Climate Change

"Men argue. Nature acts." - Voltaire

Debate Continues

There was a time when I listened to talkback radio daily. The host is an exceedingly popular broadcaster and is well known in our country. I really enjoyed his show, unfortunately for some of us, he is in the anti-climate change group. The broadcaster still finds guests, some scientists, who debate the validity of climate change.

As a child, a teacher explained in quite simple terms, using a pot of boiling water, how precipitation happens. I understood it back then and I still understand the principle of it. Despite the complexity of elements involved in climate change, the lid, our atmosphere held by gravitational pull, still responds to heated water becoming gaseous, then falling to earth, by the formation of precipitation. For normal weather patterns it holds, for extreme rivers of rain it still holds.

There is nothing that is presented to me by any who are skeptical of climate change which overcomes what my teacher explained to me all those decades ago.

Rivers of rain 10 January 2023

Cyclone Hale hits North Island of New Zealand, a prelude to the Auckland floods. A council affected by the cyclone called it a ‘one in 20 years’ weather event. Two weeks later, one commentator in assessing the damage caused, observed “cyclones themselves aren’t unusual, but it’s the intensity that is new.”

Auckland City Floods – a Shock

I and many other Aucklanders, the national weather service and even the mayor were unprepared for the unprecedented flooding that happened to the city on 27 January 2023. What happened to us only happened in other countries, not here, it was a shock, we were the news. The mayor was slightly embarrassed declaring a late state of emergency, denying he was slow to act. The national weather service was out of their depth, they as well as everyone else did not foresee such a day. The service had no systems in place or equipment to predict this event, it was beyond their recorded experience.

Cyclone Hale was a prelude to the Auckland floods. Tamaki Drive, airport terminals, Queen Street, everywhere heavily flooded. I had an appointment at 9 am, Friday 27 January 2023, in South Auckland. I got there early enough to be able to wait in the car. On the way, it was raining, although heavy it didn’t cause any concern. However, while waiting the rain grew heavier and more intense. I was reluctant to cross the road a few meters to reception, even with an umbrella. After the appointment, the rain had not eased, I noticed that the runoff was above the curb. I have never experienced rain downfall of that duration and intensity.

Throughout the day, reports from around the city flowed in, many people were in distress. I have lived in Auckland for over fifty years, never in that time have I ever experienced flooding in the city, ever. Heavy rain, storms, many I have experienced, but this was vastly different.

Although the devastation in the city was unbelievable, a comment made by a visitor, Conan, the day I wrote this blog said, “We got off lightly, the devastation suffered by the Napier community was far, far worse. Even now you can still see signs of the damage done.”

Napier is 420 km from Auckland.

Search Tik Tok, enter ’Auckland floods 2023’, the clips will give you an understanding of what happened due to climate change.

Chamberlain Park

Our MetService reported, 2023 ‘significant year’ dominated by extreme weather, impacting many lives. Chamberlain Park where I play my golf was the wettest I’ve ever seen it. 2023 golf at Chamberlain Park was not fun. Known as one of the better wet weather courses in the city, the course could not oversee the amount of rainfall from Cyclone Hale in January and Cyclone Gabrielle the following month. The fairways sucked up many balls never to be found. There was no chance of getting any run from the fairways or into the greens. It was a muddy mess that took months to recover.

Damage

The two events, the Auckland flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle combined caused $14.5 billion in damages, a significant cost for a small national economy of 5 million people. Fifteen lives were lost, adding to the misery of homeowners flooded out and businesses being put under financial stress. Insurance costs have risen all around, especially for coastal properties, if they can get insurance at all. Councils responsible for coastal communities are denying financial assistance to help with flood mitigation. The worst-positioned properties have no value in them, the loss for owners significant.

Many property owners are still living in storm-damaged homes from the 27 January 2023 flooding, unable to rebuild due to insurance and council issues.

The Warming Planet

Scientists, 97% of published climate scientists support the view, climate change is caused by people and their CO2 activities all over the planet. Every summer fires occur in both hemispheres. New Zealand firefighters have been sent to Australia, Canada, and in August 2024 to the USA to assist with wildfires in those nations. The warming planet causes the poles to melt. Noticeable in the North Pole are icebergs the size of large islands breaking off. Small island nations in the Pacific are the canary in the coal mine, living daily with the loss of land as the oceans rise.

Other countries have experienced climate change events like Auckland. Although the suffering was severe in New Zealand, it was not of the scale experienced by much larger nations. Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction along the Florida Gulf, and deadly flooding with the loss of 161 lives at the beginning of October 2024. In the middle of October 2024, Hurricane Milton, a more deadly cyclone is now heading toward Florida. It is described as a one in one-hundred-year event. Citizens have been warned to head to safer states or to protect themselves as best they can.

Tesla and other manufacturers of battery electric vehicles have made efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. In all industries, including oil producers and the traditional vehicle industry, make efforts to reduce the impact of climate change. Governments, businesses, groups, and individuals all have a responsibility to create policy to reduce human CO2 activities.

Heat the water in the pot, precipitation happens, heat the planet, huge, impactful, destructive precipitation happens.