2021: a year of climate crisis in review

A look back at 12 months of key summits, devastating weather and alarming discoveries

by Bibi van der Zee
Dec 31, 2021

January

The year began with a counting up of the damage after the catastrophic extreme weather events of 2020, from fires to floods. Looking at the US alone, California more than doubled its previous annual wildfire record with more than 1.7m hectares (4.1m acres) burned and Nasa concluded that 2020 had been the joint hottest year on record. The US’s Noaa and the UK Met Office put it in close second to 2016.

And 2021 – the year that would see the crucial UN climate summit held in Glasgow in November – was not showing signs of being much better. The continent of Africa had its warmest January on record, while torrential rains fell in Malaysia, leading to the evacuation of 50,000 people and the death of at least six. Meanwhile in Turkey there were fears that Istanbul would run out of water following the most severe drought in a decade.

But there were small steps of progress on other fronts. Within hours of becoming president, Joe Biden announced that the US would be rejoining the Paris agreement. The Israeli company StoreDot announced that car batteries that could be fully charged in five minutes had been produced in a Chinese factory for the first time.

In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis and we can’t wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our bones, and it’s time to act. Joe Biden

And in the UK a plan to reintroduce white-tailed eagles to the east of the country was, unusually, led by farmers, who said they wanted to “inspire people with nature and drive wider nature recovery”.

February

The internationally renowned scientist James Hansen waded into the UK’s row over plans for a new coalmine in Cumbria, saying it showed “contemptuous disregard for the future of young people”. A few days earlier, nine activists had announced that they were in a tunnel under London’s Euston station, dug secretly beneath a tent, in order to protest against the high-speed rail link the UK government was in the process of building

A historic wave of winter weather hit the eastern US and Texas, with nearly 10 million people without power at the storm’s peak, and millions without water after pipes burst; it was later assessed to have been the most costly winter storm event on record.

In an amazing rewilding operation in Indonesia, 10 rescued orangutans were returned to the wild. Helicopters were used to ferry the critically endangered apes deep into the forest.

And in Madagascar scientists found what is believed to be the smallest reptile on Earth. Brookesia nana, a nano-chameleon, has a body the size of a sunflower seed, just 13.5mm long.

Continue reading atwww.theguardian.com

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