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Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

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Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#51
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because .. inevitably .. this super dry summer means there will be heavier rains in October What's the process here for that region? I don't think the moisture is waiting anywhere.

Finland has escaped most of the heat of Central Europe. We have had hard rains occasionally, but overall not that much more rain. From stats look like 100-150% of historic numbers. So it has really not rained outside the high pressure zone. So I am not really sure where it all would be.

West coast of Norway. 12-15 degrees and rain most of the summer.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#52
post #28

Europe is caught in a dilemma: tourism, air travel, and city hopping are its economic lifeblood that keeps the continent running, but these also cause the greatest damage to the environment. Since they can't fix the real problem are trying to go "green" in counterproductive ways that make things worse: blowing up nuclear plants or taxing cow fart.

Tourism is 10% of the economy, most of it is domestic or internal to Europe; most of it doesn't involve air travel or city hopping.

Note that this 10% is heavily skewed toward the richest, biggest cities.

In bigger cities, it might be closer to 20-30% of their economy.

Take that away, and it would have a cascading effect through entire countries.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#53
post #32

Europe is caught in a dilemma: tourism, air travel, and city hopping are its economic lifeblood that keeps the continent running, but these also cause the greatest damage to the environment. Since they can't fix the real problem are trying to go "green" in counterproductive ways that make things worse: blowing up nuclear plants or taxing cow fart.

EU currently emits only 5% of the globally emitted greenhouse gases. You can cut all the city hopping you want and it won't make the slightest difference.

The EU is responsible for a lot more than that once you factor in emissions in other countries producing goods bought by people and businesses in EU countries.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#55

Just took a train ride from Vienna to Budapest for a few days, and couldn’t help but notice how very, very dry everything is .. as an Australian living in Europe for a few decades now, I’ve always been intrigued by just how green everything is, literally something growing in every single crack in the pavement, or endless rolling green fields of prosperity during spring - whereas, where I’m from its year-long spinifex…

I had a similar observation this year. In 2015, I was in California, was doing some hiking on the weekends, and I found it very unnatural how all the grasses were dry, trails dusty, on the hills/mountains. I came back to Slovakia, and I was happy to see the green grass. Fast-forward to 2026, and our grasses are equally dry and trails are equally dusty. Water management seems to be more important than ever, because this is only going to get worse. Maybe we need to build massive reservoirs, to retain the flood water somehow, if we want to keep living here in the next 100 years.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#56
post #51
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finland has escaped most of the heat of Central Europe. We have had hard rains occasionally, but overall not that much more rain. From stats look like 100-150% of historic numbers. So it has really not rained outside the high pressure zone. So I am not really sure where it all would be.

West coast of Norway. 12-15 degrees and rain most of the summer.

that sounds wonderful from the ~1000 square miles of Phoenix, Arizona, where a century of concrete and asphalt retain so much heat that the clouds bounce around the borders of the heat bubble overhead, unable to dump rain regularly enough to evaporate away the stored heat, but with rainfall regularly visible outside the edges of the metropolitan area, in the wide open skies.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#57

Droughts are scary and they suck badly. California went through one for 10+ years. However, don’t go off the deep end and think that it’s the “new normal” like Californians did at one point. All it took was one big rainfall a few years ago, and California has been out of drought ever since then. The reservoirs have been above historic norms and at the end of this summer, it’s only “abnormally dry”. Compare that to a…

It's actually not that simple.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2526041123

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#58
post #7

Who is liable for the deaths caused by extreme weather patterns? Is anyone?

Legally? Almost certainly no one. Ethically? The corporate executives who deliberately covered up evidence of global warming, starting back in the 70s.[1] 1. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/01/harvard-led-a...

And don't forget the politicians and media personalities who knowingly or negligently denied that there was even a problem.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#60

Atmospheric injections of Sulphur is going to be the only answer.

oh, yes. Anything but stopping the extraction, trade or combustion of fossil fuels. Even if the workarounds have unforeseen consequences.
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