Now we need action, not just talk, over climate

THE images of the catastrophic wildfires in Greece are harrowing. The searing summer sun had made a parched landscape prone to such a disaster, yet its force and fury caught many by surprise. The death toll is at 74, there are heart-rending reports of families with children clasped in a last embrace as they made desperate attempts to flee the raging flames. Small wonder Greece’s Interior Minister Panos Skourletis described the wildfires as a “Biblical disaster”.

The only sanctuary towards which desperate people could run was the sea, where hundreds had to be rescued in fishing boats. It is too early to say what caused the blaze, but the drought affecting much of Europe certainly played a role as trees and scrubland burst into flames within seconds, engulfing acres and trapping people in their cars within minutes.

Last year more than a dozen massive blazes swept through northern California, killing 41 people. As the planet heats, the danger becomes global. In Portugal, a series of wildfires last summer also killed dozens. With temperatures rising, scientists say wildfires are likely to become increasingly frequent and widespread.

“What’s happening is that there is extra heat available, that heat has to go somewhere and some of it goes into raising temperatures. But the first thing that happens is that it goes into drying – it dries out plants and increases the risk of wildfires,” explained an expert.

Clearly we must move beyond talk of climate change and begin to address climate action.