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  • Here in the Czech Republic it is also very noticeable - rivers are running noticeably low and I've seen smaller streams dry out completely. Many trees ore getting orange or shedding leaves.

    Also quite interesting sometimes what plants don't have issue with the dryness - often quite exotic ones originally from the Mediterranean or from Asia.

    by m4rtink
  • Everything south of Poland is Southern Europe now.
    by dmos62
  • Meanwhile the cheapest way to travel are budget airlines.
    by formvoltron
  • And cars.

    The real costs are externalized.

    by __d
  • I read this article, all of it. I'm still trying to square the circle of how a report about the tribulations of fish-farming on the Danube align with the broader concept of the "Desertification in Europe". To me, it seems like a bs, but credible, AI article about fish-farming challenges on the Danube which met some sloppy editor who simply stuck a more click-baity headline on it - one that was completely unrelated to the content.
    by kayo_20211030
  • The timing of this article is a bit unfortunate. It's been raining here (France) every day for the past week, sometimes heavily.
    by gniv
  • The article is talking primarily about Eastern Europe. It's also not inconsistent to say that it's raining during a drought. That's why we distinguish between weather and climate.
    by fasterik
  • "Rain every day" is at best millimeters to tens of millimeters of water (depending on the rain).

    You need significantly more to properly saturate the earth, especially after a drought.

    by troupo
  • It was a good amount of rain, but most of it just went straight to rivers as soil is really dry (think if try to get a dry sponge wet again, soil behave in a similar way). It helps but if there are no new rain episodes, water tables will stay low, soil dry in depth and most of the country in a complicated situation regarding water.
    by boudin
  • That's been long overdue. I really doubt a few days of rain would make anyone in France forget the rest of this summer.
    by throw-the-towel
  • But at least we can talk to search engines now
    by pluc
  • And eat beef every day.

    Who cares if a small burger pollutes more than commuting with a SUV.

    I mean, it's just hard to care or do something, these things should be properly taxed, but there's no chance this would be popular.

    But it feels we're powerless beyond minor examples we can set something everyday.

    by epolanski
  • This has nothing to do with AI really. It's a century of pumping out CO2, not 2 years. Maybe in the future... but you can't blame AI for this year.
    by IshKebab
  • Just came back from a bike tour through rural Bavaria, it's insane how dusty everything is - and that despite a short but intense rain today night. The farmers around here are pretty much screwed this season, and not just the crop farmers but the cattle farmers as well, as they have to buy lots of feed now that they'd only have to buy in winter.
    by mschuster91
  • Forget the farmers, they are concerning signs of large famines potentially coming in early 2027.
    by thrance
  • Who could have imagined that after the biggest wildfires registered in Germany, near Bavaria in 2025, millions of liters of water would quit the area?
    by pvaldes
  • Compared to, e.g. France, this week’s Bavaria looked refreshingly green. Not saying it’s great but it didn’t feel too dry (maybe it depends where specifically?). I didn’t know about the farmers’ struggles, though.
    by pythux
  • Just in case somebody else wanted a map to see exactly which areas in europe actually experience drought this summer

    https://drought.emergency.copernicus.eu/tumbo/edo/map/?prodC...

    by freehorse
  • Why spain is not affected?
    by fossilemob
  • Reading some of these comments is really depressing. Since I can remember we talk about climate change and it's still not in peoples head.

    When will it be real? When your home burns down due to a forest fire? When there is no water? When there is no food because everything is too dry? When a storm destroyed your home?

    by thi2
  • Have you tried talking to people in real life? At least most people here have some knowledge about it. In real life, nobody cares. I understood that 5 years ago, and now I act accordingly
    by tuesdaynight
  • For Americans, at lest, it will take that kind of personal tragedy.

    Those who are most loudly opposed to universal healthcare switch their story instantly when they or a loved one gets in a terrible accident or develops nasty cancer. The jump to the socialism of go fund me in a heartbeat.

    I think it will be the same with climate change. Entire cities or states could be really bad with millions displaced or dying but others will still deny it because they are fine. Once it hits them personally, they’ll be screaming bloody murder blaming everyone and saying they need assistance.

    by testing22321
  • I find most comments differ from scientific reality in both directions - denial one way panic the other. It's no doubt real and I think most people accept that but it may be dealable with.
    by tim333
  • It is likely, never. When all of this happen, a not-so-insignificant percentage of population would still say "it is god's will" or "it is just nature" or "it is just cyclical" etc, will never acknowledge humans caused a big part of it. There is a well funded, well coordinated effort by media, politicians, pundits, businessmen etc that will make sure of it
    by akudha
  • AMOC collapse [0] is Europe's potential big climate challenge. Nasty business. I wonder how to help prevent that from happening.

    [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturnin...

    by markvdb
  • Unironically the anti nuclear luddites killed the main chance to be divert climate change that we had over unfounded fearmongering
    by daedrdev
  • perhaps they can cut a deal with China
    by calvinmorrison
  • Bluntly: too late. You'd have to rewind to 2001 or so and go on the strictest measures worldwide. But we are utterly unequipped to deal with global issues, the Ozon layer success notwithstanding.
    by jacquesm
  • Get in a time machine. Go back to 1970. Make sure world starts phasing out all coal power by 2000, replacing with nuclear and what renewables are available then, and make sure modular scalable reactors are available for China so they use that instead of coal to power their rise. Convince everyone that late 20th century unscientific greens are full of shit and nuclear power is better than coal.

    (Renewables were not fully competitive with fission until the 20teens, too late.)

    It’s dialed in.

    That’s not to mean replacing stuff with non carbon emitting sources today is worthless. It’s very important. Right now we are dialing in the next escalation of the problem, and we can still blunt that if we give a damn.

    One thing you can do today is keep arguing against the romantic anti industrial unscientific greens. Degrowth and “abstinence based” policy will never work. People will never go for it, and we are never returning to pre industrial times. It’s a fantasy. If you try to force it people will elect anti environmental populists (as they have) and you will get the opposite of what we need.

    Fantasies displace realistic solutions in the discourse, and “everyone needs to become poorer” gives anti environmental and fossil fuel industry shills a way to frame their case as “we are on the side of human development.” Don’t give them that argument. Stop it. It also won’t work with developing nations. “Hey Africa, we know we colonized you and all but can you do us a favor and stay poor to help fix the problem we mostly caused?” There is not enough “fuck you” in the universe for that one.

    The solution is to replace fossil fuels with non carbon emitting sources, not to stop people from using energy.

    by api
  • I have an ancient forest near where I live in Switzerland. In the core zone of the forest they do no maintenance whatsoever. The trees live, they get gigantic and very old. They die. At some point the top breaks off and then many years later the rest of the tree is so fungus-eaten it tips over too and rots on the ground.

    Sunlight never reaches the ground because of the tall giant trees so there's no undergrowth. It's just dead leaves and mushrooms.

    Something that was completely 100% noticeable was that during this drought of several months this forest was still incredibly healthy. You walk into the forest and the temperature drops several degrees Celsius and the ground still seems wet. I could tell that the groundwater level sunk maybe 4 feet by looking at some pits that normally have water. But still the ground didn't feel dried out.

    I compared this to a forest where they do maintain the forest and harvest giant trees for wood. They don't clear it but just by cutting out these tall trees they let sunlight reach the ground and dry the forest out.

    by comrade1234