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Climate Changed Already – Massive Floods in Asia,Record Drought in Russia,Huge Ice Island breaks from Greenland ?

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Recently the weather conditions have become extreme in many parts of Asia and Europe.While the global temperatures this year are said to be the highest since records were kept,devastating climate conditions have affected different parts of the world.It reads straight out of an Global Warming Disaster 101.Global Wheat and Rice Prices have increased dramatically as a Record Drought Affects Russia . China and Pakistan are seeing devastating floods which have displaced millions besides endangering the fragile Pakistani Economy.While  the anti Climate Changers will say that it has nothing to do with human induced carbon emissions,there is still nothing to prove that it is not so.Doomsday scenarios projected by the end of the century if global temperatures increase by more than 2 Degrees Centigrade are playing out right now.

Pakistan’s Economy in Peril,Food Fears for Survivors of Worst Flood in last 80 Years

IMF said that the already weak Pakistani Economy would be devastated by the Floods which are said to be the worst in the last 80 years.These floods have affected almost 4 million people and killed 1500.80% of the food reserves have been destroyed raising dangers of a famine like situation for the beleaguered survivors.Government Relief Efforts have been ineffectual with President Zardari facing criticism over touring UK during this crisis.

Pakistan floods cause “major” harm to economy-IMF – Reuters

Pakistan’s floods, the worst to hit the country in 80 years, will cause “major harm to the economy,” the International Monetary Fund said on Monday as donors’ and investors’ concerns grew over the disaster’s impact on an already fragile economy.The floods “are very likely to cause major harm to the economy in terms of loss of output and budgetary consequences,” an IMF spokesman told Reuters. “In these circumstances, support from the international community will be critical.”The spokesman did not say whether the economic impact could affect Pakistan’s $11.3 billion IMF program, but he said IMF officials were in touch with the authorities to assess the situation.

Russia faces Record Droughts and Forest Fires

Russia banned the exports of Wheat as a Record Drought is expected to curtail sharply the Wheat Production in the country this year and the next.This has led to a 100% increase in Wheat Prices over the last 2 months.Meanwhile Moscow residents are running away form the city as smoke from the Forest Fires makes living dangerous.The death rate has doubled in the city as Moscow sees unheard of temperatures of 35 C plus.This is in keeping with what the climate scientists have  predicted that Food Prices will rise and Climate Refugees increase manifold due to Global Warming.

Russia bans grain exports because of fire and drought, sending prices soaring – Washington Post

A severe drought and wildfires have destroyed one-fifth of Russia’s crop and forced the country to draw from emergency reserves.In announcing the ban at a cabinet meeting in Moscow, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia, one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, needs to “prevent a rise in domestic food prices.” He said he would decide after this year’s harvest whether to extend the ban, which covers exports from Aug. 15 to Dec. 31.Grain harvests around the world have been devastated by unusual weather this year.The countryside in western Russia, suffering from the nation’s hottest summer since recording began 130 years ago, is now battling wildfires that have engulfed 196,000 hectares (about 484 acres) and are continuing to spread.

China sees more than 1000 deaths from Floods and Landslides

China has seen hundreds of deaths from landslides and floods.This has sent the prices of rice soaring and made pork expensive.The floods have affected large parts of Asia with a Flash Flood in Leh,India leading to around 140 deaths.These conditions have not been attributed to climate change but the extreme weather conditions do point to a strong possibility that Global Warming is already happening

1,100 missing in China as Asian flood misery rises  – Yahoo

Rescuers lifted muddy bodies into trucks, and aid convoys choked the road into the remote Chinese town where hundreds died and more than 1,100 were missing Monday from landslides caused by heavy rain that has flooded swaths of Asia and spread misery to millions.In Pakistan, the United Nations said the government’s estimate of 13.8 million people affected by the country’s worst-ever floods exceeded the combined total of three recent megadisasters — the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.Rescuers in mountainous Indian-controlled Kashmir raced to rescue dozens of stranded foreign trekkers and find 500 people still missing in flash floods that have killed 140.

Ice island four times the size of Manhattan breaks off from one of Greenland

A Massive Chunk of Ice has broken off Greenland’s 2 glaciers which is the biggest such piece in the last 50 years.The chunk measures 260 sq km in area and has the height of half the size of Empire State Building.Arctic Ice breaking off due to Global Warming has been sufficiently researched into but Greenland’s record has only been kept since 2003.Again this will make the anti climate change camp say that it may be just a coincidence

Huge ice island calves off Greenland glacier – Reuters

An ice island four times the size of Manhattan broke off from one of Greenland’s two main glaciers, scientists said on Friday, in the biggest such event in the Arctic in nearly 50 years.The new ice island, which broke off on Thursday, will enter a remote place called the Nares Strait, about 620 miles south of the North Pole between Greenland and Canada.The ice island has an area of 100 square miles (260 square km) and a thickness up to half the height of the Empire State Building, said Andreas Muenchow, professor of ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware.Muenchow said he had expected an ice chunk to break off from the Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest remaining ones in Greenland, because it had been growing in size for seven or eight years. But he did not expect it to be so large.

Summary

Extreme Weather Conditions has increased in frequency  this decade.In fact this decade is the hottest decade in records with temperatures making new records every year.While nothing can be said with a 100% possibility that it is due to Global Warming,the evidence is certainly pointing in that direction.

PG

Sneha Shah

I am Sneha, the Editor-in-chief for the Blog. We would be glad to receive suggestions, inputs & comments on GWI from you guys to keep it going! You can contact me for consultancy/trade inquires by writing an email to greensneha@yahoo.in

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