Welcome, eco-wise viewers, to Planet Earth: Our Loving Home. Through a complex interaction of changing flows of deep sea currents, warming oceans, ice sheet melting at the poles, fluctuating global wind patterns and other factors, extremes at both ends of the temperature scale are being recorded across our world due to climate change.

So in the last 200 years, we saw the temperature was rising. That changed the long-term climate trajectory, which is very, very strong evidence for the argument that recent climate warming is due to meat. The warming trend is going to continue in the next few decades and it's quite, quite foreseeable that some extreme weather can happen more frequently because within the atmosphere it has more energy and the atmosphere becomes more dynamic.

Climate change researchers have found that animal agriculture is overwhelmingly responsible for the warming of our planet. Today we’ll focus on intense cold-related events and disasters which are one of the many harmful consequences of this enormously injurious activity.

Extreme cold events typically occur when temperatures in a region drop significantly below the average for that time of year. Humans, animals, plants and crops may be at risk in such weather, and public infrastructure is also susceptible to damage or destruction. For humans, exposure to frigid weather, whether indoors or outdoors, in some instances may cause serious health problems or even death.

Highly vulnerable groups during these periods include infants, the elderly, outdoor workers, the homeless and those living in homes that lack heat or are not well-insulated. Depending on how far the temperatures dip, the cold may induce hypothermia, where victims show symptoms such as shivering, exhaustion, confusion, fumbling or uncoordinated movements, memory loss, slurred speech and drowsiness.

Another common health risk is frostbite, where the affected person may exhibit white or grayish skin and blisters as well as experience itching and/or numbness. Amputation may be required in some instances for severely frost-bitten areas of the body. Freezing weather may also exacerbate existing health issues, especially chronic conditions. Crop damage from the chilliness may cause malnourishment in communities.

Let us now review some of the cold-related disasters that have occurred across our world thus far in 2010, starting with Asia.

ASIA

Due to unseasonably chilly weather in northern India states such as Uttar Pradesh, 16 people lost their lives in early January. Most of them were homeless or living outdoors, while a worker in Jammu also passed away due to the bitter cold.

According to government statistics, nearly a fifth of Uttar Pradesh’s 180-million residents are homeless, having to bear the elements in the open with only plastic sheets or cloth sacks for cover. In late January another wave of cold and heavy fog cost the lives of at least 11 people in Uttar Pradesh.

India’s Meteorological Department said that the chilled conditions were aggravated by dense fog, the worst since 2003, which extended from Pakistan to Bangladesh. All rail, air and road traffic were compromised by the near-zero visibility.

Following nearly a week of intense cold at the beginning of January that swept across the southern Nepalese plains, 18 people perished. Most of the victims were homeless or from less fortunate backgrounds. With daytime temperatures of -10 to -13 degrees Celsius, being some 15 degrees lower than average, schools were closed in many districts, while hospitals were overwhelmed by a surge of patients with cold-related illnesses.

In what was called the worst snowstorm in 60 years, 13 people in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region died as a blizzard at the end of January also left nearly 1,200 people ill or injured and prompted the evacuation of 162,000 for their safety. Some 7,125 residential buildings were toppled and nearly 22,000 homes were damaged.

Over 1.4-million people were affected by the severe weather, particularly in Altay and Tacheng. In addition, avalanches were triggered in the Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, with the area experiencing a shortage of food and supplies for warmth.

AFRICA

On Saturday, January 9, the central, eastern and western regions of Algeria experienced the unusual event of snowfall as well as heavy rain, while temperatures dropped below zero degrees Celsius. Traffic was significantly disrupted in the province of Blida, southwest Algiers, as the mountains up to Mount Tamesguida in Medea were also covered in thick snow.

EURASIA

On January 8, amidst the most intensive blizzard in the past 10 years, Moscow and surrounding areas received the equivalent of an entire month’s average snowfall in just one day. The sudden arrival of such vast amounts of snow overwhelmed road crews, causing disturbances in traffic, and over 10,000 personnel were dispatched to clear the roads.

Russia’s top weather official, Dr. Alexander Frolov, head of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, or ROSHYDROMET, announced on March 24, 2010 that the winter of 2009-2010 in Siberia may be coldest on record, with a mean temperature of -23.2 degrees Celsius and more frigid days than in previous years. He also noted that for the portion of Russia closest to Europe, the winter was the most severe in 30 years.

EUROPE

With sub-zero temperatures being registered throughout central and Eastern Europe, Romania confirmed 23 casualties over the weekend of January 23 and 24 and the nation’s hospitals welcomed the homeless in need of shelter.

At least six people succumbed to the cold in the Czech Republic, while temperatures as low as -35 degrees Celsius in Poland claimed 12 lives, and 8,000 residents in eastern regions were without power on Sunday, January 24. Two fatalities were reported in Turkey, where a fierce snowstorm also caused residents in Istanbul to lose power, and villages near the Greek and Bulgarian borders were isolated as snow blocked major roads.

Germany was hit by snow and freezing temperatures, and 14 homeless persons passed away from exposure to the elements. Lithuania and Ukraine were also affected, with schools being closed in the central city of Kremenchug, Ukraine to protect students from the weather that had taken 169 lives since the start of the winter season.

On March 31, 2010, a very heavy blizzard combined with violent winds hit Britain and caused up to 30,000 homes in Northern Ireland to suffer power outages over a 24 hour-period. In Scotland, 17-year-old schoolgirl Natasha Paton died in a bus crash amid treacherous weather conditions. Her bus plunged off an icy bridge and into a river during a snowstorm.

AMERICAS

Extremely low temperatures impacted the eastern two-thirds of the United States the first week of January, with more than five people reported to have perished in the frigid cold. In Vermont, a record snowfall of 83 centimeters fell as blizzard conditions covered most of New England. The capital of Washington, DC endured winds of up to 72 kilometers-per-hour, while the centrally located state of Minnesota saw three days of temperatures between -17 and -40 degrees Celsius.

Arctic air also blasted southeastern US states not accustomed to such temperatures, as in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida where temperatures dropped to minus six degrees Celsius with record sub-freezing weather in some parts of Florida.

At least nine people succumbed to a wave of unusually cold weather that swept through much of the nation at the beginning of January. Northern states were particularly affected, as temperatures dipped below zero degrees Celsius. Flights were cancelled and officials closed schools in 10 of the nation’s 32 states.

Over 79,000 homes and businesses were without power for several days after an ice storm struck in the southwestern and other parts of the US state of Oklahoma at the end of January. Bringing snow, sleet, and freezing rains, the harsh conditions caused seven traffic and cold-related fatalities. Police attended to 568 storm-related vehicle accidents, including 120 that resulted in injuries.

In the midst of the southern hemisphere’s winter season, an extreme Antarctic cold front moved north through Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil’s Amazon region, Paraguay and southern Peru in mid-July. The rare high pressure system brought snow to Buenos Aires, Argentina for the first time in 89 years, and caused a total of nine deaths, mainly among the vulnerable homeless.

In late July hundreds in Latin America perished due to extreme cold, more than half of whom were children. Peru declared a state of emergency and provided medicine, blankets and shelter to vulnerable residents throughout the nation. In the country’s mountainous south, temperatures dropped from an average of a couple of degrees below zero to 24 degrees below, with Lima, the nation’s capital, recording its lowest temperatures in 46 years.

Severe freezing weather in Peru’s southern highlands caused at least 409 people to succumb to pneumonia and cold-related illnesses as of the end of July 2010. The victims primarily were younger than five or over 60 years of age, with less fortunate rural communities at altitudes of over 3,000 meters being worst hit as residents there also face malnutrition, extreme poverty and poor living conditions with no access to needed vaccines and other medicines. Mountain temperatures plummeted to -24 degrees Celsius, and even the normally hot and humid Amazon regions reported record lows of nine degrees.

On August 5, it was reported that a two-day long snowfall in Southern Brazil and in 12 of Argentina’s 24 provinces including parts of Buenos Aires were the result of a polar front covering most of the continent’s southern cone with zero and below zero temperatures.

In Bolivia, on August 7, an estimated million plus fish and thousands of other river species including alligators, turtles, and dolphins living in Bolivian rivers in the departments of Santa Cruz, Beni and Tarija succumbed to the chilly weather.

The extreme cold front caused the water temperatures to dip below the point at which life can survive, leaving rivers, lakes, and lagoons covered with decomposing fish and other beings. The event was of unprecedented magnitude and riverside communities reported nauseating odors. Public health was threatened, especially in those communities using river water for bathing and drinking.

In conclusion, the frightening climate-change induced weather events we have briefly reviewed today need not be a part of our planet’s future. If the intricate network of life is once again honored and humans quickly awaken to adopt the compassionate, organic vegan lifestyle, we can very soon stabilize Earth’s climate and assure beautiful days ahead for all.

Thank you, caring viewers, for joining us on today’s program. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News. May Heaven’s mercy and grace forever be upon all beings on our planet.