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Earth Day Art Urges UK to Think Green ahead of Election

Artist Jamie Wardley created the painting for Earth Day to remind voters to consider the environment when they cast their ballots. Oli SCARFF / AFP
Artist Jamie Wardley created the painting for Earth Day to remind voters to consider the environment when they cast their ballots. Oli SCARFF / AFP
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Earth Day Art Urges UK to Think Green ahead of Election

Artist Jamie Wardley created the painting for Earth Day to remind voters to consider the environment when they cast their ballots. Oli SCARFF / AFP
Artist Jamie Wardley created the painting for Earth Day to remind voters to consider the environment when they cast their ballots. Oli SCARFF / AFP

From the air over the rolling hills of Hebden Bridge in northern England, a gigantic painting interrupts the placid green pasture with a call to action.
The work measuring 50 meters (164 feet) long depicts a smiling girl cradling the Earth and beside it are the words: "Vote for Climate, Vote for Our Future".
Artist Jamie Wardley, who created the painting for Earth Day on Monday, hopes the message will remind voters to consider the environment when they cast their ballots in a UK general election due this year, AFP said.
Wardley, who used football pitch paint and sprayers to create the painting, said the election was an opportunity for voters to prioritize the environment, which was why the work was hopeful in tone.
"She's optimistic because this year it's the UK elections, and it's a chance for us to make a real difference for our children's future," he told AFP.
"It's only governments that can set policies and regulations that make a significant difference," he added.
It took a team of 10 artists three days to complete the painting and Wardley's daughter was used as the model.
"It survived the rain a bit, and it'll be here for probably another week," Wardley said.
"This isn't going to change the world, but it might help a little. And if we all pitch in, then hopefully we make a difference."
Earth Day is observed annually on April 22. First celebrated in 1970, it now includes a wide range of events across more than 193 countries, demonstrating support for environmental protection.

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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.