Researchers are now able to show the fingerprints of climate change on specific weather events.
A Climate Brief investigation into the field of “extreme event attribution,” pioneered by scientists at World Weather Attribution, showed that climate change made up 70% of extreme weather events.
According to the LA Times, heat-trapping carbon dioxide is piling up in the atmosphere, and peaking at 419 parts per million, up from 280 parts per million before the Industrial Revolution.
In 2021, hundreds of people died from extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest as multiple states experienced their hottest summers on record; infernos burned 2.6 million acres in yet another unprecedented wildfire season for California; drought emptied reservoirs and prompted a first-ever shortage declaration on the Colorado River.
While the world is in pretty bad shape from 2021, all we can do is hope for progress, no matter how little it might be.
