Posts Tagged ‘Extreme weather’

We have all experienced a winter of varying degrees of severity. Here in the south of France we have had so much rain over the past few months that the ground is just oozing water. Two days ago a socking great cyprus tree fell over and squashed our car – the ground so saturated with water that there was no support any more for the root system. The whole thing came up … roots and all.

But that’s nothing compared to some of the disasters happening around the world, and Mongolia is one of them. I will copy The Adventurists entire plea for help here. Please click on the links and they’ll take you through. Thank you.

The Adventurists visit every year, and now

Mongolia needs our help.

Thousands of animals have died in Mongolia since the cold set in. The Adventurists have launched an emergency appeal to raise funds for the purchasing and distribution of food to the herders for their horses and other livestock.

Please donate to AVSF through this AFD JustGiving page: our initial target is £5,000, we hope with your help we’ll smash this.

The Current Situation

Mongolia is experiencing extreme weather conditions, which is killing thousands of animals across the country. The herders need food for their animals, but there is very little stock available in Mongolia. Emergency measures are being taken by Agronomes et Veterinaires Sans Frontieres (AVSF) to import feed from China and Russia. Funds are desperately needed to pay for the food and its distribution to save the herders’ animals.

Goats, sheep and horses have been dying every single day of hunger and cold, and even the hardy yaks are suffering and numbers are dwindling, leaving their herders with no livelyhood and no means to feed or support their families.

What is being done

AVSF – an Official Charity for the Mongol Derby 2010 – are already working on the ground t o procure and distribute food to the herders. So far they have implemented the procurement and distribution of two food deliveries, each mission taking two weeks.

During that time they also checked the animals for disease and foot rot, and helped the herders with their own efforts to save the livestock. Locals are rallying round, donating a day’s salary as regularly as possible towards food purchases, and sewing coats and pelts together to shelter the animals from the cold.

AVSF have mobilised exceptional funds from current projects in an effort to help during this emergency and are already responding to the consequences they see occurring by restructuring their 2010/2011 programmes to meet the new needs the local people now face. The charity are realistic about this weather – this is not short term – it’s here until the summer months and the knock on effects will be seen for many more months to come.

How you can help

AVSF have the use of the trucks, access to sources of food and the means to distribute the food. They’re desperately in need of immediate funds to buy the food and the fuel to reach the herders in the Steppe. 100% of the funds you donate will go to help the herders and their livestock right now, and save the lives of hundreds of animals and contribute to the rebuilding of the herds.

Adventures for Development (AFD) is the UK registered charity collecting funds in the UK for AVSF. They will transfer your donation in full to AVSF. If you’re a French tax payer, please donate directly through AVSF’s website www.avsf.org.

Thank you, your donations will make a difference fast and be greatly appreciated.

The Adventurists
http://www.theadventurists.com

The system of terraces around our house are not meant to be waterfalls, but with the endless rain of the last few days they bare a strange resemblance! Although certainly not navigable, I couldn’t resist comparing them to these falls and screening this great kayaking video to brighten up a very dull day… Thanks avavidaloca

My daughter was asked 3 questions in class the other day in the interests of global warming:

• Would you and your family be prepared to return to the one car one family system of yesteryear?
• Would you be prepared to return to one telephone per household?
• Would you be prepared to give up air travel?

Think about it and then ask yourselves those questions? It’s not long ago that the correct answer (yes, yes and yes!) was just ordinary life and nothing unusual…

As you know, since we’ve written about it before, HRH Prince Charles has been closely associated with this subject for years and has been increasingly concerned about the lack lustre performance of our global leaders. There is no point in me spouting on, read for yourself the transcript of his speech to our leaders in Copenhagen:

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On Tuesday HRH The Prince of Wales appealed to delegates at the UN climate summit to set aside national differences and agree to a global warming accord before it is too late. Delivering the keynote address as the conference in Copenhagen formally entered its final phase, HRH told ministers and world leaders that:

“The eyes of the world are upon you and it is no understatement to say that, with your signatures, you can write our future.”

HRH used the speech to outline how critical tropical forests are to a successful climate deal and how a deal on forests could provide a valuable example of how climate change issues could be resolved:

“The simple truth is that without a solution to tropical deforestation, there is no solution to climate change. That is why I established a Rainforests Project to try to promote a consensus on how tropical deforestation might be significantly reduced.”

“It seems the quickest and most cost-effective way to buy time in the battle against catastrophic climate change is to find a way to make the trees worth more alive than dead.”

HRH placed the battle to save the forests within the context of a world ecosystem struggling to cope with the ever increasing pressures exerted by the global economy. He stressed the need to deal systemically with the problem of deforestation and address its fundamental economic drivers:

“It is critical to find ways to prevent forests being converted to agriculture. I have been heartened by my conversations with some of the world’s largest agri-businesses which have told me that, through more effective use of vast areas of degraded land, we could feed and fuel a growing population and keep the forests. But, Ladies and Gentlemen, it must be genuinely sustainable agriculture that helps to sequester carbon, protect biodiversity and empower local communities and small farmers.”

Describing deforestation as just one manifestation of a broader malaise HRH stated that:

“We appear intent upon consuming the planet. It seems likely, on current patterns of use, that our global fisheries will collapse by 2050 and, already, fresh water is becoming scarcer, placing global food security at ever greater hazard.”

“In the last 50 years we have degraded 30 per cent of global topsoil and destroyed 30 per cent of the world’s rainforests. All of these issues are linked to each other and to climate change – a truly vicious circle. However, it is these links, together with our common humanity and the unprecedented connections of today’s global community, which might, perhaps, provide us with a solution.”

On corporate involvement, he said:

“The need fully to engage the private sector reflects not only the growing determination of business to act in a sustainable way but, crucially, its determination to listen to customers. And what customers are saying ever more loudly is that they want their investment choices to make a positive difference to climate change.”

“The future of mankind can be assured only if we rediscover ways in which to live as a part of nature, not apart from her,” he said.

“The grim reality is that our planet has reached a point of crisis and we have only seven years before we lose the levers of control.”

He added: “Reducing poverty, increasing food production, combating terrorism and sustaining economic development are all vital priorities, but it is increasingly clear how rapid climate change will make them even more difficult to address.

“When it comes to the air we breathe and the water we drink, there are no national boundaries. We all depend on each other – and, crucially, on each other’s actions – for our weather, our food, our water and our energy.

“These are the ‘tectonic plates’ on which the peace and stability of the international community rest. The inescapable conclusion, therefore, is that a partial solution to climate change is no solution at all.

“It must be inclusive and it must be a comprehensive approach – one that strengthens the resilience of our ecosystems.”

In his closing statement, HRH left the assembled ministers and leaders with a poignant call to action:

“As our planet’s life-support system begins to fail and our very survival as a species is brought into question, remember that our children and grandchildren will ask not what our generation said, but what it did. Let us give an answer, then, of which we can be proud.”

Read a full transcript of the speech here: http://www.rainforestsos.org/copenhagen or watch a video of the speech here: http://www.rainforestsos.org/speechvideo

You know how every now and then, here at our extreme sports site, we have an article on extreme weather, extreme environmental concerns, global warming, state of the seas… I could go on forever. However, I don’t think we could ever say it as well as this extroadinary young girl (leeks5229). Watch and take note…

And I hope it gives pause for thought…

We have frequently discussed climate change on this website and the adverse effects of extreme weather conditions, so I thought it would not be out of place to give you an account of the ‘extreme’ journey we took last Wednesday, 7th January.

We set off from our home in sunny Provence at 5.30 in the morning. Just as a quick reminder, this is what it normally looks like in sunny Provence on the Cotes d’Azur, France on a mid-winter afternoon…

Within half an hour of leaving home, and driving parallel to the coast we noticed that there was light snow on the road. No problem we thought. That happens occasionally even as far south as here. However, by the time we got to the Aix en Provence péage (toll booth), things had got slightly more dramatic:

… and, within a few more minutes, the light snow on the road had become a bit of a major snowstorm:

Within about 10kms from Aix we were in a ‘bouchon’ (traffic jam) from hell, and subsequently sat there for 8 hours!

Eventually, the powers-that-be (who were all working incredibly hard) had to admit that there was no ways they were going to have the autoroute (motorway) re-opened before the following day. Let’s face it, this is, after all, the south of France and 40cms of snow in a few hours is a little unusual, and even though the area has a surprising number of snowploughs – there were not nearly enough to cope with this sort of situation.

At this stage all cars that could reach, or be pushed to, an exit took the opportunity to get off the autoroute.

The only problem was – every other road was blocked too. Very few people carry snowchains in their cars down our way so there were cars in ditches, cars skidded into each other, broken branches and trees everywhere and cars with their noses buries in these too! Luckily, since we were on our way to the Hautes Alpes for a few days skiing we had chains so were able to shunt our way around obstacles where possible. But most times we were in another jam like this one:

We had been told that the snow stopped at Avignon, and we knew the roads had been closed behind us making it just as difficult to return home, so we decided to push on. It took us another 4 hours to do the 24kms necessary to get back onto the autoroute, only to find that it was now snowing at Avignon, and then Orange, followed by Bollene, and it only abated around Valences where we forked off to head up the Isére valley towards the Alps.

The 6 hour journey took us 22 !!! How’s that for severe weather conditions and an epic voyage.

But we made it to the Portes du Soleil (one of the biggest ski areas in Europe) at about midday the following day – and by 12.30 were flying down the mountain with the wind in our hair and that very special sound of skis gliding over crisp, clean snow. More on that later…

As our regular readers will know this is a subject about which we sometimes rant. And today we have to find ourselves apologising as here in the south of France we have been affected by our own extreme weather.

For two days now we have been lashed by severe rain which has dumped another 10 inches of rain, and that is on top of the 10 inches that fell in both October and November. which is more than you would expect for this area in a whole year – mind that has been after one of the driest periods, which went on for 5 years – and so it is not as if it wasn’t needed.

The consequence of this heavy rain has been to knock our internet connection out and hence the apology as we were unable to get online yesterday.

But we have heard of the dreadful weather that the north eastern United States has been suffering from and although we have been unable to locate any footage of the current troubles you have been experiencing there is plenty of print.

CBC news reports, ‘A storm that has blanketed much of the northeastern United States in ice has left 1.25 million homes and businesses without electricity, and officials say the power outages could last for several more days.

Parts of New England were hit with freezing rain that began late Thursday and continued Friday.

The storm hit seven states, striking New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and New York the hardest. The governors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts have both declared a state of emergency.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said power outages will continue throughout the weekend and “longer than Monday” for some areas. He said officials will know more after debris is cleared in the next few days.

Gov. John Lynch of New Hampshire said the power may be out for some until Wednesday. At a news conference Friday, Lynch said the ice storm was an “unprecedented event.”‘

So our sincere sympathy goes out to you guys but you know what – these freak conditions are happening more and more often and in more and more places around the world – and note John Lynch of New Hampshire said, ‘the storm was an unprecedented event’.

That means it hasn’t happened before……….come on guys, we’ve gotta do something about the way we are living before its too late. The trouble with that is that its human nature to put things off, to procrastinate. Time for change…….time to be proactive.