Already fighting for food and water?

A report on the 'State of the Global Climate in 2018' from the world Meteorological Organization of the United Nations found that the earth "is nearly 1 degree Celsius warmer than it was when the industrial age started, and extreme weather events hit 62 million people worldwide and forced two million to relocate as the climate crisis worsened in 2018," wrote K Dasgupta. Crucially, the study found a "clear link" "now emerging between climate change and social instability". Last month, cyclone Idai caused havoc in Mozambique, which bore the initial brunt, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Hurricane force winds blew off rooftops of buildings and the subsequent rain caused extensive floods, drowning people and livestock and destroying crops. Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi estimated that "everything indicates that we can have a record of more than 1000 dead". Extensive damage to infrastructure meant that vast numbers of people were without electricity and drinking water, leading to an outbreak of cholera. Scientists say that "50 percent of Earth's rain, snow and ice each year falls in the 12 wettest days" and "a whopping 75 percent of the world's precipitation falls in approximately a month's time (the wettest 30 days spread across the year)". The south-east of Australia went from severe drought in 2018 to floods in February 2019 which killed an estimated 500,000 cattle at a cost of $213 million. A study by a university in the UK suggested that in Syria, "long-running droughts and water shortages caused by climate change resulted in repeated crop failures, forcing rural families to move to urban areas. This, in turn, led to overcrowding, unemployment and political unrest, and then civil war". "Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are above average across most of the Pacific Ocean," declared the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US. This is El Nino. Though it is expected to be weak, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology is apprehensive of a 70% chance of a full blown El Nino this year. A private organization Skymet has already predicted a below average monsoon in India this year. Which is bad news because a study suggests that "support for rebel groups and government forces both find recruitment easier when drought is round the corner", so violence against civilians may rise in India. A baby boom in poor countries can only exacerbate climate change as trees are cut down to make way for farming. During the colonisation of the American continent by Europeans so many native Americans died that it led to a decrease in the carbon dioxide levels and resulted in a cooling of the earth, as agricultural land was overgrown with forests. Perhaps these extreme weather events are warnings by Mother Nature. It is up to us to pay heed.