By Lucia Puccetti
Global Warming, as a product of consumerism, deforestation and industrialisation, is having drastic effects on our planet – the impacts of which can already be seen in Europe today.
In 2022, Europe recorded its hottest summer ever, with twelve European countries breaking their monthly temperature records, with temperatures at least 1.9°C above the average recorded between 1991 and 2020. Alex Burkill, a senior meteorologist at the Met Office, stated “ there has been extreme heat across a huge area, which is unheard of”. It is evident that the European continent has already experienced some of the frightening impacts of Global Warming. In Austria the average temperature in October 2022 was 3.3°C warmer than the average temperature in October from 1991 to 2020. France, Slovenia, Croatia and Greece also experienced a 3°C increase compared to the monthly average temperatures in at least one month. Italy, Spain and Portugal broke monthly temperature records for three months in 2022, and the village of Korbielów in Poland was 18°C warmer than the average temperature for January.
Climate Change is threatening the livelihood of some ski resorts in Europe. Some resorts have been forced to shut as the continent experiences some of the highest January 2023 temperatures on record, and the hot weather has resulted in a drastic lack of snowfall in the mountains. Several ski centres have closed temporarily or have had to resort to artificial snow to keep slopes open. Ski centres in the northern Alps and French Pyrenees have been obliged to close amid the soaring temperatures. Ski operators are dreading that Global Warming means snowy winters will soon be a thing of the past. Climate Change is also impacting mountain towns in countries like Italy, Austria and Switzerland, as a great part of their income is dependent on winter tourism.
A winter heat wave and rain has forced the closures of many slopes at ski resorts throughout Europe, including at Savognin in Switzerland © Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Getty Images
2022’s average global temperature was 1.2°C above the average between 1850 and 1900, and though it was declared as being the fifth warmest year globally, the last eight years have been the warmest years on record. Our planet is continuously warming up and we’re getting closer to the Paris agreement cut off of 1.5°C. Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, stated “We are beginning to see increasing droughts, heatwaves and floods affecting large regions of the world that are not used to them. The rate of change means we need to adapt our way of life quicker than we ever have before.”