Japan heatwave and California wildfires: will world leaders get the message on climate change?

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A firefighter works to limit a wildfire near the town of Igo in California on July 28. Photo: AP

Published: 6:03am, 6 Aug 2018Updated: 6:03am, 6 Aug 2018

If the repeated dire warnings from the world’s climate scientists have not been enough, then the recent tragic events in Japan, Europe and California must convince us to finally admit we have a problem (“Greece and California wildfires, record heat in Japan. Is there a connection?” July 29).

This extreme weather is consistent with the predictions of climate change and we must come to terms with this to galvanise action. Communities are saying no to suffering, dirty fossil fuels and air pollution, and calling on political leaders to act as they seek climate justice.

Over the past 30 years, politicians have debated and disagreed over climate change as the fossil fuel industry profited and the reality of global warming inched closer.

That reality has arrived. Global average temperatures were 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures last year. We’re no longer on the edge of climate change, but are living with it.

California’s five years of extreme drought from 2012-2017 made the state’s vegetation “explosively dry”, allowing the Carr wildfire to explode across vast swathes of the state’s wilderness, showing the threat of climate change in real time.

A man wipes perspiration from his head in Tokyo, as Japan suffers an “unprecedented” heatwave, on July 24. The Japanese weather agency classified the record-breaking weather as a “natural disaster”, with 65 people dead within a week, shortly after devastating floods killed hundreds. Photo: AFP

Japan heatwave and California wildfires: will world leaders get the message on climate change?

‘Alarming’ milestones reported for storms, droughts, heatwaves and ice melt