South Korea urges climate action after deadly floods
Climate change is not about slowly rising sea levels. It’s about “violent extreme weather in many forms, striking anywhere, anytime, constantly,” says Assaad Razzouk, author of Saving the Planet Without the Bullshit. At least 40 people in South Korea have been killed in floods and landslides after a weekend of severe rains, including 13 deaths in a flooded road tunnel. “We need to completely dismantle thinking that these extremes are an aberration,” said President Yoon Suk-yeol. Elsewhere, China’s Xinjiang province recorded temperatures of more than 52C on Sunday, a new national record. Italy has placed 16 cities on red alert with temperatures in Rome likely to hit 43C tomorrow; about 69.6 million people in the US – around 20 per cent of the population – live in areas expected to reach dangerous heat levels this week.
Photograph Andres Gutierrez/ Anadolu Agency via Getty Images