2014 recorded warmest year of century

The turn of the century has seen some of the world’s most extreme weather on record. 14 out of 15 of the warmest years on record have been from 2000 onwards.

The director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Gavin Schmidt stated: “The long-term trends are attributable to drivers of climate change that right now are dominated by human emissions of greenhouse gases.”

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) recorded extreme weather occurrences in 2014 which included a years’ worth of rainfall falling in the town of Guelmin in Morocco, parts of Turkey receiving rainfall four times its average, and Western Japan having the heaviest rain in August.

The policy and communications director on climate change at the London School of Economics, Bob Ward, stated: “The new global temperature record announced today completely exposes the myth that global warming has stopped.”

The UN climate summit that was held in Copenhagen in 2009 has been criticised for being ineffective to the numerous climate changes causing major issues all over the world. Though a summit is planned at the end of the year, critics are pessimistic about seeing any real change. Politicians are warned of the serious threat these extreme weather conditions are causing.

                                                                                                           Halimat Shode