More frequent disasters
A United Methodist Insight Column
Climate Central put out a sobering assessment on weather and climate disasters in 2022 this week. Here are excerpts of its findings:
- The U.S. was hit with 18 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2022.
- The toll of these events was an estimated 474 lives lost and $165 billion in damages.
- The number of billion-dollar disasters in 2022, 2021 (20 events), and 2020 (22 events) was far above the long-term average of 8 billion-dollar disasters per year since 1980.
- The average time between billion-dollar disasters dropped from 82 days in the 1980s to just 18 days on average in recent years (2018-2022), straining the resources to respond and recover.
The costly and deadly billion-dollar disasters of 2022 included:
- Severe storms were the most frequent billion-dollar disasters in 2022. A total of 10 severe storms between March and July caused nearly $19 billion in damage.
- In July, extreme rainfall caused major flooding in Kentucky and Missouri, causing an estimated 42 deaths and $1.2 billion in damage to thousands of homes and businesses.
- On September 17-18, Hurricane Fiona brought extreme rainfall, widespread flooding, mudslides, and power outages across Puerto Rico.
- On September 28-30, Hurricane Ian caused extensive damage across Florida from high winds, storm surge, and both coastal and inland flooding. The storm caused an estimated 152 fatalities and $112.9 billion in damage—the costliest hurricane on record.
During the 2022 western wildfire season, severe drought and extreme heat sparked and sustained damaging wildfires in New Mexico (including the state’s largest and most destructive wildfire on record), California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.
Severe and prolonged drought conditions impacted the West and Southern Plains, contributing to depleted reservoirs, wildfire risk, agricultural losses, and heat-related illness and fatalities in Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Texas.
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2022 was also the 18th hottest year on record for the U.S.
- Looking at the top 10 hottest years on record in the U.S., seven have occurred since the year 2000, with the top six years all occurring since 2012.
- The annual average temperature for 2022 was 1.4°F above the 20th century average.
- 2022 had the third-hottest summer in historical record—2.5°F above average.
Local drought and deluge in 2022
Local precipitation extremes in 2022 left some parts of the country drenched and flooded, while others were parched and experiencing severe drought.
- Of 246 U.S. locations analyzed, 66% were drier than during the 1991-2020 normal period, and 34% were wetter than normal.
- 2022’s record weather is a snapshot of a longer warming trend.
- From 1970 to 2021, average annual temperatures increased in 98% of 246 U.S. locations analyzed.
- Two-thirds of those locations have warmed more than 2°F over this period.
- Continued heat-trapping emissions lead to the warmer and riskier conditions like those we experienced in 2022. And recent emissions trends are headed in the wrong direction.
- If current emissions rates continue, there is a 50% chance that we’ll exceed global warming of 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels in the next nine years.
Climate Central notes that " there are many opportunities to cut emissions in 2023 and beyond." We documented some of those opportunities in the Inflation Reduction Act in a previous column for churches and individuals to check out. Now's the time to set up creation care ministries that address these realities.
Delivering aid to Syria
Remember last column when we urged everyone to prepare for three intensifying crises this year? Well, here's a new wrinkle from Foreign Affairs magazine via The Washington Post's Worldview newsletter:
" ... The UN Security Council renewed a resolution that allows humanitarian aid to be delivered to millions of Syrians without the permission of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In the weeks leading up to the vote, diplomats, aid workers, and millions of Syrians worried that Russia would use its veto in the Security Council to block the cross-border aid. They had good reason to be concerned. Moscow, one of Assad’s closest backers, has long argued that the humanitarian mission violates Syria’s sovereignty, and it has previously vetoed the use of other crossing points for aid delivery into Syria. This time, the crisis is averted, at least for the next six months. But the uncertainty about the resolution’s fate has exposed the difficulty of providing humanitarian aid during an era of great-power competition."
Seems like something for the professional politicians, doesn't it? Foreign Affairs agrees:
"If oppressive governments can manipulate relief aid to prosecute their own internal conflicts, the international community loses an essential tool to alleviate suffering and manage crises. The United States and its allies must find ways to minimize the impact of great-power competition on humanitarian crises—in Syria and beyond. One way would be to move some of the debates over relief aid out of a polarized Security Council."
Remember, the executive of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, said his organization is proposing a worldwide committee that would handle humanitarian aid, including touchy issues like sovereignty, so that aid could get through no matter what? That's an opportunity for Christians and all people of faith to let their leaders know they support the creation of such a non-partisan group to ensure that aid gets through. Keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to support ways that will keep aid flowing to those in need.
More things to pray about
Along with the previous item, here's another note from The Washington Post's Worldview newsletter by Ishaan Tharoor and Sammy Westfall:
"The annual Preventive Priorities Survey, released by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), polled more than 500 U.S. government officials, policymakers and academics on the likelihood of certain events transpiring this year and what their impact would be on U.S. interests. It sorted these contingencies into a three-tiered ranking of potential hot spots and crises — at least from the vantage point of Washington.
"The seven most pressing threats in 2023 enumerated by the survey are as follows (emphasis added):
- The advent of “a severe cross-strait crisis” that pulls the United States into a confrontation with China over Taiwan;
- an escalation in the Ukraine war that sees “unconventional weapons spillover into neighboring countries”;
- a cyberattack hitting U.S. critical infrastructure; economic collapse and social unrest within Russia because of the toll of the war, leading to a destabilizing spiral;
- North Korea stepping up its testing of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles;
- Israel’s right-wing government taking covert or direct action against Iran’s nuclear program, with diplomacy over Tehran’s nuclear capabilities at a dead end; and
- the possibility of natural disaster and social unrest in Central America spawning a new surge of migration to the United States.
I'm no foreign policy expert, but we United Methodists know from our experience helping Ukrainian refugees that any of these threats, should they come about, are likely to cause parallel humanitarian crises. These are potential conflicts about which we can be praying deeply on a regular basis. Contrary to some perceptions, prayer is not a passive activity; it's active participation with God and other believers to hold situations and people in the light of divine help and healing. When we open ourselves to God's power, we find the strength and ingenuity to meet even the most drastic events. Let's be like the wise maidens; even when we don't know when or if these threats might arrive, we can still prepare for them in heart, mind and hands.
Media Mentions
SC's largest United Methodist Church prepares to leave denomination - Post and Courier
State's largest United Methodist congregation postpones discernment meeting – The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cape Coral church to disaffiliate from United Methodist Church - WINK News
Lawyer representing Methodist churches trying to leave says contentious split is ... - Yahoo News
Sussex County rainbow flag burning brings positive community action - Out In Jersey
The power of prayer: praying creates unity in the community - WENY News
Traditionalist UMC Group Dissolves, Joins New Denomination as Fulfillment of Mission –Christianity Daily
Multiple ministries under one roof in Denver | News | lincolntimesnews.com – Lincoln Times-News
Lilly Endowment launches initiative to strengthen Christian preaching - Baptist News Global
Oak Ridge church joins with network committed to 'LGBTQ+ justice' - Oakridger
Lawyer Alleges Greed, Power Struggles Driving Methodist Churches' Division - Christianity Daily
Making a Difference: Rita Willis has collected more than 96,000 pairs of shoes to help those in need – Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011. "Crisis Watch" forms part of Insight's participation in Covering Climate Now, an international collaboration of some 500 news outlets around the world committed to enhance climate coverage. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.