Extreme Weather and the Climate Crisis
In the July 7 issue of Rolling Stone, Al Gore describes how the news media is letting major polluters and right-wing ideologues get away with erasing the basic distinction between truth and lies about climate change.
"Is the climate crisis real?" he asks. "Yes, of course it is. Pause for a moment to consider the these events of just the past 12 months." Click through for examples of extreme weather events – from droughts to floods to record heat – from the past year that point to profound and damaging climate trends.
"These extreme events are happening in real time," Gore writes. "It is not uncommon for the nightly newscast to resemble a nature hike through the Book of Revelation. Yet most of the news media completely ignore how such events are connected to the climate crisis, or dismiss the connection as controversial; after all, there are scientists on one side of the debate and deniers on the other."
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Record Heat: Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan
According to NASA, 2010 was tied with 2005 as the hottest year measured since instruments were first used systematically in the 1880s. Nineteen countries set all-time high temperature records. In June, one city in Pakistan, Mohenjo-daro, reached 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature ever measured in an Asian city.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Flood: Nashville, Tennessee
In May, 2010, torrential rain caused "thousand-year" floods in Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi, causing widespread devastation.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Flood: Punjab, Pakistan
In July, 2010, megafloods displaced 20 million people in Pakistan.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Flood: Southeastern Australia
In January, 2011, floods inundated an area of Australia larger than Germany and France combined.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Snow: Northeastern U.S.A.
Many places around the world are experiencing larger and more extreme downpours and snowstorms. The February 2010 "Snowmaggedon" in the northeastern United States is part of that pattern.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Drought: Russia
Historic drought and fires in Russia in August 2010 killed an estimated 56,000 people and caused wheat and other crops in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, to be removed from the global market, fueling a record spike in food prices.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Drought: Texas
The drought level in much of Texas has been raised from "extreme" to "exceptional," the highest category. In spring of this year the majority of the counties in Texas were on fire, and Gov. Rick Perry requested a major disaster declaration for all but two of the state's 254 counties.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Drought: Central China
Extreme droughts in central China in May of this year dried reservoirs, disrupted rice planting, and threatened crippling power shortages.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Melting Ice: Greenland
An enormous mass of ice, four times larger than the island of Manhattan, broke off from northern Greenland last year and slipped into the sea.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Drought: France
The spring of 2011 was France's driest in decades and hottest in a century, drying up reservoirs and killing crops.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore
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Melting Ice: Arctic Ice Cap
The acceleration of ice loss in both Greenland and Antarctica has caused another upward revision of global sea-level rise and the numbers of refugees expected from low-lying coastal areas. The Arctic ice cap has lost as much as 40 percent of its area during summer in just 30 years.
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Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison? by Al Gore