This aerial view taken from a Civil Security helicopter shows an aircraft dropping a load of water over a wildfire near Saint-Jean-d'Illac, southwestern France, on July 28. Climate emergencies and heatwaves have demonstrated that there are no silos or fortresses in the global trade and energy-extractive complex, says the writer.
Ashraf Patel
Wildfires in France, Spain and Italy have forced the evacuation of about 330,000 people over the past week, with Spain entering Europe’s fourth intense heatwave of the summer, attempting to contain some of the worst forest fires in the country’s history. A fire in the hilly terrain of Ávila, west of Madrid, has become Spain’s largest on record, burning 50,000 hectares.
As Europe faces its highest summer temperatures with scores of tragic climate-induced deaths, the spotlight is on it. For decades, they have been the de facto Green champion leader; Europe faces its moment of truth. At last year’s UN Climate Change COP in Belen, many EU nations reduced their commitments to their NDC obligations.
As Europe faces its hottest summer on record, with thousands having died tragically, leading scientists have drawn the link to climate change; the latest heatwave pandemic in Europe has reached astronomic proportions.
