Heatwave!

Last week, a heatwave swept across Europe. A slow-moving high-pressure area transported hot air from North Africa over western Europe and moved northwards, first affecting Portugal, Spain, France, and the UK, and eventually reaching the Benelux countries and western Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy. Local temperature records were broken, and authorities issued official warnings on how to cope with the heat. Wildfires raged in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, consuming thousands of hectares of forests. In Switzerland, local and regional authorities have announced a ban on open fires and fireworks near forests. Meanwhile, the River Aare, popular with swimmers in Berne, posted a record high temperature of 23.9°C.

One of the hardest hit by this heatwave is the UK. For the first time in recorded history, temperatures in several places reached more than 40°C on July 19th. Days before, the first ever Red Extreme Heat warning was issued by the UK Met Office covering parts of England, while a larger Amber Extreme Heat warning was issued for the rest of England, Wales and southern Scotland. The effects of these high temperatures were quite dramatic: train services stopped as rails buckled and overhead cables sagged; flights were suspended as runways melted; schools closed early as the rooms became too warm for students and teachers alike; hospitals had to cancel appointments, with the biggest ones losing their IT connection as the servers conked out due to extreme heat. Doctors and nurses found going back to analog – in this case actual handwritten charts – a painful experience.

More worryingly, the extremely hot weather also caused numerous fires as the tinder dry grasslands surrounding cities, towns and villages ignited under the intense glare of the sun. The London Fire Brigade said that July 19, 2022 was their busiest day since World War II, as the Brigade responded to more than 1,146 incidents while Brigade Control took 2,670 calls for help. Three of these incidents required the deployment of 30, 15 and 12 fire engines each. Of these, the one in the village of Wennington in East London razed eighteen homes, several stables and some community establishments.

Those of us who live in the tropics may scoff at temperatures of 40˚C. However, it should be borne in mind that the UK, situated high up in the temperate zone north of the Tropic of Cancer is not used to coping with extremely high temperatures. Famed as a cold, wet and dreary country, the UK backs this up with architecture designed to seal the heat inside homes and buildings. Estimates suggest that less than 5% of residential properties, only 65% of working spaces and a mere 30% of retail spaces in the U.K. have air conditioning.

Is this year’s heatwave a one-off? After all, extreme heat events do occur within natural climate variation due to changes in global weather patterns. However, Met Office scientist Dr Nikos Christidis, said “In a recent study we found that the likelihood of extremely hot days in the UK has been increasing and will continue to do so during the course of the century, with the most extreme temperatures expected to be observed in the southeast of England.” Clearly the UK, and other countries that are currently affected, will need to brace for heatwaves that are more frequent and more brutal.

Is this due to climate change? UK Met Office believes so. It maintains that the increase in the frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme weather events over recent decades is clearly linked to the observed warming of the planet and can be attributed to human activity. According to Dr. Christidis, “Climate change has already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the UK. The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence.”

The Economist cites the findings of the World Weather Attribution group, a research coalition, that last year’s unprecedented heatwave in the Pacific Northwest would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change. It predicts that record highs will be surpassed as long as humans continue to burn fossil fuels and destroy carbon-storing ecosystems, especially in a planet that is, on average, 1.1-1.3°C warmer than it was in pre-industrial times. While a 1°C background temperature increase may not seem significant, the resulting increase in the severity of extreme heat events is already evident in the observed record. The top 10 warmest years for the UK since 1884 have occurred since 2002. In contrast, none of the coldest years have been recorded in this century.

There are dissenting voices, though. There are groups specifically formed to claim that there is no global warming happening, or if there is, it is but part of a natural cycle that spans millennia. Some even go so far as to claim that more carbon dioxide emissions may be beneficial to the planet than less. And these are no Flat Earth Society members neither. Some are scientists with impressive credentials and are acknowledged experts in their fields, some are seasoned and powerful politicians and their think-tanks, while others are to the manor born and whose names appear in Debrett’s. Could they be the principled few, non-conformists who are sticking to their independent findings, or erudite scholars not being given the time of day? Proponents of a global, concerted action to respond to global warming tag these groups and individuals as “climate change deniers” (they themselves prefer to be called “climate change skeptics”) who represent or are beholden to powerful lobby groups that benefit from the trade in fossil fuels. In other words, professional spokesmen who are on a mission to confuse the public and delay action on the climate crisis.

Wherever one may side in this rambunctious debate, the position of Rotary is crystal clear: one of our causes is protecting the environment, and addressing climate change is one of the ways this cause is served. Our website (www.rotary.org) proudly declares that “Rotarians understand that the whole world is their backyard. They can see the effects of climate change in communities they care about, and they haven’t waited to take action. They’re tackling the problem the way they always do: coming up with projects, using their connections to change policy — and planning for the future.”

The Rotary Foundation has already made available US$18.4 million in global grant funding for environment-related causes in the past five years. It behooves the first Rotary Club in Asia to be part of this global effort through projects that range from protecting and restoring land, coastal, marine, and freshwater resources, to supporting education initiatives that promote behaviour that protects the environment. I hope we get on it like a house on fire, pun intended.