Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Coldest Weather in Decades Hits Brazil — Climate Change Is to Blame

This month, on the heels of the country’s worst drought in a century, Brazil has experienced historic cold weather. The effects on agriculture could have negative consequences across the world.

Otto Fors

July 30, 2021
Facebook Twitter Share

An intense cold front is sweeping Brazil, causing record-breaking freezing temperatures and snowfall. This extraordinary weather results from one of the most intense polar air masses to ever strike the country, a clear consequence of climate change. As the planet warms and causes the jet stream to weaken, freezing Arctic air can escape to lower latitudes. These anomalous conditions are wreaking havoc in the agricultural areas of central and southern Brazil, and they could have negative effects for Brazilians and people across the world who depend on the country’s crops.

At least 13 cities in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul saw snowfall this week. One city saw 50 mph (80 kph) winds. As a result, wind-chill or real-feel temperatures were as low as -4°F (-20°C). These conditions can lead to frostbite after prolonged exposure, and they could spell disaster for the millions of poor in Brazil who live in precarious housing or on the street. Over 13 million Brazilians live in extreme poverty, a number that has been steadily increasing since 2014 and exploded under the government of Jair Bolsonaro, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.

But this month’s frigid conditions are not the only devastating weather that Brazil has experienced in 2021. In the first half of the year, the country saw its worst drought in nearly a century, increasing the risk for wildfires and harming the production of coffee, sugar, oranges, and corn. The drought also depleted reservoirs, straining water supplies for irrigation.

The combination of drought and frost has been disastrous for Brazilian agriculture. Farmers were relying on favorable weather conditions to make up for the depleted stockpiles caused by the drought. While the full extent of the frost damage will not be known for months, some states have cut their projected corn output by up to 40 percent, and their coffee output by over 10 percent. This is terrible for Brazilian farmers who rely on these crops for their livelihoods. Some are expecting to lose up to two-thirds of their harvests in 2022.

You might be interested in: How Bad Will It Get? Climate Catastrophe and Capitalism

Because agriculture has become highly concentrated and globalized, disruptions like those that Brazil is experiencing will have repercussions for the rest of the world, particularly for the Global South. Poorer countries in particular bear the brunt of shortages and soaring food prices. Agnes Kalibata, UN special envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, notes that “things that are happening in one part of the world end up impacting all of us. … Some communities are already living through the nightmares of climate change.”The devastating weather in Brazil comes on the heels of other extreme conditions across the world, including droughts in Madagascar, Iran, and other countries; extreme heat and wildfires on the U.S. and Canadian West Coast; and flooding across the world in places like Germany, India, and New York. These extreme weather events result from the climate emergency caused by capitalism, a system that requires infinite resource extraction regardless of the havoc it wreaks on the global ecosystem. Thus the fight against the climate crisis must be anti-capitalist.

Facebook Twitter Share

Otto Fors

Otto is a college professor in the New York area.

Latin America

Alfredo Cisneros, Mexican land defender from Michoacán, stands in a forest. He is the fifth land defender to be murdered in the country in 2023.

Alfredo Cisneros: Fifth Mexican Environmentalist Assassinated in 2023

Alfredo Cisneros Madrigal, indigenous leader and forest defender in Michoacán, Mexico was murdered on February 23. He is the fifth environmental defender to be murdered in the country so far this year.

Axomalli Villanueva

March 13, 2023

Lula Visits Biden to Repair Relations with U.S. Imperialism

Brazilian President Lula's U.S. visit shows that he's focused on maintaining the interests of Brazilian capital while aligning with U.S. imperialism and being careful not to alienate Beijing.

Caio Reis

February 16, 2023

SOUTHCOM Chief Aims to Increase Imperialist Plunder of Latin America’s Resources

U.S. Southern Command Chief Laura Richardson has expressed interest in lithium and other natural resources in South America. It shows the country’s commitment to corporate profits at the expense of workers, Indigenous people, and the environment.

Luigi Morris

January 26, 2023

The Peruvian Uprising: Massive Protests Demand the Fall of the Coup Regime and a Constituent Assembly

Peru has erupted in a massive uprising demanding that President Dina Boluarte resign, that the current Congress be shut down, and that a new constitution be established. The protests are the culmination of years of political oppression of the country’s indigenous communities, drastic poverty rates and precarity for Peru’s workers and poor, and a political regime that continues the legacy of Alberto Fujimori’s dictatorship.

MOST RECENT

Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

It is Possible to Win: The Pension Reform Crisis in France

A French socialist reflects on the way forward after Macron invites Article 49.3 to pass pension reform.

Paul Morao

March 20, 2023

“We are your economy”: Trans Youth Walkout and Speak Out

The following is a speech by a young trans person as part of an action called for by NYC Youth for Trans Rights.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 20, 2023