Fossil Fuel is Fossil Trouble:It must be Curbed to Prevent Fossil Extinction

In a recent study, nearly sixty-two thousand people perished from heat-related deaths in Europe in 2023, Italy the hardest hit with more than eighteen thousand deaths, those who spend prolonged periods of time outside most vulnerable.

Over 2,300 people died  from heat-related deaths in the United States last year, with about 1,722 deaths taking place in the year before, and 1,602 deaths happening through the same means in 2021.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 92.9 percent of Africans get exposed to excessive heat on a regular basis, with South Africa recording 11 deaths due to severe heat last year, the rest of the statistics for the entire continent unrecorded or unavailable.

Heat-related deaths now occur in Europe, the United States, and Africa with frequency, but as facts  from the World Health Organization (WHO) show, the prevalence goes on a worldwide basis, 489,000 perishing from it between 2000 and 2019, 45 percent of the victims coming from Asia, and 36 percent from Europe.

Last year, Europe witnessed a record number of days with extreme heat, as temperatures rose above average limits for 11 months, worsened by seven percent rise in precipitation, while the month of September went down as the warmest one on record, as temperature climbed 2.51 degrees Celsius higher than the previous warmest September recorded in 2020.

In 2023, the United States witnessed a number of cities with heat records, as Fort Lauderdale tied a daily record for a second straight day on July 19 at 94 degrees Fahrenheit, Philadelphia tying its daily high temperature record of 98 degrees Fahrenheit on July 17, and many other cities experiencing more or less the same thing during the period.

In November last year, ten of South Africa’s weather stations experienced their highest-ever temperatures, with the one at Augrabies reaching the highest maximum temperature of 46.7 degrees Celsius, with the heat wave in the country starting on November 19, reaching its peak on November 27.

With heat waves lasting so long in South Africa, the same scenario replicated in the United States and elsewhere, deaths from the phenomenon become inevitable,  experts predicting more of it as the pace of climate change increases.

From computer modeling, global warming in continental Europe could be higher than the global average by three degrees Celsius by 2050, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius in Andalusia for more than 29 days per year, while a city such as Berlin could record temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius.

Global warming in the United States could lead to higher temperatures than the ones recorded for today by 2050, as summer temperatures on the average could arrive 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit higher in New York by 2050 compared to figures for 2000, with Chicago hitting 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit in Summer temperatures and an increase of 5.6 Fahrenheit in winter.

Global warming in Africa could also come with increased intensity by 2050, especially as experts predict an average temperature rise of two degrees Celsius for Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to the one degree Celsius  increase from the late 19th to the early 21st century.

With global temperatures slated to show increases in the United States, Europe, Africa, and other places on the planet, the situation could imply grave repercussions, especially when many ignore steps at mitigation.

Obviously, steps at mitigation must entail the reduction in the use of fossil fuel, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because without it, humans might face extinction on a planet called earth.

What to Eat

Vegan food from Eswatini, Credit, 196 Flavors.com