“This is climate change live!“ This is how weather and climate expert and chairman of the Deutsche Meteorologische Gesellschaft Frank Böttcher describes the current drought. One reads it everywhere: arable soils in Germany are drying out, the first forest fires are occurring, wild animals are dying of thirst (or starving, as the bone-dry plants are not sufficiently nutritious). The ending spring was the driest in Germany since weather records began.
Many citizens tune out when confronted with such information. The reports are too unpleasant, the outlook too bleak. It is uncomfortable for our psyche to process such bad news - all too willingly people clutch at any straw that makes it look like things are not so bad: "It rained yesterday and was cool - so where is the hot drought now?!" The distinction between weather and climate must then be used once again, because it enables such comforting sentences.
As a rule of thumb, it is actually quite simple: weather is local and short-term, climate is global and long-term. Local weather yesterday may look how it wants - viewed globally and over a long period, there is no longer any scientifically justified doubt: severe global warming is taking place, at an unprecedented speed, and caused by humans, primarily through the burning of things.
Nevertheless, one repeatedly hears: “Climate change has always existed!” or “The world is in eternal flux, humans are not to blame!” Both are unequivocally false. But this also corresponds to our human psyche: when something is very large and very slow, we do not really register it because we adapt to gradual changes. This is called the shifting baseline: what we consider "normal" changes so slowly that we do not perceive the shift.
Therefore, scientists, organisations such as ElasmOcean, and reputable media repeatedly conduct public education efforts, tirelessly repeating the facts so that human perception changes and we recognise the sad truth: humanity must change its way of life, entirely and globally. Otherwise, the current droughts, as well as extreme weather events of the other kind (storms, heavy rain, hail, etc.), will continue to increase and threaten our livelihoods.
Background information, among others in our climate change brochure, explained in simple terms and compactly packed, in our download section (pdf)
The full interview with Frank Böttcher: https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/regional/niedersachsen/ndr-wetterexperte-boettcher-zur-duerre-das-ist-klimawandel-im-live-modus-102.html
(Note: Our article image was created using artificial intelligence - we are currently testing this.)
