Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
On 6 June in Aswan, it was 49 degrees C in the shade. In Cairo in April temperatures reached 41 degrees – 27 hotter than on a typical spring day in the late 19th century. The heating has two notable causes apart from climate change, and two effects. Bloomberg Green says the shadeless desert that constitutes so much of Egypt means it’s warming twice as fast as most of the rest of the world, intensifying the urban heat island effect endured by Cairo’s 20 million inhabitants. As for effects, soaring fuel consumption for air conditioning is driving a greenhouse gas feedback loop, and crop yields are down, pushing food prices up. Political scientists attribute the Arab Spring in part to a spike in the price of bread.
