By Mark Glendenning
Dubbed the Island X-Prix, the event is a step towards replacing the originally scheduled events in Brazil and Argentina that were shelved due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation
Zak Mauger/Extreme E
“Together with our supportive hosts and our Scientific Committee and partners, we will use the power of sport to educate on the causes of these climate issues which are taking place right here in front of us, as we aim to open eyes even wider to the need for all of us to take collective action, now, before it’s too late.”
Scientists are warning of worsening extreme weather patterns if global temperatures continue to rise without solutions being put in place to cut carbon emissions, and that greenhouse gas levels are already too high “for a manageable future for humanity”.
“Rising temperatures and wildfires are now a threat across every continent,” said Richard Washington, Professor of Climate Science at the University of Oxford, and founding member of Extreme E’s Scientific Committee.
“In just the last couple of years we have seen devastation in the Amazon, Australia, Siberia, Canada and the Mediterranean region. With thresholds already crossed by climate change, wildfires are more extensive, more intense, more damaging and last longer. New ways of forecasting wildfires and new ways of adapting to them are urgently needed.
“Ultimately, the driver of all this is climate change. To reduce the devastation, we need to stem the driver of that change and that means cutting carbon emissions. Continue to live as we do, and the carbon emissions by the end of the century will make the wildfires of recent years look modest. Extreme E is at the forefront of the drive towards a better future, a new way of doing things and a world which does not rely on deadly carbon emissions.”
Extreme E has already raced in Saudi Arabia and Senegal this season, and will head to Greenland for the third round of the championship at the end of August.
Source: racer.com