So Earth has heated up and cooled down during its long history. What’s notable about the 8°C rise in average temperatures over the past 150 years is the rapid rate of increase when compared with other temperature increases which have unfolded over centuries.
The argument about whether man is the root cause of the increased global temperature, or if natural phenomena are culpable, has been largely resolved.
Today, a persuasive 97 per cent of scientists think that human activity has brought about global warming problems. And each year the problem climbs higher on the political agenda.
Without touching on its causes, President Barack Obama put the threat in stark terms when he spoke in April 2015: ‘Today there is no greater threat to our planet than climate change.’ It could, he went on to say, no longer be denied or ignored – a commendably brave statement when many of his fellow politicians in the USA are doing just that.
He has perhaps been persuaded by US government figures which reveal that average annual temperatures in Alaska have increased by three degrees over the past six decades, and by six degrees in winter, transforming snowbound landscapes to woodland and changing permafrost to thawed soil. The effects include increased costs to infrastructure as the land changes shape, acidification of the seas, and shrinking lakes affecting migrating birds.
All over the world, climate change poses a real threat to people alive today, let alone to future generations. But some people will be hit much harder than others.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, the world’s poorest populations are likely to suffer most from floods, torrential rain, drought, famine, disease and food shortages. In addition, numerous plant and animal species will become extinct.
WMO’s latest report contains the findings of more than eight hundred scientists from eighty countries and assesses over 30,000 scientific papers. It shows that each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850. ‘It is likely that human influence has more than doubled the probability of occurrence of heatwaves in some locations,’ the report states, ‘and it is likely to worsen with heatwaves happening more often and for longer.’
Critically, increased temperatures will cause crop failures and water shortages in areas that can least afford this, and among people who, ironically, have some of the lowest emissions on Earth. It is the same story for thousands of people living on the fertile plains that encircle places like Bangladesh, which are likely to be swallowed by the sea that is rising at a rate of 3mm a year. That is in addition to stronger cyclones that will wreck homes and harvests, especially in Asia. Monsoons are expected to deluge West Africa, while the east of the continent will have short-lived rains instead. Tropical countries like Sierra Leone will suffer heatwaves, droughts, floods and deadly landslides. In South Sudan, the world’s newest country, desertification is already occurring after rains have become increasingly unpredictable.
In cities that have sprung up among developing nations where there has been emerging prosperity, life may become unbearably hot – a fact that will inevitably hamper continued economic growth. Climate change could usher in a new era marked by the plight of desperate refugees as people try to escape the worst of its effects. As I write this in May 2015, BBC Radio 4 has just announced that over five hundred deaths in Southern India through heatstroke and extreme dehydration occurred over the past week, and that the forecast there is for a continuing ‘heatwave to severe heatwave’. In Delhi, where the temperatures were 4 degrees higher than the seasonal average, crowds have sought sanctuary in the Metro. Mortality levels are worse than in the severe heatwave of 2010, which started earlier, registered the highest temperatures for decades and lasted for months.
For countries in low latitudes, their location within the tropics leaves them vulnerable to changes wrought by the weather, with difficulties exacerbated by a loss of forests which helps to shore up against its worst effects, but richer countries have the advantage of better geographical locations and a greater potential for technology to mitigate the effects. But climate change is also a First World problem.
Australia’s Climate Council has said that climate change triples the odds of summer heatwaves and doubles the chances of them being intense. It believes heatwaves there are becoming hotter, lasting longer, occurring more often and starting earlier.
With every heatwave comes an increased risk of wildfires. A new study by America’s National Park Service and the University of California has revealed that fires in the forests are causing a significant amount of emissions that in turn worsen the problem. Forest fires may be started by lightning, a dropped bottle that magnifies the power of the sun, or even deliberately. Depending on weather conditions, including wind speed, and the dryness of the forest, fires can race away from attending firefighters, eating up hundreds of acres in minutes.
Despite the assertions of President Obama, climate change seems to slip off the political agenda surprisingly swiftly. Any international willingness to pull together in this great battle to ensure a stable climate is notably absent.
Any naturally occurring process to correct the balance will be tortoise slow. But there are a few positives. One bright hope is the possibility of renewable energy flourishing in these new conditions. More solar power is being generated than ever before, and there are refinements on the theme, notably in Spain with new-style power stations in which multiple mirrors focus the sun’s rays to heat a boiler to 400°C. The resulting steam is passed into a turbine to generate electricity.
So technological innovation may yet save the day. There is, for example, a slow-burning solar roadways project that will have tough solar panels replacing asphalt and providing enough electricity not only to power road signs and LED lights, but also homes and factories. First mooted in 2006, it is now attracting the interest of leading players in the industry. It is just one of a host of possible game-changers bidding for a place on the top table of ideas.
Before the growing extremes of heat around the globe become simply defined as ‘the new normal’, I hope we can learn to pull together to save ourselves from self-inflicted oblivion. Heat is great in small doses which I have been lucky enough to experience on and off through my life. But a state of too much heat, from which there can be no escape is a fate we, the human race, must try far harder to avoid . . . while there is still time.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to all those who helped my preparation of this book, including Ian Bannister, Dan Brandenstein, Patrick Brook, Kevin Fewster, Nicholas Holder, Steve Holland, Dr Oliver Johnson, Robin Knox-Johnston, Nicholas Lancaster, Peter Loyd, Quentin Morton, Jonathon Porritt, Eugene Rae, Sergiu Stanescu, Jan Turner, Simon Wilde, and Ben Wright.
Also to my wife Louise and daughter Elizabeth for their patience, to Jill Firman for the ever more difficult task of deciphering my hieroglyphics, to Ed Victor for his advice and support, to Karen Farrington for her research expertise, and to all at Simon & Schuster.
INDEX
Abdullah, Salim ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17
Abidjan ref1, ref2, ref3
Aboriginals ref1
Abu Dhabi ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Abu Mengal ref1
Abu Simbel ref1
Abyss of Dahaq ref1
Abyssinia ref1
Acuña, Cristóbal de ref1
Addis Ababa ref1
Aden ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
Adites ref1
adoo see People’s Front for the Occupation of the Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG)
Afghanistan ref1, ref2, ref3
Age of Innocence ref1
Agulhas Coast ref1
AIDS ref1
Ain Salah ref1
Ainsley, Hamish ref1
Ajman ref1
Al Akaf ref1
Akeley, Carl ref1
Akeley, Delia Denning ref1
Akeley, Mary ref1
al-Qaeda ref1
al-Shabaab ref1
Albu Ali tribe ref1
Albu Said dynasty ref1, ref2
Albuquerque, Admiral ref1
Alexander the Great ref1, ref2, ref3
Alexandria ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Algeria ref1, ref2, ref3
Algiers ref1
Ali, Musallim ref1, ref2
Almeida, Francisco d’ ref1, ref2
Ambush Corner ref1
American Civil War ref1
Amin, Idi ref1, ref2
Amr, Salim ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Anatolian Desert ref1
Andes Mountains ref1
Andhur ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Andrada, Major Paiva d’ ref1
Anglo-Omani Treaty ref1, ref2
Antarctic Club ref1
Antarctica ref1
anthrax ref1
ants ref1, ref2
Anya Nya rebel army ref1, ref2, ref3
apartheid ref1
Arab Revolt ref1
Arab Spring ref1, ref2, ref3
Arabian Desert ref1
see also Rubh al Khali (Empty Quarter)
ARAMCO ref1, ref2, ref3
archaeological students and field diggers ref1
Arctic Ocean ref1
Army School of Languages ref1
Aswan Dam ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Atbara ref1
Atlantis ref1
Atlas Mountains ref1, ref2
Attenborough, David ref1
Australia ref1, ref2, ref3
Automobile Association ref1, ref2, ref3
Awabi ref1
al-Azhari, Ismail ref1
Baden-Powell, Colonel Robert ref1
Badr, Imam ref1
Bahn, Paul ref1, ref2
Bahrain ref1, ref2, ref3
Bait Howeirat tribe ref1, ref2
Bait Maashani tribe ref1
Bait Shaasha tribe ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Baker, Florrie ref1
Baker, Samuel ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Baluchis ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
Baluchistan ref1
bananas ref1
Bandama Rouge River ref1, ref2
Bangladesh ref1
Bantu ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Barghash, Sultan ref1
Bari tribe ref1
Barth, Heinrich ref1
Basrah ref1
Bates, Walter ref1
Batinah Plain ref1
bats ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Battle of Britain ref1
Baudin, Nicholas ref1
Bayley, David ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Bayt al Falaj ref1
Beau Geste (novel and film) ref1, ref2
Bechuanaland ref1, ref2
bedu ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
bee-eater ref1
Begin, Menachem ref1
Bell, Margaret ref1
Benguela Current ref1
Beni bu Ali tribe ref1
Benjamin Bowring ref1
Bent, Theodore and Mabel ref1
Berbera ref1
Bhai Dayal Ji ref1
Bidbid ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Al Bilad ref1, ref2
Bilharz, Theodor ref1
bilharzia ref1
bin Abdullah, Hafidh ref1
bin Ali, Ghalib ref1
bin Ali, Talib ref1
bin Ghia, Said ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
bin Laden, Osama ref1
bin Nashran, Sultan ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
bin Nuffl, Musallim ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
bin Salim, Abdullah ref1
Birkenhead ref1
Black Death ref1
Black Hole, Calcutta ref1
black mambas ref1
Black Sash movement ref1
black smokers ref1
Blashford-Snell, Major John ref1
Blaxland, Gregory ref1
Blennerhassett, Rose ref1
Bligh, William ref1
Blom, Ron ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Blunt, Lady Anne ref1
body temperature ref1
Boer War ref1
Boers ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
boiling alive ref1
Boko Haram ref1
Bor ref1, ref2
Bordj-Mokhtar ref1
Borneo ref1
Botswana ref1
Bowring, Anton ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
boxing ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Brassey, Charles ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11
Brassey, Lady ref1
Brazza, Pierre-Paul-Françoise-Camille Savorgnan de ref1
Brecon Beacons SAS deaths (2013) ref1
Briksdalsbre Glacier ref1
British Airways ref1
British imperialism ref1
British Petroleum ref1
British South Africa Company ref1, ref2
Brockhouse, Anthony ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
Brook, Patrick ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14
Broome, Mike ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10
brubru shrike ref1
Bruce, James ref1, ref2
Brunei ref1
Bunyoro ref1
Buraimi ref1, ref2
Buraimi Oasis oil dispute ref1, ref2
Burchell, William ref1
Burckhardt, Johann ref1, ref2
Burke, Robert ref1, ref2
Burma ref1
burning people alive ref1
burns ref1
Burton, Charlie ref1, ref2
Burton, Richard ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9
Bushmen see San people
Cabral, Pedro Alvares ref1
Cadamosto, Alvise de ref1
‘Cage’, Hauf ref1, ref2
Caillie, Rene-August ref1
Cairo ref1, ref2, ref3
Calcutta (Kolkata) ref1, ref2
calico ref1
Calicut ref1, ref2
Calotropis procera ref1
Camarón ref1
camel spiders ref1
camel thorns ref1
camels ref1, ref2
dromedaries ref1
milk ref1, ref2
racing camels ref1
riding ref1
rut ref1
Cameron, Verney Lovett ref1
Canada ref1
canoeing ref1
Cão, Diogo ref1
Cape Colony ref1
Cape Town ref1, ref2, ref3
Caroe, Sir Olaf ref1
carpet vipers ref1
Castle Combe ref1
cattle raiding ref1, ref2, ref3
cave hieroglyphics ref1
Cazenove, Christopher ref1
Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) ref1
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) ref1
Chaille-Long, Charles ref1
Challenger space shuttle disaster (1986) ref1
chameleons ref1
Charles, Prince of Wales ref1, ref2, ref3
chess set, ancient ref1
Chihuahuan Desert ref1
chikungunya fever ref1
Chimborazo ref1
Chua Hill, Battle of ref1
Churchill, Winston ref1, ref2
Clapp, Nick ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8
Clapperton, Hugh ref1, ref2
climate change ref1, ref2
Cold War ref1, ref2
Coleman, Rory ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Cole, Roger ref1
Colman, Ronald ref1
Columbus, Christopher ref1, ref2
concentration camp
s ref1
Congo (Lualaba) River ref1
Conqueror tanks ref1
Constantia ref1
Cooper, Gary ref1
Cooper, John ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19
Cornwell, David (John Le Carré) ref1
Covilha, Pero da ref1
Craig, Vernon ref1, ref2
crocodiles ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Cumming, Gordon ref1
Cushites ref1
cut-throat weaver bird ref1
D-Notices ref1, ref2
dahabiyas ref1
Danakil Desert ref1
Danjou, Captain Jean ref1
Danube ref1
Darbat ref1
Darwin, Charles ref1
dates ref1, ref2
Death Valley ref1, ref2
Deedes, Jeremy ref1
Deefa ref1
dehydration ref1, ref2, ref3
symptoms ref1
dengue fever ref1, ref2
Denham, Dixon ref1
desertification ref1, ref2
deserts ref1
see also individual index entries
Devil’s Island ref1
Dhofar
Dhofar Rebellion ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
lost city of Ubar ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13
scarcity of early written records ref1
Dhofar Defence Force ref1
Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6
dhows ref1, ref2
diamonds ref1, ref2
Dias, Bartholomew ref1, ref2, ref3
Dinaux, Jean ref1
Dinka tribe ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7
dishdash garment ref1
djinn ref1, ref2, ref3
Doctor Dolittle ref1
domino theory ref1
Dongola ref1
Doughty, Charles ref1, ref2
dourra wheat ref1, ref2
Dubai ref1, ref2
Dunsire, Andy ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5
Duru tribe ref1, ref2
dust storms ref1, ref2
Duveyrier, Henri ref1
early explorers of Arabia ref1
see also individual index entries
East India Company ref1, ref2
Eastern Cape ref1
Eastern Mahra tribes ref1, ref2
Ed Dueim ref1
Eden, Anthony ref1
Egypt ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4
Egyptian Revolution (1952) ref1
Egyptian vultures ref1
Egyptian–Israeli conflict ref1, ref2
Eichornia crassipes ref1
Eiger ref1
El Alamein, battle of ref1
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