Natural Disasters

A new United Nations report has revealed the disturbing news that the number of global disasters has quintupled since 1970 and will increase by another 40 percent in coming decades. They find that more people are affected by disasters than ever before, and the UN Deputy Secretary-General warns humanity is “on a spiral of self-destruction.”

Az elmúlt évtizedben a globális elit klímaváltozással kapcsolatos megszállottsága elvonta a figyelmet a világot érintő számos más nagy problémáról – a legdrámaibb módon erre az Ukrajna elleni invázió mutatott rá. A nyugat-európai vezetőknek az elmúlt évtizedben az energiaforrások diverzifikálásával és a palagáz-termelés kiterjesztésével kellett volna törődniük ahelyett, hogy az atomerőművek bezárásával foglalkoztak, illetve ijesztő mértékben függővé váltak Oroszországtól. A kialakult háború azonban távolról sem az egyetlen dolog, amire nem figyeltek eléggé.

Největším úkolem, před nímž dnes lidstvo stojí, zůstává vyvedení většiny světa z té nejhlubší chudoby. K tomu může dojít jen tehdy, pokud budou chudé země mít k dispozici komplexní a spolehlivé zdroje energie. Právě tak začaly ty bohaté prosperovat a Čína díky tomu dostala z chudoby miliardu lidí.

Over the past decade, the global elite’s obsession with climate change has taken away from the many other major problems facing the planet — shown most dramatically by the invasion of Ukraine. Western European leaders should have spent the past decade diversifying energy sources and expanding shale gas, instead of shutting down nuclear plants and becoming scarily reliant on Russia. But the looming war is far from the only thing they have managed to ignore.

Det ville være en overdrivelse at sige, at mens virkelige trusler samlede sig i horisonten, sad den rige verden og rodede med solpaneler og nedlagde forbud mod plastiksugerør. Men kun en mindre overdrivelse.

De wereld kampt met energie- en voedseltekorten, armoede, ziekten, overbevolking en oorlog, maar de westerse beleidsbepalers zijn gefixeerd op klimaatoplossingen, signaleert Bjorn Lomborg. "How zijn de elites erin geslaagd om de dingen zo verkeerd te doen?"

Nel corso dell’ultimo decennio, l’ossessione dell’élite globale per il cambiamento climatico ha distolto l’attenzione dai molti altri problemi gravi che affliggono il pianeta, resi evidenti nel modo più drammatico dall’invasione dell’Ucraina. I leader dell’Europa occidentale avrebbero dovuto passare l’ultimo decennio a diversificare le fonti di energia e ad ampliare il ricorso al gas di scisto, anziché a smantellare centrali nucleari e a diventare pericolosamente dipendenti dalla Russia. Ma l’incombere della guerra non è affatto l’unica cosa che sono riusciti a ignorare.

The recent eruption of the Hunga volcano about 30 kilometers southeast of Tonga's Fonuafo'ou island raised the eyebrows of climate scientists around the globe. The volcano sent hundreds of thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, which can have a cooling effect on Earth.

Copenhagen Consensus Centre President Bjorn Lomborg says there are constantly climate catastrophes and it’s very easy to claim them as global warming.

“Global warming is real and it’s very likely that it does have an impact, but what you need to recognise is that because we are richer and more resilient we’ve dramatically drove down the number of people that die from climate-related disasters,” Mr Lomborg told Sky News Australia.

Activists constantly talk about the existential threat climate change poses and the deaths natural disasters inflict—but they never quite manage to total up these deaths. One reason is that it’s easier to bend the data about disaster frequency than to bend death statistics. Death tolls tell a very clear story: People are safer from climate-related disasters than ever before.