Last October, I was in Valencia to run the Valencia Half Marathon, enjoying the lively vibe of the city. Fast forward to this year, and it’s heart-wrenching to see those shocking images from Valencia. Cars stacked in the streets. Buildings flooded. People wading through rising waters. Europe is now facing its deadliest floods since 2021, and Spain may be seeing the worst of it. At least 95 lives have been lost, roads are closed, rail services are down, and farms across Valencia are battered, threatening two-thirds of the country’s citrus crops. The storm has torn through several regions, leaving devastation in its wake.
The flooding we’re seeing in Spain is just one of many extreme weather and water-related disasters happening around the world this year. Almost every week, we’re confronted with shocking images.
We’re going to see even more of these flash floods in the future. It’s truly mind-blowing that people are still denying the role of climate change in these extreme downpours and devastating floods. Yes, we all know there were floods in the past like Santa Teresa in 1879, the Turia River in 1949, and the Júcar River in 1973. No one is saying catastrophic events never happened before. But pointing to past floods as if that somehow disproves that global warming is making them more intense and destructive? That’s just plain stupid.
How can you not see that it’s not just about how often these floods happen? It’s about how intense they are. Look at what’s happened recently, not only in Valencia but also in Slovenia, Austria, Greece, Germany, and Belgium. There were floods and landslides in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last February, and heavy rains in the UAE and Oman, which is usually a dry desert climate.
How many more of these catastrophic floods do we need before we accept that this is our new reality, driven by a changing climate?
Extreme weather events like floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and intense due to human-driven climate change. Rising temperatures have sped up the water cycle, leading to either too much or too little water in many areas. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which results in heavier rainfall. This is exactly what’s happening in Spain. As the air warms, it becomes moister, and with each fraction of a degree increase, the risk of extreme rain and flooding rises.
Ko Barrett, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), put it plainly: CO2 is accumulating “faster than at any time experienced during human existence.” And because CO2 stays in the atmosphere for so long, “we are committed to rising temperatures for many, many years to come,” she said.
Back in 2004, CO2 levels in our atmosphere were 377.1 parts per million (ppm). By 2023, they’d shot up to 420 ppm. That’s an increase of 42.9 ppm, or 11.4 per cent, in just 20 years. These are more than just statistics. Every part per million matters. Every fraction of a degree of temperature increase matters. It’s about glacier retreat, faster sea level rise, ocean heating, and acidification. It’s about the number of people exposed to extreme heat every year, species extinction, and impacts on our ecosystems and economies.
Some big factors are pushing emissions up even faster, like forest fires and the El Niño weather pattern, which made things drier and raised CO2 levels even more in late 2023. According to WMO, almost half of all CO2 emissions stay trapped in our atmosphere, just over a quarter is absorbed by the ocean, and around 30 per cent is taken in by land.
This makes it clear: we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions now.
Next time you see a climate activist throwing soup at a glass-covered artwork or blocking a road, try doing something other than moaning. Join them. If you have better ideas on how to draw attention to the issue, share them. Don’t just sit back and criticise people who are trying to take action. Stand with them. Make noise. Cause a disturbance. Get people talking. Get people thinking. Make them realise we have to act collectively to stop these fossil fuel giants from wrecking our future. We must push our governments to bring these companies to a halt and protect our planet.
Do something.
Write about it.
Talk about it.
This isn’t a Hollywood movie, and no one’s coming to save us.
This is our future.