“And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth”, reads the eleventh verse of the Bible’s Book of the Prophet Haggai.
Droughts, accompanied by extreme heat, destroyed crops, livestock, and even human lives. They were once attributed to the wrath of God and other higher powers. Although today we have a better scientific understanding of these weather phenomena, one thing is certain—the survival of the human race has always depended on weather conditions, and our planet has probably never experienced what I call “climate heaven”.
If that’s the case, why all the hysteria about climate change? Every summer, the media is flooded with news about heat waves and extreme heat, which should not surprise us because summer should be warm, with the difference that these phenomena have been attributed to climate change in recent years.
This can serve as a weak argument to deny that climate change even exists, and one that would probably be made by some fossil fuel advocate while happily counting dollars made from the sale of those fossil fuels.
Unfortunately for all of us (especially the oil profiteers), climate change is very real, and here is the irrefutable proof.
New records are broken every year
News about the relentless heat wave, which has engulfed almost all of North America and Europe, is updated hour-on-hour. The temperatures in the United States recently reached 43 degrees Celsius, and in Mexico – up to 52!
Europe is not far behind when it comes to extreme heat. The media reports that Romania and Serbia are currently the hottest countries on the continent, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius.
Fortunately, everyone is well aware of how to deal with extreme heat – plenty of fluids, avoiding being outside when the weather is the hottest and refraining from strenuous physical activity. Nothing a good air conditioner and a chilled drink can’t solve, right?
While this is somewhat true, the bigger problem is figuring out what will happen next year.
The United Nations said 2024 could break the previous record from 2023, the hottest year on record. Last year, the average global temperature was 1.48 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, and scientists expect that this year, for the first time in history, the global temperature will exceed the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
One more thing – May 2024 marked the twelfth consecutive month in which the average global temperature was the highest recorded since measurements were taken. Coincidence? I would say – climate change!
A new scientific study indicates that climate change increases the chance of heat waves by up to 35 times. Even though we would certainly experience high heat because, as I said, it’s normal to have it in summer, climate change caused by greenhouse gases makes them longer, more intense, and even more frequent.
If we allow this continued warming of the planet to the point of no return, what will happen to all living things, and what about humans?
It is clear why we should not look for an explanation for the occurrence of frequent heat waves and other weather problems in the past but rather look to the future and rightly fear it.
