‘We can’t make it better again’: what Europe’s wildfires tell us about the climate crisis

In this week’s newsletter: As France and Spain battle huge fires in this summer of relentless heat, will it be enough to spur us to take action? • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereWhen Stefan Rahmstorf walked through the ruined streets of Dresden after the river Elbe flooded in 2002, and again when severe heat killed 70,000 people in Europe the following summer, the German climatologist wondered if worsening weather would make the political world “wake up and do something really decisively” to cut emissions.But two decades and 750bn tons of atmospheric carbon pollution later, Rahmstorf is still wondering when the wake-up call will come. Last week, as he was surfing off France’s Atlantic coast with his partner, he watched towering smoke plumes darken the sky as a ferocious inferno raged outside Bordeaux.‘We have lost everything’: extreme rainfall across Asia brings flash floods and typhoons‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missingUganda begins emergency food handouts after 19 die from hunger Continue reading...