incredibly powerful surge of water. And I'm thinking – how could this possibly happen? The physics of shifting vehicles – sideways it seems – each weighing one or two tonnes, in such numbers along such a narrow street – the sheer violence of what has happened is all too visible, but hard to take in. But it also shows what a car-dependent species we have become.

Photo credit: B. Hynde-Paywall

There should be no doubts left in anyone's mind that climate change is real; the planet is now over 1.2°C warmer than it was in pre-industrial times, and 0.4°C warmer than in 1980. The effect of that extra heat energy is more powerful storms and heavier rainfalls. Imperial College London's Grantham Institute that studies and attributes the effect of human greenhouse-gas emissions on the climate estimates that the extra 1.2°C of average heat in the system is responsible for rainfall events that can be up to 30% heavier than in pre-industrial times; a deadly difference.

To those who deny the fact that the climate is changing, here's a list of all the major flood events affecting Poland over the last century. Notice the increasing frequency.

Year/eventFatalities in Poland
2024 Central European floods9
2010 Central European floods 25
1997 Central European floods 54
1947 Polish floods  55
1934 flood in Poland 55

Slowly, I feel the message is getting through. Younger people are less likely to want to own or drive a car, and cars make up 12% of human greenhouse gas emissions. But we should all be doing more – or actually, doing less; as I wrote the other day, buying less, travelling less, consuming less.

If we don't, the climate will only continue to deliver more extreme weather events, more frequently. Today it's Valencia; next summer or autumn it could hit you, directly.

This time last year:
On death

This time three years ago:
Improvements on the Radom line

This four years ago:
Rural rights of way, revisited

This time five years ago:

This time six years ago:
Opole in the late-October sunshine

This time seven years ago:
Work begins in earnest on the Karczunkowska viaduct

This time nine years ago:
Sublime autumn day in Jeziorki

This time ten years ago:
CitytoCity, MalltoMall

This time 11 years ago:
(Internet) Radio Days

This time 12 years ago:
Another office move

This time 13 years ago:
Manufacturing a City of Culture

This time 14 years ago:
My thousandth post

This time 15 years ago:
Closure of ul. Poloneza

This time 16 years ago:
Scenes from a suburban petrol station

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Shocking and horrifying. It’s so important for those of us, who are lucky to still be alive, to do whatever is in our power to save the planet for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

May the affected families in Spain find strength from the knowledge that many people are with them in spirit.