I really love the new Press This button. it’s a lot easier to act on the stories I see with this now. I’ve got four or five stories in my RSS reader that have never made it onto this site. But this one will. One of the things I love about the Reuters AlertNet is that they don’t sugarcoat anything. They’re not afraid to really give you the facts. If they scare you, then good. These are emergencies. They should be scary. With that in mind, here is a nice, succinct piece of work from them back on July 22 that really highlights the need to tackle climate change.
RISING TEMPERATURES, MORE EXTREME WEATHER
REUTERS/Handout
The planet’s temperature is rising, and it’s rising at an accelerated pace that most scientists say is down to manmade factors. As the climate changes, they predict it will lead to more dramatic weather and disasters – not just droughts, but storms, floods and spreading disease too.
- 250 million people could be displaced by climate-related disasters by 2050
- The world’s poor – the most vulnerable to climage change – need help adapting
- Climate change increases risk of conflict
A lot of what the AlertNet handout has to say isn’t really news to you if you make it a point to read everything you can about climate change, like I do. None of these points are new. That doesn’t make them any less serious. Besides the major points highlighted in this excerpt, AlertNet also goes on to point out something else that is largely forgotten: as the climate changes, people will be displaced, causing diseases to be spread to entirely new areas. This can happen without large-scale human migration. The increasingly warm temperatures in Northern Europe have allowed ticks to flourish in areas previously unsuitable for them. The result: a whole new population is being exposed to Lyme disease.
The “At a glance” page on climate change, which is linked to above, is just that, a glance at the problem. Heading over to the “In detail” tab, Alternet has really created a comprehensive look at why we can’t afford not to try and clean up our act. From natural disasters to the problems of megacities, you can find pretty much all of it. And if there’s someone in your family who doesn’t quite understand why climate change is so serious, perhaps you can benefit from the “What’s the difference between climate and weather?” section included.
Overall, I really like that Reuters has put out a page with all of this in one spot. It’s a helpful resource for anyone who wants to advocate for immediate action to halt climate change. Hopefully I’ll start posting again with some frequency. I’ve been writing quite a lot recently for my graduate school application, meaning I’ve been out of gas when it comes to blog entries and such. But for now, have a read over at AlertNet and arm yourself with all the facts and figures that they’ve gathered into one place for us to use.
