“Potentially the worst drought in 1,200 years” is the forecast of U.S. scientists for the states of California, Texas and Nebraska where temperatures have already reached highs of 42ºC and the prospect of catastrophic forest fires , water scarcity and a high death rate due to heat stroke is the harsh reality for Summer 2021.

The consensus of all these experts is that human activity, especially in the fields of fossil fuel consumption and land use, is largely responsible for impending disaster. In the short term such activity must be brutally curbed by drastically reducing the movement of people and goods, altering food consumption norms and reducing production to that of essentials. And in the long term the only practical policy is a planned reduction in population growth.

The “last chance” meeting of COP26 is now only five months away. Will the world leaders desist from their partisan stances and provide the UN with full authority to police our corrupt energy system ?

Roberto Knight
Cavaleiro, Tomar.