1.8.2025

Derailed Regional Express

Last Sunday evening, a regional express train derailed near Riedlingen in southeastern Baden-Württemberg. Three people died, and 41 were injured, some seriously. The cause was a landslide on an embankment following heavy rainfall in the area. Michael Krautblatter, professor of landslide moving at the Technical University of Munich, warned on WDR that landslides caused by heavy rain will increase nationwide, and not only more, but also larger and more severe. Hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers of railway lines in Germany run through landslide-prone areas.

Heavy rain and flooding are consequences of climate change. The ever-warming air can absorb larger amounts of water, which in turn means higher amounts of precipitation during rainfall. Added to this are the sealing of ever-larger areas of land, the straightening of rivers, and soil aridity, resulting in increasing flow speed and decreasing opportunities for the downstream water to drain away.

Laura Dahlmeier

Last Monday, former German biathlete Laura Dahlmeier suffered a fatal accident while mountaineering on Laila Peak in Pakistan's Karakoram Mountains. She was struck by a rockfall at an altitude of approximately 5,700 meters. Her death triggered deep and widespread mourning in sports, politics, and across social media.

Former extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner also draws the connection to climate change, pointing to the increasing dangers of rockfall, as rocky mountains down to altitudes of 2,000 meters are becoming more brittle as a result of warming. At high altitudes, ice in the mountains acts like a cement that stabilizes them. When the ice melts, this stability is also lost. When fist-sized rocks fall in the hundreds, rescue becomes impossible.

Reinsurer Munich Re

On Tuesday, Tobias Grimm, chief climatologist at reinsurer Munich Re, took stock of the first half of 2025 on ntv. Fires, storms, earthquakes, and other natural disasters caused $131 billion in damage during these six months, the highest figure since 1980. The USA was hit hardest, including the fires in California ($53 billion). The earthquake in Myanmar at the end of March claimed the most lives, with 4,500 deaths. He also recalled the rock and ice avalanche in Blatten in the Swiss canton of Valais, which almost completely buried the village and destroyed 130 houses. Permafrost is retreating with global warming, causing rocks to loosen. However, Europe escaped with "only" $5 billion, simply being lucky during these six months. Of these $131 billion, $80 billion was insured, while $51 billion was not. Countless people who lost everything stand behind this number.

Munich Re also expects an increasing number and intensity of weather-related natural disasters as a result of global warming and calls the resulting losses the new normal.

Omnipresent and expensive

Climate change is more than just heat – it's omnipresent and relentlessly eating its way through almost every aspect of human life. And it costs a lot of money, more money, according to experts, than is needed to combat it more effectively than is currently the case. Given this, it's surprising that, despite this purely financial argument, environmental protection continues to fall victim to budget restrictions. But perhaps that will change over time.

We'll stay tuned.

Side note:

This week, we recorded our 100th follower on our combined social media presence. Taylor Swift would laugh at that number, but we're happy about every single one. 😊