Foto Bandung juga kebanjiran
Lihat Judul Berita di KOMPAS 19 Februari 2010 yang kami baca di situs web-nya, "Awas Jakarta .... Bisa Tenggelam" pada tahun 2000-sekian!.
Juga Berita lain di Surat Kabar itu tentang Wilayah Jakarta yang berpotensi banjir di link ini.
lain sekitar bulan September-Oktober 2009
........................................................... 17-19 Januari di York UK
Mari kita lihat artikel yang pernah mengulas tentang banjir secara global. yang juga mengulas tentang cuaca pada tahun-tahun belakangan ini. [Dalam bahasa Indonesia di link ini]
What’s Happening to the Weather?
Strange weather patterns have wreaked havoc on places throughout the world. Does this mean that something is wrong with the weather?
The Weather—Is Something Wrong?
“WHEN two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.” So quipped the famous writer Samuel Johnson. In recent years, though, the weather has become more than a conversation starter. It has become a matter of grave concern to people all over the world. Why? Because the weather—which was always unpredictable anyway—seems to be increasingly erratic.For example, during the summer of 2002, Europe was struck with unusually heavy rainstorms. They led, in fact, to what was described as “the worst central European floods in over a century.” Take note of the following news reports:
AUSTRIA: “The provinces of Salzburg, Carinthia, and Tirol were hit especially hard by severe rainstorms. Many streets were swamped in sludge, with piles of mud and debris up to 15 meters [50 feet] high. At Vienna’s Südbahnhof station, a thunderstorm caused a train accident that injured several people.”
CZECH REPUBLIC: “It has been a harrowing experience for Prague. But in the provinces the tragedy has been much worse. As many as 200,000 people have been moved from their homes. Whole towns have been submerged by the floods.”
FRANCE: “Twenty-three dead, 9 missing, and thousands sorely affected . . . Three people were fatally struck by lightning during Monday’s storms. . . . A fireman died after rescuing a couple in distress; they had been carried away in their car by the waters.”
GERMANY: “Never before in the history of the Federal Republic have towns and villages been evacuated to such an extent as they have been now during this ‘flood of the century.’ Residents have fled their hometowns by the thousands. Most have done so as a precautionary measure. Some were rescued from the floods at the last minute by boat or helicopter.”
GERMANY: “Never before in the history of the Federal Republic have towns and villages been evacuated to such an extent as they have been now during this ‘flood of the century.’ Residents have fled their hometowns by the thousands. Most have done so as a precautionary measure. Some were rescued from the floods at the last minute by boat or helicopter.”
ROMANIA: “About a dozen people have lost their lives since mid-July because of the storms.”
RUSSIA: “At least 58 people died on the shores of the Black Sea . . . About 30 cars and buses remain on the seabed, with no search of them possible after new storm warnings were issued.”
Not Confined to Europe
In August 2002 the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported: “New spells of heavy showers and storms in Asia, Europe, and South America have wreaked havoc. On Wednesday at least 50 died in a landslide in Nepal. A typhoon killed eight people in southern China and brought heavy rainfall to central China. The China floods caused the Mekong River to reach its highest water level in 30 years, submerging upwards of 100 houses in northeast Thailand. . . . In Argentina at least five people drowned after heavy rains. . . . Over a thousand people have perished because of the summer storms in China.”
While water was plaguing many parts of the world, the United States was experiencing a severe drought. It was reported: “Concerns are nationwide regarding low and dry wells, widespread record low stream flows, and a more than double the normal amount of wildfires for the season. With crop and pasture losses, drinking water supply shortages, wildfires and dust storms, experts predict that the adverse economic impact of the drought of 2002 will be in the billions of dollars.”
Parts of northern Africa have been experiencing a devastating drought since the 1960’s. According to reports, “rainfall was twenty to forty-nine per cent lower than in the first half of the 20th century, causing widespread famine and death.”
The El Niño weather pattern*—triggered by a warming of the waters of the eastern Pacific—periodically causes flooding and other weather disruptions in North and South America. The CNN news organization reports that the 1983/84 El Niño was “responsible for more than 1,000 deaths, causing weather-related disasters on nearly every continent and totaling $10 billion in damages to property and livestock.” This phenomenon has returned with regularity (about every four years) since it was first identified in the 19th century. But some experts believe that “El Niño has stepped up its schedule” and that it will “appear more often” in the future.
An article published by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration gives this reassurance: “Most of that ‘weird’ weather we’ve been experiencing—that unusually warm fall or that particularly wet winter—is due to normal, regional changes in the weather.” Nevertheless, there are signs that a serious problem may exist. The environmental-activist organization Greenpeace predicts: “Dangerous weather patterns including more powerful hurricanes and heavy rains will continue to wreak havoc across the planet. More severe droughts and floods will literally change the face of the Earth, leading to the loss of coastal lands and the destruction of forests.” Is there any substance to such claims? If so, what is the cause of these “dangerous weather patterns”?
What’s Happening to the Weather?
IS SOMETHING really wrong with the weather? Many fear that there is. Meteorologist Dr. Peter Werner from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research says: “When we observe global weather—the extremes in precipitation, floods, droughts, storms—and note its development, we can rightly say that these extremes have quadrupled over the last 50 years.”
Many feel that the unusual weather patterns are evidence of global warming—the so-called greenhouse effect run amok. Explains the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: “The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earth’s average temperature would be about 60°F [33°C] colder.”
Many charge, however, that man has unwittingly tampered with this natural process. Says an article in Earth Observatory, an on-line publication of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration: “For decades human factories and cars have spewed billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere . . . Many scientists fear that the increased concentrations of greenhouse gases have prevented additional thermal radiation from leaving the Earth. In essence, these gases are trapping excess heat in the Earth’s atmosphere in much the same way that a windshield traps solar energy that enters a car.”
Skeptics point out that only a small percentage of greenhouse gas emissions are man-made. However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a research group that is sponsored by both the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, reports: “There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.”
Climatologist Pieter Tans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says: “If I had to put a figure on it, I would say that it is 60 percent our fault . . . The remaining 40 percent is due to natural causes.”
Possible Consequences of Global Warming
What, then, has been the apparent result of the buildup of man-made greenhouse gases? Most scientists now agree that the earth has indeed heated up. Just how dramatic has this temperature rise been? The 2001 IPCC report says: “Global surface temperatures have increased between 0.4 and 0.8°C since the late 19th century.” Many researchers believe that this small rise could account for the dramatic changes in our weather.Admittedly, the earth’s weather system is astonishingly complex, and scientists cannot state with certainty what—if any—the effects of global warming are. However, many believe that as a result of global warming, there has been increased rainfall in the Northern Hemisphere, drought in Asia and Africa, and escalating El Niño events in the Pacific.
Less obvious is the role global warming could play in infectious disease. “Mosquito-borne disorders are projected to become increasingly prevalent,” since mosquitoes “proliferate faster and bite more as the air becomes warmer. . . . As whole areas heat up, then, mosquitoes could expand into formerly forbidden territories, bringing illness with them.”
Finally, there are the effects of flood and drought—both of which can result in polluted water supplies. Clearly, the threat of global warming must be taken seriously.
“Is Global Warming Harmful to Health?”
An article in Scientific American raised this intriguing question. It predicted that global warming “will expand the incidence and distribution of many serious medical disorders.” For example, in some places “the number of deaths related to heat waves is projected to double by 2020.”Less obvious is the role global warming could play in infectious disease. “Mosquito-borne disorders are projected to become increasingly prevalent,” since mosquitoes “proliferate faster and bite more as the air becomes warmer. . . . As whole areas heat up, then, mosquitoes could expand into formerly forbidden territories, bringing illness with them.”
Finally, there are the effects of flood and drought—both of which can result in polluted water supplies. Clearly, the threat of global warming must be taken seriously.
Needed—A Global Solution
Since many view this problem as man-made, cannot man solve the problem? A number of communities have already enacted laws to limit pollution emissions from cars and factories. However, such efforts—commendable as they are—have had little or no impact. Pollution is a global problem, so the solution would have to be global! In 1992 the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was convened. Ten years later, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held. Some 40,000 delegates attended this meeting in 2002, including about 100 national leaders.
Such conferences have done much to bring about a general consensus among scientists. The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel explains: “Whereas most scientists back then [in 1992] had their doubts about the greenhouse effect, it goes practically unquestioned today.” Even so, Germany’s environment minister, Jürgen Trittin, reminds us that the real solution to the problem has still not been found. “Johannesburg must therefore be not only a summit of words,” he stressed, “but also a summit of action.”
Can Environmental Damage Be Halted?
Global warming is just one of many environmental challenges facing mankind. Taking effective action may be far easier said than done. “Now that we have finally faced up to the terrible damage we have inflicted on our environment,” writes British ethologist Jane Goodall, “our ingenuity is working overtime to find technological solutions.” But she cautions: “Technology alone is not enough. We must engage with our hearts also.”Consider again the problem of global warming. Antipollution measures are costly; often, poorer nations simply cannot afford them. Some experts thus fear that energy restrictions will send industries fleeing to poorer lands where they can operate more profitably. Even the best-intentioned leaders, therefore, find themselves caught in a bind. If they protect their nations’ economic interests, the environment suffers. If they push for environmental protection, they endanger the economy.
Severn Cullis-Suzuki, of the World Summit advisory panel, therefore argues that change must come through individual action, saying: “Real environmental change depends on us. We can’t wait for our leaders. We have to focus on what our own responsibilities are and how we can make the change happen.”
It is only reasonable to expect people to behave with respect for the environment. But getting people to make needed changes in their life-styles is not so easy. To illustrate: Most people agree that automobiles contribute to global warming. Hence, an individual may want to cut back on driving or do without an automobile completely. But doing so may not be so easy. As Wolfgang Sachs from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy recently pointed out, “all the places that play a role in daily life (workplace, kindergarten, school, or shopping center) lie so far apart that you cannot manage without a car. . . . Whether I personally want a car or not has nothing to do with it. Most folks simply have no choice.”
Some scientists, such as Professor Robert Dickinson of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, fear that it might already be too late to spare earth from the consequences of global warming. Dickinson believes that even if pollution ceased today, the effects of past abuses to the atmosphere would still last for at least another 100 years!
Since neither governments nor individuals can solve the problems of the environment, who can? From ancient times, people have looked to the heavens for help in controlling the weather. As naive as such efforts were, they do reveal a basic truth: Mankind needs divine help to solve these problems
THE NEXT: No More Weather Disasters!Since neither governments nor individuals can solve the problems of the environment, who can? From ancient times, people have looked to the heavens for help in controlling the weather. As naive as such efforts were, they do reveal a basic truth: Mankind needs divine help to solve these problems
Online on situs web Watchtower.Org And Also you can read to publication Awake! in appeared 8 August 2003 (Approximately to printed of 38.400.000 in 82 languages)
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[Footnote]
*See the article “What Is El Niño?” in the March 22, 2000, issue of Awake!
[Footnote]
*See the article “What Is El Niño?” in the March 22, 2000, issue of Awake!