‘Climate change’. We’ve all heard the discussions and debates, but if you’re anything like me, it can be hard to wrap your mind around how an increase of a few tiny degrees can wreak such havoc on this beautiful world of ours.
Now try ‘global weirding’ on for size. That’s how some climate change experts have started describing the climate extremes that arise from climate change...think tornadoes where they shouldn’t be and droughts in rainforests that should be, well, rainy.
Climate-related disasters are front-page news across the country this week, with some experts saying extreme summer weather events in Canada—droughts, floods, and wind storms—have moved from once in a century events to the norm. Likewise, scientists have concluded that the drought that hit western North America from 2000 to 2004 was the strongest in 800 years, but that these extremes will be the “new normal” in the century ahead.
Climate-related disasters disproportionately affect vulnerable people here and around the world. Vulnerable communities have the least capacity to adapt to our ‘weirding’ climate, or to bounce back from disasters. That’s why the Red Cross and Red Crescent is helping vulnerable communities to adapt to changes, including those from climate change, and build communities’ capacity to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from these disasters. Helping communities reduce their own vulnerability is becoming more urgent than ever, as weird weather gets weirder and becomes the new normal.
‘Global warming’ doesn’t capture the serious changes climate change is bringing to our lives, at an ever-accelerating pace. It brings ideas of warm, glorious summers, and slightly less bitter winters. A little warmth in the Great White North can seem like a good thing, but we’re already seeing the destructive impacts of these seemingly small changes in temperature. ‘Global weirding’ helps me to wrap my mind around the seismic shifts we’re seeing in our environment. Extreme heat, extreme rain, tornadoes, and droughts—our ever-weirder normal—helps me to see the destructive global impact of climate change.
You can learn more about the Red Cross and Red Crescent’s work in climate change adaptation and disaster response around the world.