Weather

In Cape Town, South Africa, a city of nearly four million people, drought conditions and fires have made headlines lately. But recently the world learned the true seriousness of the drought. “Dam levels in Cape Town have dropped and with many Capetonians still using more than the restricted limit of water, Mayor Patricia de Lille announced on Tuesday that Day Zero had been brought forward by seven days to April 22… Day Zero refers to the day when Cape Town’s dam levels reach 13.5% or less.

According to a recent study in the highly respected journal Science, “Ocean dead zones with zero oxygen have quadrupled in size since 1950… while the number of very low oxygen sites near coasts have multiplied tenfold” (The Guardian, January 4, 2018). Because most sea life cannot live in these dead zones, scientists predict that mass extinction and ecological collapse could occur if the trend continues.

In recent statements, “the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church said… the world is on the brink of slipping into ‘the abyss of the end of history’” (Newsweek, November 21, 2017). He continued by warning his congregants that the coming end of the age—the apocalypse—is currently “visible to the naked eye.” However, this Russian cleric is not alone in his dire predictions.

Wildfires and arson-set fires are burning out of control in northwest Spain and Portugal, fueled by dry conditions and strong winds from Hurricane Ophelia (Deutsche Welle, October 16, 2017). More than 30 deaths have been caused by over a dozen fires, and more than 5,000 firefighters are working to contain the blazes. These fires follow on the heels of the deadliest fire in Portugal’s history, which occurred in June.

Several million people lost power as a result of the devastation brought about by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Across the Caribbean islands and the southern United States, people suffered the loss of electric power. This might be a relative inconvenience compared to those who also lost their homes and possessions, but the effects are nevertheless profound.