Video - Remembering Haiyan and Working for Climate Justice

One year ago today, November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever to hit land, devastated the Philippines. Powerful winds and seven meter high storm surges killed as many as 7,300 people and forced a million families from their homes. A year later thousand of people are still homeless.

The chief climate negotiator from the Philippines Yeb Saño delivered a speech to the U.N. climate summit in Doha following the devastating Typhoon Bopha that killed some 1,100. "In Doha, we asked, 'If not us then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?' In the wake of Haiyan one year later in Warsaw," Saño said: "What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw." 

Super storms like Typhoon Haiyan are the true face of the fossil fuel industry and unless we can rein in this rogue industry we will see even more record breaking storms. We know that fossil fuels are the leading cause of climate change and we must work to reduce our consumption and the emissions they cause.

The people of the Philippines are on the front lines of climate change and they are rising up and demanding climate justice. We must stand with them in their call for climate justice. They are at the forefront of a global movement calling for responsible governance and they need our support.  Be part of the global movement to stand together and say that we will not let storms like Haiyan become a way of life; we will stand together for climate action.

Last January 25th over 20,000 people came together in the Philippines for the Peoples Surge Rally. This call for climate justice is being reenacted on the anniversary of Haiyan. Hundred of people are staging a protest walk that will take them from Manilla to Tacloban City, the epicenter of the super-storm.

"We work with the local government and make them commit to implement disaster risk reduction management and climate change adaptation measures into making resilient communities. We walk for every Filipino whose lives and livelihood are at stake; for every country like the Philippines that has been damaged and continues to be damaged by climate change and its impacts.We walk to show world leaders that we refuse for Haiyan to be our way of life"

People Surge, an alliance of victims, organizations & individuals of the typhoon, has been mobilizing around the anniversary. They are preparing a two-day rally in Tacloban City for the anniversary wherein 20,000 participants who are survivors of calamities from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao are expected.

With the aim of letting them know that we are with them, 350.org has organized a message campaign. Their fight is our fight. We are a global movement and we must stand together with those who are being devastated by climate change.

Click here to add your message.

You can help by donating to the Climate Relief fund which delivers 100 percent of the money raised will go to the Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). Click here to donate.

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The Horrors of Typhoon Haiyan Offers a Painful Glimpse into our Future

While it is reasonable to come to the conclusion that Typhoon Haiyan was exacerbated by climate change, it is indisputable that this record breaking storm, likely the most powerful to ever make landfall, is a foretaste of our future if we continue on our current trajectory.

As we watch the painful reports of people burying their dead, searching for loved ones or desperate for food and water we would do well to remember, this is not the isolated fate of an isolated people. This is what lies in store for all of us if we fail to make the transition to a low carbon economy.

By some estimates as many as 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban alone, if aid does not come soon many more will die from thirst, starvation and disease. Almost a million people have been displaced as their homes have been destroyed. 

Like so many countries, the Philippines struggles to deal with rampant corruption and violent extremism. When extreme weather is added to the mix we have a volatile and corrosive combination. As always the poorest people are the hardest hit.

While the impacts of the storm are horrific, it could have been far worse. Sadly it will get far worse in the Philippines and elsewhere unless we do act now to significantly reduce our ongoing output of GHGs. First and foremost this means rapidly reducing our consumption of fossil fuels.

We do not need to speculate about what the future of climate change will look like as Typhoon Haiyan offers a tragically graphic illustration. The death, devastation and suffering in the Philippines affords us a painful glimpse into what it will be like in a world ravaged by climate change.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Why We Must Help the People of the Philippines

We all have responsibilities to assist those who are suffering from extreme weather particularly those of us who live in wealthy nations. Climate scientists have linked Typhoon Haiyam to climate change. We already know that climate change causes extreme weather and we also know that we are all guilty of contributing to global warming. Wealthier nations have additional responsibilities as we know that our wealth was achieved through industrialization. Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs) which are a byproduct of industrialization. Therefore, wealthier countries have an obligation to help, both because we are the biggest contributors of global warming causing GHGs and because we have the means.

Extreme weather will increase in a world rocked by climate change and we need to be ready to help those in need. We can invest now in strategies to mitigate carbon and other GHGs or we can pay later as we try to address the awful toll of such events. For those who think we don't need to do either, think again. Failure to mitigate climate change or manage its aftereffects will have global consequences that will affect us all. This ranges from climate refugees, to conflict and war.

The second quarter of the Fifth IPCC report indicates that global food chains are also likely to break down and we will be far less able to feed ourselves and the globe. Drinkable water will also be in short supply.

In the Philippines the death toll will rise beyond the thousands that have already perished. People will die of thirst, hunger and disease. In addition to the absence of basic sustenance, almost one million people have lost their homes and have no shelter. Vast amounts of croplands have been devastated and in addition to the loss of their livelihoods, farmers will not be able to provide food. It will take months if not years to recover.

President Obama said the United States also stood ready to assist the government’s relief and recovery efforts. The US has deployed ships and aircraft to deliver supplies and help in the search-and-rescue efforts and the US Embassy in Manila has provided $100,000 for immediate health and sanitation efforts.

Tacloban has been devastated but this is not the only area affected. A number of fishing communities are located right up to the shoreline and may have been wiped out altogether. Cebu province was also hit hard.

Hurricane Sandy revealed that wealthy nations are not immune to the destructive impacts of extreme weather. Typhoon Haiyan offers us a glimpse of our own future. Even if we ignore the issue of culpability, we must do all we can to help, if for no other reason than the realization that we are all vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Click here to go to 350.org's direct relief aid.

Click here for a comprehensive summary of reputable charities accepting aid for Typhoon Haiyam relief (list compiled by ABC News).

Until December 9th, Canadian donations earmarked for Typhoon Haiyan made to a registered charity will be matched by the government of Canada. Click here to donate to the Canadian Red Cross.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Typhoon Haiyan and Climate Change

Last week, Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines leaving a path of death and destruction in its wake. Wind speeds of more than 190 miles an hour (almost 315 km/h) make Haiyan the most powerful typhoon ever to make landfall. According to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the area East of the Philippines where Haiyan formed, sea temperatures were about 0.5 to 1 degree above normal.

Climate scientists state that violent storms are more likely as the build-up of greenhouse gases causes the earth and the seas to warm. According to Professor Will Steffen, a researcher at the ANU and member of the Climate Council, a hotter, moister climate is already affecting storms such as Haiyan.

Typhoons (Hurricanes and Cyclones) derive their energy from the surface waters of the ocean. As the oceans continue to warmi this directly influences the storms which form over them.

Warmer seas are only one, albeit a salient part, of the extreme weather equation. There is also the issue of the temperature discrepancy between the ocean and the tops of the storms, high in the troposphere which is expected to widen as the earth continues to warm.

Climate models corroborate research which shows that storms of the future will be far more intense. Such violent weather will in turn cause storm surges which will exacerbate rising sea levels which are also attributed to global warming.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The Philippine's Climate Negotiator Delivers Typhoon Haiyan Inspired Message at COP 19

Typhoon Haiyan left a path of widespread devastation and according to the most recent reports it may have killed as many as 10,000 people in the Philippines. As climate delegates gather for COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland, vast numbers of people in the Philippines are mourning their dead and struggling to find food and water. Between 70 and 80 percent of all the structures in the storms path have been decimated. Entire towns have been leveled and at least 600,000 people are known to have been displaced by the storm.

Against the backdrop of this most recent storm, one of the most violent in human history, delegate at the latest round of U.N. climate talks are working to pull the world back from the brink of destruction. Climate models show us that this storm is a window into the future of what the world will look like if we continue on our current trajectory.

As explained in the second quarter of the UN's AR5 report, violent storms will occur more often if we continue with business as usual and those in Asia, particularly the poor, will be the hardest hit. Climate change is devastating to us all, but as an Asian nation, with a large number of poor people, the Philippines is especially vulnerable as this densely populated nation is surrounded by the warming waters of the Pacific. According to meteorologists the strength of Typhoon Haiyan is largely attributable to a nearly 2 degree Fahrenheit rise rise in ocean temperatures.

While scientists are always cautious about attributing any individual storm to climate change, it is clear that violent storms are exacerbated by warming seas, and as a consequence climate change plays a salient role in these types of extreme weather events.

Officials from the Philippines present at the climate negotiations in Warsaw are unreservedly  blaming the apocalyptic storm on climate change.

Naderev “Yeb” Saño, lead climate negotiator for the Philippines in Warsaw, has heard first hand accounts of death and devastation from his family. He put a voice to the destruction wreaked by the Typhoon when he offered the following comments,

“To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of you armchair,” he said. “I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the Indian ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar ice caps, to the large deltas of the Mekong, the Ganges, the Amazon, and the Nile where lives and livelihoods are drowned, to the hills of Central America that confronts similar monstrous hurricanes, to the vast savannas of Africa where climate change has likewise become a matter of life and death as food and water becomes scarce. Not to forget the massive hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard of North America. And if that is not enough, you may want to pay a visit to the Philippines right now.”

“What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness... The climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw. Typhoons such as Haiyan and its impacts represent a sobering reminder to the international community that we cannot afford to procrastinate on climate action.”

He also thanked those who are working tirelessly to encourage action on climate change,

“I thank civil society, both who are working on the ground as we race against time in the hardest hit areas, and those who are here in Warsaw prodding us to have a sense of urgency and ambition. We are deeply moved by this manifestation of human solidarity. This outpouring of support proves to us that as a human race, we can unite; that as a species, we care.”

Saño was also the lead negotiator for the Philippines at last year's Climate Conference in Doha, where he offered the following haunting and heart-felt warning, following Typhoon Bopha:

“[W]e have never had a typhoon like Bopha, which has wreaked havoc in a part of the country that has never seen a storm like this in half a century. And heartbreaking tragedies like this is not unique to the Philippines, because the whole world, especially developing countries struggling to address poverty and achieve social and human development, confront these same realities. …"

"I appeal to the whole world, I appeal to the leaders from all over the world, to open our eyes to the stark reality that we face. I appeal to ministers. The outcome of our work is not about what our political masters want. It is about what is demanded of us by 7 billion people.”

"I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around...The outcome of our work is not about what our political masters want. It is about what is demanded of us by 7 billion people..."

I ask of all of us here, if not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?"

We would be wise to heed Saño's words, the prospect of delaying progress on a binding international treaty can only be described as sadism. One of those on the ground echoed the sentiments of many when she described the situation as "hell." This is something for delegates to consider as they work towards a global binding treaty.

“We can take drastic action now to ensure that we prevent a future where super typhoons are a way of life,” Saño said recently. “Because we refuse, as a nation, to accept a future where super typhoons like Haiyan become a fact of life. We refuse to accept that running away from storms, evacuating our families, suffering the devastation and misery, having to count our dead, become a way of life. We simply refuse to.”

Sano concluded, “Let Poland, let Warsaw, be remembered as the place where we truly cared to stop this madness. Can humanity rise to this occasion? Mr. President, I still believe we can.”

Leaders who ignore efforts to forge an agreement or worse those who actively try to undermine such an outcome, are condemning people to death and playing an active role in creating hell on earth.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Video - Typhoon Haiyan One of the Biggest Superstorms Ever on the Planet

As reported on CNN, Chief Meteorologist Chad Myers says Typhoon Haiyan could be one of the biggest storms ever to make landfall. This is certainly the case in terms of wind speed, although we have yet to acquire data related to barometric pressure.

Superstorm Sandy slammed into North America in late October 2012 and approximately one year later Superstorm Haiyan, perhaps the strongest storm ever to make landfall, struck Asia. People are asking questions about extreme weather and the relationship to climate change. Fueled by warmer seas caused by global warming these destructive weather anomalies are certain to increase as the world gets warmer.

We know for sure that extreme weather comes with extreme cost and according to Nasa scientists the situation will get worse as the planet warms.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan May be the Strongest Storm in History

With sustained winds of 315 kph (195 mph) and gusts as strong as 380 kph (235 mph), Haiyan may be the strongest tropical cyclone to hit land anywhere in recorded history. Haiyan's strength is right around the theoretical upper limit that cyclones can reach. The storm ravaged the Philippines with deadly winds, storm surges, torrential rainfalls, and widespread flooding as high as 10 feet in some areas.

Haiyan is known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, slammed into the country's eastern island of Samar at 4:30 a.m., before moving on to five other Philippine islands then, heading toward Vietnam. In addition to massive property damage the death toll now stands at 100 and is expected to rise

A superstorm is a powerful widespread storm, it usually connotes widespread devastation. The technical designation of a typhoon (or hurricane) involves wind speeds of over 74 mph. Meteorologists qualify storms into five classes using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (Category 5 being the fiercest).

Haiyan was so big that at one point it covered two thirds of the Philippines.Tropical storm-force winds extended 240 kilometers (149 miles) from the typhoon's center. Authorities warned of possible flash floods, landslides and a storm surge as high as 7 meters (23 feet).

There have been 9 years that have had more than three super typhoons in the Western Pacific Ocean (equivalent to Category 4 and 5 hurricanes) for the period from 2002-2012. One of the unique features of the storm is the fact that it reached Category 5 strength so quickly and at a very southern latitude.

Anthropogenic global warming is increasing sea surface temperatures and increasing the amount of moisture in the air, which may be altering tropical storm systems like Haiyan.

The most recent report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) found that “it is virtually certain that the frequency and intensity of the strongest tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic has increased since the 1970s,” but that there is less evidence of changes being detected in other ocean basins.

In the absence of historical data in the Pacific it is hard for scientists to make predictions for long term storm frequency in that ares. However, it is believed that global warming will increase the number of the strongest storms, while making storms produce more rainfall.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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