Ich hab’s doch geahnt: die globale Erwärmung ist Schuld an Chinas bitter-kaltem Winter. Wie sagte noch Greenpeace Sprecher Steven Guilbeault einst so treffend: “Globale Erwärmung kann bedeuten, daß es wärmer wird, kann aber auch bedeuten das es kälter wird, es kann bedeuten es wird trockener, es kann bedeuten es wird nasser. Das ist es, womit wir es zu tun haben.”
Don’t tell the thousands of Chinese stuck at railway stations or airports, but the chaos caused by a vicious cold spell afflicting much of China could be just a taste of things to come, experts say.
The inclement weather and ensuing problems merely highlight the country’s increasing vulnerability to the extreme weather swings characteristic of global climate change, experts say, and is likely to be repeated in future years.
Vast areas of central and southern China have experienced the most severe winter in half a century in the past few days, coming on the heels of one of the warmest winters on record last year.
With climate change gaining pace and the planet generally warming up, the social, economic and political impact on China will rise along with the mercury, experts said.
There is no way to prove climate change is to blame for the extreme cold snap, but some Chinese government scientists see no other explanation for the wild temperature swings, particularly in the areas that have become accustomed recently to mild winters.
Although climate change is most closely associated with rising world temperatures, many scientists say it also increases the intensity of all kinds of weather.
