By Nicole Oliveira, July 21st, 2015

Brazil has experienced an unprecedented variety of extreme weather events in recent months: tornadoes in the South, drought in the Southeast and torrential rains in the North. In addition to that, atypical temperatures have astonished the population, with cold being registered in summer and heat in winter.

In the last few weeks, the combination of rain precipitation of well over 100 mm, winds blowing at over 110 km per hour and hailstones the size of an orange caused havoc in cities and rural areas in the South of the country, leaving hundreds of people homeless and many injured.

“Every year, climate change is intensifying and increasing the degree of destruction. And more: Radical climate events are happening in regions where there has never been this kind of record. This should serve as a red alert for us all,” said the director of 350.org Brazil, Nicole Figueiredo de Oliveira.

Fonte: Portal Notícias do Brasil

Many cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the South of Brazil, recorded rainfall well above the historical average. Source: Notícias do Brasil

Nicole points that, “Drought, floods, typhoons, hurricanes, blizzards and heat waves are signs that something more will happen if nothing is done.” She explains that in Brazil and in other parts of the world, the records of extreme and unprecedented climate change are due to the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Its rate already exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) in March this year, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), intensifying the Greenhouse Effect.

Although CO2 levels have exceeded 400 ppm before, this was the first time that the rate was so high for such a long period. According to the UN, the limit for avoiding an increase of 2 to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the average temperature on the planet is 350 ppm.

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A tornado frightened residents of the state of Paraná, in the South of Brazil. Source: Portal Band B

“Rising temperatures are melting the glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland, raising sea levels and altering the environmental balance of the entire planet. 350.org’s mission is to show how this increase affects your life and everything that we can do to avoid an even bigger problem for the planet,” explains Nicole.

Currently, the main campaign in the country is against fracking, denouncing the severe impacts of this kind of technology on biodiversity and human health. Fracking is used for the extraction of oil and shale gas. Even though it is well known that it is highly polluting and contributes to climate change, the use of this technology is not forbidden in the country.

Recently, the antifracking movement has been gaining force and support in Brazil. Last July 15th, a project of law proposing to ban the use of fracking for shale gas extraction for five years was approved by the Environment and Sustainable Development Commission of the Federal House of Deputies. The project will now be analyzed by other commissions before being definitively voted on in Parliament.

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