Global warming disasters are now upon us
The constant bad news about global warming and its effects on humans and other life on Earth bombards us daily — that is if we are paying attention and not oblivious or in denial.
For example, Earth’s average temperature in 2023 was the highest since weather tracking began in 1850 and was likely the world’s warmest in the last 100,000 years.
The 10 warmest years since 1850 have all occurred in the past decade. The average global temperature in 2023 exceeded the pre-industrial (1850—1900) average by 2.43°F, an alarming increase. The consequences have been severe.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed a historic year in the number of costly billion-dollar disasters and extreme weather events throughout the U.S. There were 28 such climate disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 in 2020, causing nearly 500 U.S. deaths and tallying a total price tag of at least $93 billion.
According to the UN’s prestigious World Meteorological Organization, at least 12,000 people globally, 30% more than in 2022, lost their lives due to climate change related disasters — floods, wildfires, cyclones, storms and landslides. From 1970 to 2021, two million deaths and $4.3 trillion in economic losses have been attributed to extreme weather events turbo-charged by humanmade global warming.
Tragically, the most vulnerable communities in developing countries were hit hardest, experiencing nine of 10 deaths and 60% of all economic losses. And these areas are the least responsible for global warming emissions.
Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe as a result of the climate crisis. The continued growth in human numbers, now at 8.1 billion people, exacerbates the problem. Remarkably, humans more than tripled their numbers from 2.5 billion in 1950. Projections indicate we will reach 10 billion in 24 years.
U.S. polling indicates just 32% of U.S. adults say they hear about global warming in the media at least once a week. And 72% believe global warming is happening while 16% are deniers. Just 58% believe it is caused mostly by human activities, while 30% deny such causation. This is despite overwhelming scientific documentation of the planet’s warming and linkage to homo sapiens’ profligate emissions.
Our nation’s intellectual silos stymie the ability to act, costing lives, causing disasters and triggering economic losses in the many billions of dollars. Former President Donald Trump has frequently called climate change “a hoax” and opined last year that it “may affect us in 300 years.”
Liberals don’t “really believe in global warming,” Tucker Carlson asserted, because “the entire theory is absurd, and they know it.” About 54% of Americans describe climate change as a major threat to the country’s well-being. But just 23% of Republicans agree, while 78% of Democrats agree.
This dichotomy is reflected in our lawmakers as 149 Congressmen are climate science deniers, all Republicans. No Republican voted for the Biden administration’s critical bill to combat climate change.
How can we be so fractured on such a scientifically documented existential issue? As the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
On a personal level, global warming has hit my household hard. Rising bay waters over the last three decades have caused substantial damage to our 50-foot pier on Oyster Creek. The pier was built in 1988 and was constructed high enough over existing high-water levels to prevent the decking and stringers from being pushed up and damaged. But when high winds and high tides combine with rain events, the rising water’s pressure wreaks havoc on our pier.
Pier boards are busted out from their nails and screws and float away unless I capture them. In the last two years, rising waters have mangled entire sections of our pier. The pier infrastructure is pushed up by as much as 2.5 feet, scraping the pilings to which they are attached.
Through replacement of some of the pier planks and re-nailing or screwing down the old planks, I have postponed the inevitable — the costly deconstruction of our pier and the rebuilding of its infrastructure.
The Jan. 9-10 historic storm surges in the Annapolis area reached 5.1 feet above normal, greatly damaging our pier. It caused the third-worst flooding event in the city’s history with storefronts flooded and closed.
Mayor Gavin Buckley signed a City State of Emergency declaration, opening the door to grants from a County Disaster Recovery Grant Program that helps businesses recover from damage and lost business after coastal flooding events.
Because of the storm event and sea level rise damaging so many older piers, other area waterfront homeowners are facing a similar predicament of searching for marine contractors. They then face the high cost of reconstruction, including raising pier heights to accommodate sea-level rise.
Another victim of rising warming waters is the important intertidal grasses that formerly extended along our and neighboring bulkheads. These aquatic plants can only survive if, at low tide, they are completely out of the water. They are much different than submerged aquatic vegetation which grows completely immersed in bay waters.
Three species of intertidal grasses that once flourished at our properties have been wiped out by warming water rising — high-tide bush, smooth cordgrass and common three square. These and other native vegetation once lined almost all of the 11,684 miles of Chesapeake shorelines.
Their disappearance is an unnatural disaster as they are especially important for stabilizing degraded areas, for erosion control, absorbing nutrients and any toxic chemicals, and for wildlife food (seeds) and cover. Crabs, muskrats, and other critters once used this habitat and now it is gone.
Higher water levels and more frequent and severe storm events also have caused Noah’s Ark-like floods in our neighborhood, damaging cars and older homes. Mother Nature is rebelling against centuries of human assaults. Such events have led to our flood insurance doubling and homeowner’s insurance jumping four-fold, even with high deductibles.
The fate of the Chesapeake Bay hinges on successfully attacking global warming as scientists predict all of the bay’s tidal wetlands could erode to open water by the end of the 21st century. Blackwater NWR in Cambridge, a 29,000-acre preserve, has lost approximately 5,000 acres of marshland since its founding in 1938 from sea-level rise and could lose all of its marshland by 2050.
If we cannot unite as a nation to end our massive addiction to burning fossil fuels, what hope is there for the future? The key to our own personal response to global warming is simple — limit the burning of fossil fuels.
You can do this by conserving your electrical use, home heating and cooling and transportation — they are the source of most oil, natural gas and coal use. See how at: https://www.capitalgazette.com/2021/05/09/ gerald-winegrad-we-canact-together-on-globalwarming-commentary/