The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organization associated with the countries of the United Nations, just released a report that confirms that human actions are major contributors to climate change. Although it was only the first of three parts of the report that came to light, focused on the physical basis of climate change, it already set in motion people who were until recently strongly opposed to climate change. And how does this affect the Czech Republic in particular? A lot. For instance, with lack of rainfall in the spring and too much rain during the harvest season, Czech farmers are already facing difficult times. This weather pattern is becoming more common in Czechia and it causes severe damage to agricultural crops. Furthermore, according to the report, the Central European region (including Czechia) is expected to experience extreme periods of drought and floods due to climate change. Czech Republic is positioned on the border of continental and oceanic climate regions, so weather fluctuations are rather usual, but they have never been as dramatic and frequent. The recent tornado that devastated South Moravia in June 2021 is most likely an outcome of climate change. Events like these are expected to start happening way more often in the near future. The melting of glaciers in the Arctic could also negatively influence the European climate. The warm Gulf Stream is the reason why Europe experiences a much milder climate than Canada on the same latitudes. The colder water from the icebergs suppresses the Gulf Stream and that could soon result in a complete absence of the stream. Consequently, that would greatly affect the weather of Europe – the temperatures would generally decrease and in some areas, the conditions might not be as suitable for living anymore.
