Weather promotes environmental awareness in [insert year / country]

[logicmanPatrick]

History often repeats itself, perhaps because some people just don't 'get' history.  Or science.

I often come across old new stories which, merely by change of date and/or place names could be today's headlines.

The USA is witnessing the obvious effects of global warming, in the form of more intense hurricanes.  The world is witnessing catastrophic wierd weather.  The cryosphere continues to shed the very thing which makes it 'cryo-'.

We were warned.  Again and again and again.

I have started this new thread hoping for posts about historical warnings, bearing in mind that history is a matter of scale.  A century ago, a year, a week, a second ago: all past is history.  But pragmatically we can limit 'history' to mean 'written history', i.e. articles warning about the effects of global warming.

Here is a single link to two articles from 1989 republished by Context Institute.

Excerpts:

The summer of 1988 may yet be seen as the "environmental awareness summer," when the Earth spoke in droughts and floods. The Earth spoke and somehow we listened. Suddenly people are beginning to understand that nature is very closely bound up with our economic futures.

Dr Noel J Brown

... by giving traditional enemies a common adversary, global environmental problems can become an important vehicle for greater international communication and cooperation.

Joel Swisher

Regarding Joel Swishers words: I believe that Trump, by provoking N. Korea, by "giving traditional enemies a common adversary", and by thus promoting exports of US military equipment is promoting financial gain for himself and others at the expense of world peace.

Back on topic, and if Neven agrees, please post anything from the past on the lines of 'lessons have been learned'.

[TerryM]

Patrick
I don't know if it's appropriate here, but my first, and only, experience with a hurricane was Hurricane Hazel of 1954 from just west of Toronto.
The historic rains and flooding killed 81 Canadians, and while hurricanes had swept through Canada much further east, no one believed Toronto would ever be struck by such a storm.


Personal observations were limited, A huge oak that once split Main street ended split itself, apparently from the shear weight of rain on her venerable limbs and annual autumn leaves. News photos of de-roofed barns and toppled sheds were ubiquitous. The results of the flash flooding weren't unusual to a child familiar with large, destructive, spring floods. Rain in excess of an inch per day was however something that expanded my experience of weather.


The historic repercussions of Hazel have been positive in Canada. The regions of Toronto that suffered the worst flooding were bought up and eventually became an extensive network of parks and conservation areas. Bridges were reinforced, dams were built. Plans for the unimaginable were imagined, then drawn.


Lessons can be learned.
Terry

[Neven]

In Croatia there are lots of problems. The economy is a mess and corruption abounds, and so most people are mostly focused on survival. But with unprecedented forest fires this year during a massive heatwave and an unheard of precipitation event just a few days ago, AGW awareness is growing. I wouldn't call it environmental awareness in the sense that people are changing their ways (again, they have bigger problems in the short term), but it is awareness.

[logicmanPatrick]

In Croatia there are lots of problems. The economy is a mess and corruption abounds, and so most people are mostly focused on survival. But with unprecedented forest fires this year during a massive heatwave and an unheard of precipitation event just a few days ago, AGW awareness is growing. I wouldn't call it environmental awareness in the sense that people are changing their ways (again, they have bigger problems in the short term), but it is awareness.

I agree that environmental awareness is growing. 

One measure is the number of newspapers reporting environment news accurately.

Another measure is the proportion of comments arguing strongly against what Guardian commenter semyorka called 'garden shed Galileos'.