Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A WORLD ADDLED by climate change has seen a four-fold increase in major flooding events since 1980, and a doubling of significant storms, droughts and heat waves, Europe’s national science academies jointly reported this week.
In Europe, where precise data reaches back decades, the number of severe floods has jumped five fold since 1995, according to the report, which updates a 2013 assessment.
“There has been, and continues to be, a significant increase in the frequency of extreme weather events,” said Michael Norton, environmental programme director for the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council.
“They underline the importance of avoiding greenhouse gases, which are fundamentally responsible for driving these changes,” he told AFP.
For impacts that cannot be avoided, he added, “this makes climate proofing all the more urgent”.
In the United States, the damage wrought by storms doubled, on average, from $10 billion in 1980 to $20 billion in 2015, adjusted for inflation, according to the report, based in part on data from insurance giant Munich Re’s NatCatSERVICE.
The update also assessed new findings on possible changes in the Gulf Stream, powerful ocean currents running between the Arctic region and the Caribbean that warm the air in northwestern Europe and the US eastern seaboard.
The weakening of the Gulf Stream “is now a credible hypothesis”, said Norton.
Some of the underlying drivers of extreme weather which were speculative four years ago are looking less speculative.
Climate ‘hotspots’
The prospect of the Gulf Stream – also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) – slowing, or even shutting down entirely, “must be taken as a serious possibility,” he added.
Scientists have estimated that winters in Britain, Ireland and much of western Europe would be several degrees Celsius colder under such a scenario.
The study also examined recent disruptions of the polar Jet Stream, a band of west-to-east winds that circulate at bullet-train speed some 10 kilometres above Earth’s surface at the upper boundary of the troposphere.
Recent research has linked severe winters in North America and Europe, as well some extreme summer weather, to Jet Stream fluctuations possibly driven by global warming in the Arctic, where temperatures have risen twice as fast as for the planet as a whole.
A 2016 study in Climatic Change forecast that, by mid-century, pockets of southern Europe will face at least one severe climate hazard every year of the scale now occurring only once every 100 years.
By 2100, according to these predictions, Europe’s entire Mediterranean seaboard will be confronted annually with extreme droughts, coastal floods or heatwaves.
And a few “hotspots” will be hit every year by two or more such formerly once-in-hundred-years hazards, which also include wildfires, river floods and windstorms.
You’d really have to feel for the people of Cyprus. The past week must’ve been a scary situation to be in; not knowing when the banks would reopen or if they’d open at all and how much of your money would be left. It’s crazy really.
it’s us that are in the scary position, to afraid to protest no matter how much of our country is sold off for pennies, no matter how much debts we take on from private investors and banking institutions, no matter how many people die through lack of legislation voted for 20+ years ago and every other very valid reason for serious protests yet the Irish people respond by doing ;
A game changer for all the wrong reasons, how is it legal to stop people access to their own money !!!! It’s a disgrace
That’s what happens when banks go bust. It’s not pretty.
I bet the every one will close accounts
Wont be able to. “Laws” passed to restrict movement of cash etc
This means what you though was your own money is no longer the case. It can be “legally” taken off you at any time in the interests of the nation !! Time to drink it and piss it up against the next TD car you see !!!
you’re only realising this now??????????????????????
On your marks ,get seeet, run!
I agree there will be a run on the banks
Then the fun will really start ,may not then get the other two open ,carnage!theyll do well to avoid riots.
Paul there cannot be a run in the Banks with the controls likely to be put in place.
Peter if that’s true they still can’t stop people drawing cash out each day till their account is empty.
Why don’t they just use the word “stability” on the cypriots and keep repeating it to them to keep them quiet. It has a 100% success rate here anyway.
And how many days were the Irish banks closed and the people of Ireland kept from their money? None.
It wasn’t pretty but at least web handled it head on and have come out the far side.
handled it
we made a snap decision in the middle of the night that placed a crippling private debt on the shoulders of future generations of our people
now unless your an anglo debtor who had his loans paid for by the taxpayer id say we made a complete pigs ear of it
Time to buy shares in home banking vaults !
If women ran the banks there probably would be none of these problems because none of the banks would be talking to each other.
All the money would be spent by the weekend !!! Sorry
We want to put women in charge of the banks then no problems.
Christine Lagarde?
Don’t get me started…
@ Keith Colton,Christine Lagarde is trying to fix the problem she is not a banker.
She really is a nice lady working for a lovely organisation :-).
Time to sign you up for the lovely girl competition
lagarde loves to make money. Nothing else to say about her.
Ah go away out of that will ya Denise .
Are they not investigating her?
She had her house raised there a few days back…like all the rest on the EU gravy train..she’s not to be trusted
Lots of skeletons in her closet I’d say Paul , but do you really think they will come out cos I don’t . Unfortunately
Christine Legard is part of the problem!! anyone who ends up being chief of the IMF eats shit and breaths like the rest of the bat shit crazy bastards at the top fact
put in as chief of the IMF after Dominic Strauss Khan was falsely accused of rape, funnily enough this happened a fortnight after the establishment started chasing Julian Assange under false rape claims, highly original stuff going on here like!! Christine is connected to the ex deputy mayor of paris (in the french presidents socialists party) who in the summer was arrested as part of a cannabis dealing and money laundering cartel, importing drugs from Morocco through Spain and laundering the money through HSBC who will take launder money for mexican and Colombian cartels, mafias around the world and when caught the bank pays a small insignificant fine and nobody goes to court.
http://www.thejournal.ie/christine-lagarde-home-searched-838978-Mar2013/
what happens to any of us if we had a hand at even 1% of what these “elite” get up to??
Unbelievable…..is Cypriots government trying to transfer gold etc from the banks to Germany before opening the doors on Wednesday morning in bid to stop depositors to withdraw their cash? How theft?
Thosg
Of the ten billion Euro being provide to Cyprus, Germany epsilon contribute two point seven billion. What’s your beef with Germany.
Idiot.
Well they are going to lose their savings through inflation too, so savers get hit twice.
This is a moral hazard minefield for the technocrats in charge
Are they in the euro , how can there be inflation .
Do you understand economics John?
Well they can’t print their own euros and devalue the currency , which causes inflation Michael , do you understand economics
Alan I meant not michael
John, I’d stop now before you embarrass yourself anymore.
Well , there is always inflation of around three percent annually , but when a country gets into strife and starts to print huge amounts of currency it causes hyper inflation , the central bank usually keeps this in check with interest . Is that enough for you .
I have had enough of this euro project s**t. Destroying lives, that should have been the slogan for the euro. Lives are being destroyed for what a currency that is only a few years olds. I get the advantages of having a single currency but is it worth it?
It was never about the currency Adelle , it’s nothing less than a European take over , a financial coup d’état . I have said it for yrs and always got painted with the conspiracy brush . Not so many people talking about my tin foil hat nowadays though .
to them yes but to us no. we are only consumers to be bled dry by the crazy bastards at the top end of
Taxes on work, savings and ownership are theft. There should only high taxs on discretionary spending.
Is all this monetary manipulation a secret takeover of European countries by German? Could it be possible? What’s your thoughts and comments?
More a case of countries – including our own – woefully mismanaging their own economies to the point of bankruptcy, then asking international agencies including the eu to rescue them, then blaming the constituent members of these agencies for dosing out tough medicine.
its happening in Cyprus can happen here tooo,run
yes it could
Trying to figure out how (in a practical way) to keep as much of my money as I can out of the bank leaving only enough to pay my bills. I cannot trust that *something* won’t be decided like the proposed Cypriot deposit levy here in Ireland. The seed/idea is in governments head now. It’s being thought through and weighed. If it did happen it would be sudden. What little money I earn is far too precious to leave in a bank for them to dip at will. I hate that its come to paranoia and panic. Anyone else having similar thoughts? (withdraw what you can while you can)
@ Max open a Uk account in sterling with a visa debit card which you can use here in shops and ATM’s same as a British tourist can!
You’d need a uk address for that
Very difficult for a non-resident to open a UK bank account
@Niall, it’s certainly not that easy.
http://www.barclayswealth.com/international/international-bank-account.htm?WT.mc_id=14#
pretty simple and straightforward!
Not for everyone mind…
“To qualify you must deposit and maintain a balance of £50,000 or more (or currency equivalent) in cash or investments with us; or, if you have come to live in or are moving to the UK, deposit an annual individual gross income of £150,000 or more (or currency equivalent) into Barclays international bank accounts.”
@ Padriag read it again, there are three options depending on level of service required,
the minimum balance required varies from £50,000 to £10,000 to a minimum of £5,000
the fees are £10 per month,
but your money is Noonan proof!
The Russians are coming! Eh, no, I don’t think so: they’re going – especially in Cyprus. Cyprus will never be used as an off-shore financial centre again. Courtesy of the Germans, of course. Economic warfare at its best. I feel sorry for the ordinary working class Cypriot who is facing a long and arduous road of imposed brutal austerity.
I feel sorry for the working class Cypriot too but the fact is that Cyprus allowed it’s banks to be used as a tax haven for a lot of dodgy Russian money. The austerity package should hit big depositors there and that’s what it’s doing. Why should Russian depositors be bailed out by EU money?
That is only an excuse to plunder the bank accounts. If they knew the money was dodgy or laundered, then under EU legislation they would be able to legally confiscate 100% of it! The fundamental purpose of a bank is you can put your money in it for save keeping. If you take that basic tenet away from banking, it means it’s not fit for purpose. It’s disgraceful what the Troika have imposed, and they will reap what they sow because of it.
Whether the Russian money is dodgy or laundered or not the fact is that it is there (25% of bank deposits in Cyprus come from Russia) and it’s there so that certain Russian people/companies can avoid paying taxes in their home country. I have a huge moral issue with people that are trying to avoid taxes in their home state getting 100% of deposits back from an EU bailout.
I remember reading this piece in the Guardian back in February and found it quite interesting.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/26/cyprus-russian-invasion
I’ll have a read of it. Thanks.
What’s the safest thing to do with your money in the bank if your lucky enough to have over 100k in savings and you don’t want to leave it there just in case?????? In Ireland I mean and apart from leaving it under the mattress?
Buy gold that’s what all governments deal in
Mid to long term investments in commodities and emerging markets
Yeah have a good look at gold or else just buy cheap land with some potential. Point is to get something thats tangible and can be traded in future in case of a currency collapse!
safest thing you could do would be forget about money and start planting vegetables for yourself cos the only true currency on this planet is food!
As someone with German heritage….Im ashamed..they couldn’t rule Europe with a bullet…by a euro will do.. My dads even ashamed tonight.
The cypriot scenario in some form will happen here.
Last time I was in a bank I d a stocking over my head!
I hope you paid your tax on it
Red tubers, that was a joke !!!!!!!!
I dont have your money!! Its in bobs house and bills house…
No it’s in adolfs and Eva’s house !
Timber!!
I have just arrived to live and work in Ireland . Can you recommend a good Germany phrase book I can purchase so Zi can communicate with the locals
Lads, what ever way you look at it, we’re bol##cked
German is the language to learn, because when you go into your band and want to withdraw YOUR money fran bank teller only specks the native language , German.
All of the EU banks are going to be discredited if that’s the case. They have destroyed the most of the most capitalistic rules – security of bank deposits. Massive financial outflow is going to be happen from EU and again to Washington :((( #obamacares
I’m still waiting a cash a birthday cheque I got from my uncle
by stopping people from saving, they will spend and one of the proven ways to come out of recession besides austerity is spending! thats it in black and white anyway!! but it is pretty ridiculous!!
clearly there is a problem with the EU when the head of one sovereign nation can dictate terms to the head of another sovereign nation. are we all supposed to shake in our boots now that our German masters have asserted there superiority over another country. this “crises” was caused by a decision within the German finance ministry to shut off liquidity ves a ve the European central bank in Frankfort. so the lesson for all out those people out there that don’t get it. is do what Germany tells you to or they will threaten you with starvation and civil unrest. does anyone else have a problem with a German having that much power over another country . this is exactly why this country has lost its sovereignty we no longer have the power to control our own currency and at the whim of our overlords who can shut down our banks if we don’t make favorable decisions. every day we are nestled in the bosom of the Teutonic twit that is deutschland we are in their control we dont we bring back out own currency and we can be in control of our own future. “he who controls the country”
“he who controls the currency controls the country”
have your say