In other words, Is climate change already happening here?
To answer this question, it is necessary to know the evolution of temperatures in Belgium.
The RMI - Royal Meteorological Institute - publishes a monthly report on the observed temperatures. These have been recorded since 1833, which makes it possible to see the changes over several decades.
So, warmer or not? Yes, significantly.
Both winter and summer, daytime and nighttime temperatures are increasing. And the average annual temperature is increasing significantly.
In 40 years, Belgium has warmed from 1.5 ° C to 1.8 ° C
This is what the climatic trends observed in Belgium reveal.
+ 1,5°C in Uccle
+ 1,8°C in Rochefort
+ 1,6°C in Oostende
Is this serious doctor? It depends if you like heatwaves.
The hottest year since Belgium was born is 2015.
Since, Belgium has experienced its hottest consecutive years.
In 2018, two heatwaves were recorded, from July 13 to 27 and from July 29 to August 7. It is only because on July 28, the 25.0 ° C mark was narrowly missed, that we cannot speak of a record heat wave.
During the first half of this month of August 2020, an intense heat wave hit the country. From 5 to 16 August, maximum temperatures in Uccle reached at least 25 ° C and during this period there were 8 days with highs of at least 30 ° C.
On August 8, the maximum temperature in Uccle reached 35.9 ° C, the highest observed during August in Uccle. September 15 is also a new record for the latest date of the year when the temperature reached 30 ° C in Uccle (the previous record was dated September 13, 2016, with 31.2 ° C).
Global warming is underway, here as well.
It is activated by the huge excess of CO2 that humanity emits and sends into the atmosphere without the oceans and biomass being able to recapture it.
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes climate change effects in details. Climate change is an indisputable fact which is mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels. The future climate therefore depends heavily on our greenhouse gas emissions.
Ok, so what can we do? We can make our CO2 footprint positive. Today.
To counter climate change, we absolutely must recapture this CO2 excess and not just reduce our additional emissions, which is obviously also necessary. We must therefore have a positive footprint, not a neutral one.
One way to recapture this CO2 excess is to increase the size of the biomass by planting the number of trees that will absorb the equivalent of our CO2 footprint in 5 years, and double it in 10 years! For every emissions you can't reduce yet - your travels, your heating, your smartphone, your television, your computer, your appliances, etc. - you can plant trees starting today.
The longer we wait, the harder it will be to stop climate change. Act today.
And don't doubt your power. In Belgium, if each active person plants trees that will offset 200% of this simple footprint, we would neutralize more than 40 million tonnes of CO2 each year... (read the article).
Start, today.
Cover image › Alex Vasey | Unsplash