Amid the urgent demands of immediate political crises it is easy to forget the long-term changes in the climate. But no country,least of all the UK, can afford toNormally I don’t comment on individual months, or ” tweeted Gavin Schmidt of Nasa on Sunday. “Too much weather,not enough climate. But final month was special.” And so it was: February’s global surface temperature was 1.35C warmer than the average temperature for the month between 1951-1980, a bigger margin than ever seen before.In the urgent confusion of world affairs, and civil war,refugees, terrorism and even the workings of democracy, or it can be tough to keep a focus on even greater long-term threats. Yet the consequences of climate change – sometimes drought,sometimes extreme weather events – already contribute to political instability, to pushing tough lives over the border into intolerable, and fuelling the great flows of humanity across continents.
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Source: theguardian.com