Man-made disasters from Texas to Gaza
The rising toll of climate change and war
Over 100 dead in Texas floods. Wildfires choking the Mediterranean. Another punishing heatwave and drought in Europe.
We are getting used to the devastation of more unpredictable, deadly weather events. The science is clear, for every one degree Celsius rise in global temperature, the air can hold seven per cent more moisture. It can make rainfall events such as the one in Texas more extreme - and when these disasters hit developed Western societies they generate massive media coverage.
As the number of lives lost has gone up - swept suddenly away by flash floods - it has been impossible not to feel the frailty of human existence in a changing climate.
But if the cost of the damage is shocking it is far from clear that any of these events are really building consensus around what we should do about climate change and carbon emissions. Cost cutting in the US may have played some role in why people were caught off guard, but misinformation online fuels confusion and there’s a rich seam of climate scepticism and even denial in the Trump administration. In Britain, it is Ed Miliband who is more often than not attacked for his action on climate change.
This week’s news has also been heavy with man-made destruction in Ukraine and Gaza. Russia annoyed Donald Trump by launching larger drone barrages on Ukraine, and more Israeli officials mused openly about forcibly relocating people in Gaza.
What we’ve seen so far this week does not bode well for coordinated international action on war, climate change or anything else.
Flash Flood Disaster
Andy Davies is in Kerr County, Texas, amongst the mud and debris and heartbreak.
Here, trailers from a camping resort are tossed aside like toys, trees are left splintered, and rescuers comb through a tangled landscape left behind.
Here people tell him how they have been made homeless by the sheer force of water, how they tried to save babies from being swept away. How they continue their search for loved ones, their flickering hopes of finding survivors, and the dawning reality that the search is now for bodies and for answers.
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Politics plays a role in the disaster, inevitably, as some people say Donald Trump’s cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) may be to blame for the lack of warning, and if there were enough meteorologists available to predict what was coming. Officials in Kerr County are adamant that this was an unpredictable disaster - even if the region is notorious for flash floods.
Fingerprints of Climate Change
The new normal of climate change exacerbating extreme weather events and having destructive impacts is being felt this summer far beyond Texas. Dramatic video in New Mexico shows a home being washed away in floods, wildfires threaten France’s second city, Brits are preparing for a punishing heatwave that may cost more lives as scientists believe an extra 263 Londoners likely died in the most recent high temperatures.
The science is clear; extreme weather events will have greater impacts as global temperatures continue to rise.
Talking about climate change still makes experts a target for attacks and disinformation online, with deniers arguing it should be hot in the summer, while floods and wildfires are regularly occurring events. But the scientific consensus is that these events becoming more extreme is a consequence of human behaviour.
‘We Won’t Leave Gaza’
In Gaza, destruction, fear and uncertainty are parts of daily life.
Israeli ministers are again musing about relocating Palestinians caught in the crossfire of the war - even though Trump and Netanyahu continue to promise some form of ceasefire, which remains out of reach.
Palestinians are adamant they will not be forced out and it is Trump who needs to make a truce happen if he wants to bolster a reputation as a peacemaker.
In a meeting with Netanyahu, Trump got a boost to his goal of getting a Nobel Peace Prize, with the man behind Israel’s offensive in Gaza which has killed some 57,000 Palestinians, saying it would be a deserved honour.
Will there be a deal by this time next week? For the people of Gaza, they watch for news just like the rest of us whilst surrounded by death and destruction.
Putin’s ‘Bulls***’ in Ukraine
Ceasefires remain out of reach in Ukraine, and the bromance appears to be off - for now - between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Trump suddenly reversing course and providing weapons to Ukraine has prompted the largest drone barrages from Russia yet in the war, and the president says his Russian counterpart is ‘killing too many people’.
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From the scene of a factory outside Kyiv left in rubble and flames, we see Russia’s strategy of trying to overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses in the event Trump again changes course and turns off the weapons tap.
Have You Seen This on Channel 4 News?
Wagner’s Mandem in the UK
The Russian paramilitary firm Wagner is to blame for a fire that left a warehouse in east London torched with the stunning revelation UK gangs are being recruited for crimes on home soil.
But the habit of Gen Zs to livestream their actions comes back to bite this crew, along with their text messages admitting they’re ‘down for the cause’.
Drones for Drugs
UK prisons are being ‘overrun by drugs’ and staff are faced with a nearly impossible task to stop it - especially when drones are dropping 10 kilogram packages from above.
Channel 4 News has had exclusive access to one prison where staff say men are deliberately getting recalled to jail just so they can bring in drugs.
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