Can poetry succeed over science? View Online [[link removed]] | Subscribe now [[link removed]]Powered byKnow better. Do better.Climate. Change.News from the ground, in a warming world

By Megan Rowling [[link removed]] | Just Transition Editor

Rocketing risk

It's official. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) told us last week there's a two-thirds chance the 1.5 degree Celsius warming limit set in the Paris Agreement could be passed in the next five years, at least on a temporary basis.

With its scientists predicting that a new El Niño weather pattern due this year and the ongoing rise in climate-changing emissions will "push global temperatures into uncharted territory", WMO head Petteri Taalas warned of "far-reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment".

Our climate change editor Laurie Goering put together a timely explainer on how climate change is contributing to new global heat extremes [[link removed]] – and the related human risks.

With the thermometer heating up in India, floods ravaging Italy, and Bangladesh and Myanmar contemplating the damage wrought by Cyclone Mocha on vulnerable refugee camps, Taalas emphasised: "We need to be prepared." [[link removed]] So why aren't we?

One key reason, experts say, is a shortfall in funding need to put in place the measures needed to protect people, such as early warning systems and more robust housing.

Another is a lack of political will to tackle climate risks - linked to a growing but still inadequate public understanding of those risks - in ways that help ordinary people cope.

Incoherence on the policy front and the business prerogative of looking after the bottom line first means that in the United States, for example, households are facing unaffordable rises in insurance costs [[link removed]] to protect themselves from soaring threats of wildfires and flooding.

"There’s a crisis," said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a non-profit group that advocates for consumers in insurance markets. "We have people going into debt, borrowing money to finance their home insurance premiums [[link removed]]."

A firefighter monitors flames which were threatening homes by the River Fire, a wildfire near the town of Grass Valley, California, U.S., August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

Poetic pressure

But how to better communicate the urgency and scale of the problem across society, so that politicians and corporations feel more pressure to act?

That was the challenge myself and other European climate journalists grappled with at a "climate reporting bootcamp" in Germany last week to brainstorm ways of getting the message out more effectively. It's harder than you might think - but non-traditional forms of communication could help, from TikTok to AI-generated information and even poetry.

In India, our correspondent Roli Srivastava spoke to young poets who attended a workshop in Mumbai on weaving global warming together with more common emotional themes, as part of the 'Love in the Times of Climate Change' campaign.

"If we only talk about how things have changed, or that there is climate change, people may not even notice it. But if we talk about how we are experiencing this climate change and not just what is happening, people will register it better," said Amandeep Singh, whose climate-themed poem [[link removed]] has garnered more than 30,000 views on YouTube in under two months.

These lines hooked me: "Perhaps when she sees the reflection of the moon in it, her hand would slip into mine? But that was not to be! A dry, cracked pond awaited us, much to our dismay."

Poet Amandeep Singh poses for a picture, in Mumbai, India, May 5, 2023. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Roli Srivastava

Health harm

Another way climate change - and its root causes - manifest in people's lives is through damage to their health from burning fossil fuels and impacts such as fiercer and more frequent heatwaves.

The good news is that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), governments are increasingly focusing on those risks, with most nations now considering concerns from malaria to heart disease in their climate plans.

More than 90% of countries have included health hazards in their commitments to tackle climate change [[link removed]], known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), up from 70% in 2020, according to new WHO data released last Friday.

"Climate change will fuel all the possible health disasters that we're expecting. We need to make sure that we have health systems fit for the 21st century," said Maria Neira, WHO's director for public health and environment.

"We need to change the narrative (on climate change). Until now, we have been concentrating too much on glaciers, the next generation and the planet," she told our reporter Jack Graham.

If you've got exciting projects or ideas that are shaking up the narrative, do share them with us!

See you next week,

Megan

This week's top picks Biodiversity protection should be a priority for all businesses [[link removed]]

World Biodiversity Day should be a wake-up call for businesses to embrace nature protection – for their own self interest

A UK bay’s trawling ban revived nature and gave fishermen a voice [[link removed]]

In England's Lyme Bay, fishermen, conservationists and the government are negotiating new ways to protect fishing and nature

Colombia's climate migration draft law hailed as 'life saver' [[link removed]]

Colombian bill recognizing those displaced by climate-fueled disasters, from floods to drought, could be first for Latin America

Can coal-hungry Botswana ramp up solar to meet renewables target? [[link removed]]

Sunny Botswana gets 99% of its electricity from coal - but new policies aim to drive growing use of solar power

What Bangladesh can teach us about climate disaster preparation [[link removed]]

Bangladesh has invested in early warning systems, a network of 14,000 cyclone shelters, evacuation plans, restoration of mangroves and an army of volunteers

As world's poor face 'compounding crises', what could curb risks? [[link removed]]

Climate change impacts threaten to overwhelm humanitarian aid systems - but changes in how money is moved could help

Read all of our coverage here [[link removed]] Editor's pick: End of insurance? [[link removed]]

As climate change fuels growing losses from disasters such as wildfires, floods and storms in the United States, access to insurance protection against those threats is becoming increasingly unaffordable – and in some cases unavailable. That is leaving many more families, organizations and governments facing growing financial risk – but it also driving innovation in reducing risks, from raising homes to making homes more fire-proof.

[[link removed]]Discover more Nature [[link removed]] Climate Risks [[link removed]] Net Zero [[link removed]] Just Transition [[link removed]] Climate Justice [[link removed]] Green Cities [[link removed]] Thank you for reading!

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