Fireworks at America’s 250th birthday bash, claimed to be the ‘best firework show ever!’ by President Donald Trump, is the new low in sending poisonous gases into the atmosphere. Over 40 minutes, 851,000 individual shells were fired. It is a Guinness World Record. The fumes erupted in the atmosphere and turned the humid sky into an extravagant explosion of red, white and blue. Critics reminded everyone that several thousand explosions are p erhaps no t Mo ther Nature’s preferred birthday present.

The extravaganza took place when large parts of America and Europe were reeling under severe heat waves. Several thousand extra human deaths are attributable to soaring temperatures in both continents. Greece, Spain, and Portugal have been engulfed in massive wildfires lasting for weeks. Fire was also reported from Greece’s recycling plant, and the government advised residents to remain indoors and close windows to block the entry of toxic smoke from the burning plant. Hundreds of water-dropping planes, thousands of firefighters,  vehicles and aircrafts have been pressed into service in each country. 12,000 ha of forests in Portugal, 2,200 ha in Spain and 10,000 ha in Greece burned in four days’ time.

The peak summer season in both the continents are July and August. More heatwaves and wildfires are in the pipeline. Wildfires are a double whammy. While carbon sequestration potential of the forests is lowered, additional poisonous greenhouse gases are emitted in the atmosphere due to the blaze and smoke. The world’s lungs – Amazon, Congo and Boreal forests – are degrading due to anthropogenic pressure and fire and researchers have concluded that some patches of these forests are becoming net carbon emitters. As temperatures soar, wildfires are more difficult to control and are more destructive. The Asian continent is also not spared.

A fatal typhoon Maysak has flooded the reservoir and busted the wall of a dam in Nanning in China sending the torrent of water downstream. It swelled the river, killing........

© The Statesman