No time to waste

In a little over a month, four major heat waves have broiled the Western United States, including record-shattering triple-digit temperatures in Oregon and Washington that caused hundreds of heat-related deaths.

And from Germany to China, extreme flooding has caused death and destruction.

These terrifying scenes from across the globe have long been predicted by scientists studying our warming planet. Higher temperatures would lead to more heat waves and droughts in some areas that would fuel bigger, more frequent wildfires. In other areas the warmer climate would trap moisture in the atmosphere, leading to heavier rainfall during storms.

Climate change is making normal weather events—heat waves, droughts, rainstorms and hurricanes—more extreme and more devastating to communities unprepared for the onslaught. What’s most frightening, however, is that extremes are happening faster than many predicted or wished. It’s clear that the world is running out of time to slow the devastation.

Last year, a United Nations report warned that the world needs to triple promised reductions in carbon emissions to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius to prevent dire consequences, including famine and widespread flooding. But, according to another UN report, instead of cutting fossil fuel production, countries were planning to increase production.

As the last few weeks have shown, there’s no time to waste. The summer has already given a terrible glimpse of the future if we don’t change course now.