23/06/2019

Recent Scorching Temperatures In Kuwait And Pakistan Confirmed As Third And Fourth Hottest On Earth

Washington Post - Ian Livingston

The 129 degrees (53.9C) in Mitribah, Kuwait, in 2016 was deemed the hottest on record in Asia.
People cool off during a heat wave in Pakistan. (K.M. Chaudhry/AP) (K.M. Chaudary/AP)
Following years of tireless investigation, the World Meteorological Organization has announced two recent temperature readings have been accepted among the hottest recorded on Earth.
One of the scorching marks came from the Middle East, the other from South Asia.
It hit 129 degrees (53.9 Celsius, plus or minus 0.1 degrees uncertainty) in Mitribah, Kuwait, on July 21, 2016, and 128.7 degrees (53.7 Celsius, plus or minus 0.4 degrees uncertainty) in Turbat, Pakistan, on May 28, 2017.
“The Mitribah, Kuwait temperature is now accepted by the WMO as the highest temperature ever recorded for the continental region of Asia,” the organization wrote in a statement. It continued, “The two observations are the third (tied within uncertainty limits) and fourth highest WMO-recognized temperature extremes.”
These are the highest recognized temperatures in 76 years.



Notably, the WMO list of highest global temperatures does not include a 129.2 degree temperature (54.0 Celsius) recorded in Furnace Creek at Death Valley, Calif., on June 30, 2013. But there is a reason.
That location was even hotter in 1913 when it reportedly hit 134 degrees (56.7 Celsius). This temperature is recognized as the hottest recorded on Earth. But some experts question its validity. It was recently described as “essentially not possible from a meteorological perspective” in a detailed analysis.
It is a similar story for the planet’s second-highest recognized temperature, which is 131 degrees (55.0 Celsius) from Kebili, Tunisia, set July 7, 1931, which also is Africa’s hottest temperature. This record has “serious credibility issues,” according to Christopher C. Burt, an expert on extreme weather data.
We asked Randall Cerveny, chief rapporteur of the WMO committee for evaluating climate and weather extremes, why the Death Valley reading in 2013 is not officially considered among the hottest recorded temperatures. Even if you consider the 1913 Death Valley and 1931 Tunisia readings legitimate, the 2013 Death Valley reading should still rank third hottest.
“The WMO does not verify a record through its extreme evaluation process unless it is a new global, hemispheric or continental extreme record,” Cerveny responded in an email. “ . . . the Death Valley 2013 temperature was not proposed to the WMO as an extreme at any of those categories,” given it was not as high as the 1913 record at that same location.
Considering the questions that swirl around two hottest recorded temperatures (Death Valley in 1913 and Tunisia in 1931), the Death Valley (2013) and Kuwait (2016) temperatures could in fact be the highest reliably measured on record. Since it is unclear whether the 2013 Death Valley reading will ever be formally recognized and/or the 1913 reading invalidated, we may never know for sure.

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How Climate Anxiety Is Changing The Face Of Australian Fiction

Sydney Morning Herald - Broede Carmody

When Jennifer Mills began writing her Miles Franklin longlisted book Dyschronia in 2011, there weren't a great deal of Australian novels grappling with a post climate change world.
Fast forward several years and a large number of critically-acclaimed works have featured some sort of environmental catastrophe. Australian publishers and booksellers have even adopted a term to help classify the string of books blurring the lines between genre and literary fiction: cli-fi.
"It's an exciting time to be a novelist," Mills says. "But in some ways I wish it wasn't."


Australia lacks a national environment policy amid the increasing impact of climate change according to a scathing independent environment report. Courtesy ABC News 24.

Mills believes climate change seeping its way into fiction reflects a broader trend in Australia: one in which we debate school students protesting in the streets and people from all sides of politics coming together to remember the legacy of former prime minister Bob Hawke as a strong leader on environmental issues.
"All novels are Anthropocene novels," she says (the Anthropocene is the current geological age characterised by human-induced climate change and mass extinction, according to scientists). "I don't feel very positive about the future – I feel quite angry and upset. We're stuck in this real sense of loss and grief. But it's also too soon for grief. There's still a lot we can do. Stories create catharsis. We can use that catharsis to get past the paralysis."
"All novels are Anthropocene novels... We're stuck in this real sense of loss and grief"
Jane Rawson, who has written a novel set in a future, tropical Melbourne, isn't surprised that climate change is a more prominent theme in Australian fiction than 10 years ago.
"Drought and fire, in particular, are long-running themes in Australian literature," she says. "So a climate-changed version of that is pretty comfortable terrain for an Australian writer."
Australian author Mireille Juchau believes writers can help make the climate change debate more nuanced and empathetic. Credit: James Brickwood
Sydney-based author Mireille Juchau is another writer who explores ecological disasters. Her most recent novel, The World Without Us, won a Victorian Premier's Literary Award in 2016 and was also shortlisted for the Stella Prize. The book explores grief and family through a world in which bees are dying out as a result of climate change. It has also been optioned for television.
Juchau believes climate change novels are popular because Australians are increasingly bombarded with alarming statistics. Fiction, she believes, is uniquely placed to explore what happens when those projections become reality.
"I feel like the current political debate – not just in this country, but particularly in this country – is impoverished," she says. "Fiction can help fill those gaps by providing a much more nuanced, exciting, imaginative and profound exploration of what is happening in our current moment. Fiction has this unique ability to articulate the inner life."
James Bradley, who has featured climate breakdown in several of his books, agrees.
Jennifer Mills says she hopes fiction can help people work through their fear and anger over climate change. 
"It's not a coincidence there are so many dystopias around or that we keep telling stories about zombies and the undead, or even time travel stories," he says. "They're all expressions of a larger sense of a future that's slipping out of our control."
But Victoria University professor and author of the new book The White Girl, Tony Birch, is sceptical about what kind of impact "cli-fi" books can have on people's opinions – let alone government policy.
"I've read some really great fiction dealing with climate change and I hope the genre continues," he says. "But like any other form of communication, its impact will remain limited while we are subject to the deafening shriek of denialism."
Potential outcomes aside, Mills says one thing is clear: these themes aren't going away any time soon. Frequent bushfires and rising oceans haven't been restricted to fiction, either. Flood Damages, a book by young Australian poet Eunice Andrada, recently won the prestigious Anne Elder Award.
"Having done six years of fiction editing ... I've read a lot of emerging writers' submissions," Mills says. "If anything, the new  generation of writers are more passionate about this, more engaged and more aware."

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Pink Floyd's David Gilmour Auctions Guitars For A$31 Million To Fight Climate Change

NBC News - Ben Kesslen

"The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face," the Pink Floyd frontman said.
David Gilmour performs live at the United Center on April 4, 2016 in Chicago. Rob Grabowski / Invision/AP file
Pink Floyd frontman David Gilmour sold his guitars for US$21 million (A$31m) at auction on Thursday to raise money for a nonprofit fighting climate change.
Gilmour, the guitarist, singer, and songwriter of the legendary English rock band, offered the largest and most comprehensive sale of guitars ever offered at auction, according to Christie’s, which sold the instruments.
On Wednesday, Gilmour announced all proceeds would go to ClientEarth, a “charity that uses the power of the law to protect the planet and the people who live on it,” according to its website.


Pink Floyd's David Gilmour sells guitar collection to fund climate change activists

On Twitter, Gilmour said he chose ClientEarth because “the global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible.”
Gilmour sold a total of 126 items, including the iconic “black strat” guitar, which for nearly $4 million, far exceeding its pre-sale estimate of $150,000. Gilmour purchased the “black strat” in New York in 1970, and it was used to record “Dark Side of the Moon,” according to Caitlin Graham, a Christie’s consultant.
ClientEarth CEO James Thornton expressed his gratitude for Gilmour’s donation in a statement: "This is a truly humbling and extraordinary gift, which goes beyond our wildest expectations. It’s difficult to express just how deeply grateful we are to David for choosing ClientEarth as the beneficiary of this historic auction.”
“We need a civilised world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung,” Gilmour said on Twitter.
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