The Climate Crisis Under the Microscope Part Six: Climate Change Claims Almost 200 Lives in Europe

Opinion analysis by Roa Daher, Featured Writer

July 20th, 2021

Last week, floods devastated parts of Western Germany and Belgium as record-breaking rainfall caused severe damage to the infrastructure and claimed 196 lives so far, while some residents remain missing. These floods are certainly and irrefutably due to climate change, as the Earth’s warming comes with more frequently occurring extreme weather events, and this was the most difficult ‘natural disaster’ Germany has faced since the North Sea Flood of 1962. However, calling it a ‘natural disaster’ is somewhat irresponsible and misrepresentative of the events that occurred last week in Europe. While the floods did not occur because of any immediate human action, they were the result of decades’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmosphere and trapping heat in the Earth, causing it to warm and causing the climate as a whole to change and become more volatile and unpredictable. After all, the pattern of extreme weather can be seen worldwide, whether it is record-breaking temperatures, hurricanes, or floods.

The Climate Crisis is currently on the agenda in Germany, especially with election season approaching in September, but it is not the only thing that has been shifted into the focus of conversations after the floods; there has been intense scrutiny on the effectiveness— or lack thereof— of early alarm systems designed to warn residents of such life-threatening weather events. While the weather forecast was fairly accurate and the country had been preparing for some flooding of its rivers, the reality is that the forecast could not pinpoint the exact areas to be affected in time for an appropriate response to be taken, but warnings were sent via the media, nonetheless. The flood came too quickly for evacuations to happen, which inevitably resulted in a higher death toll. If countries won’t place the crisis higher on their priority list, the least that should be done is adequate preparation for responses to dangerous weather events to minimize the death toll. The flood has raised many questions about the effectiveness of Germany’s emergency warning system, as many sirens did not sound and notifications from the national warning app were hindered by the floods which affected telephone lines and electricity.

With the death toll at 196 people and hundreds of people still missing, this could be considered one of the most fatal weather events spurred by climate change in Europe, or perhaps the Global North as a whole, and it will be interesting to see if this will have an impact on the EU’s approach to the Climate Crisis. As only 100 companies are responsible for 71% of greenhouse gas emissions through irresponsible corporate practices, it is no longer viable, responsible, or sustainable to blame individual consumption for the increasingly worse climate events being experienced globally. Furthermore, the media has a responsibility to report extreme weather events accurately by contextualizing them instead of covering them merely as ‘natural disasters’. It is only recently that the media started covering the Climate Crisis at all, as it had been ignoring it for decades despite the scientists’ pleas and the ever-growing pile of evidence. The state also has a clear responsibility to address the Crisis with action that will yield results and minimize greenhouse gases before the planet reaches the 1.5 degrees warming threshold which many scientists consider the point of no return. Legislation must be passed to limit the ability of corporations to pollute the planet and its resources without any accountability, and polluters must bear the human and financial costs that their pollution has accrued.

The Climate Crisis is no longer an abstract issue to be faced in the future: it is happening right now, and it has been happening for years, especially in the Global South where countries are less prepared for extreme and fatal weather events. To stop the progression of climate change, action must be taken now to limit pollution and limit the number of lives taken by pollution.