On Monday, July 3, the world reached the highest recorded average temperature ever. It hit the … [+] 17.01° Celsius (C) mark, which translated to 62.62° Fahrenheit (F), based on data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Will this be an ice breaker, literally and figuratively, for more real action to reduce pollution? On Monday, July 3, the world reached the highest recorded average temperature ever. It hit the 17.01° Celsius (C) mark, which translated to 62.62° Fahrenheit (F), based on data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. That topped the previous record of 16.92° C (62.46° F) from August 2016. The record didn’t last long—the following day, July 4, saw even higher temperatures. That was really hot news but not in good way, assuming that you are a human being and not a Pompeii worm.
Indeed, the answer to the question “hot enough for you?” was “bleeping yes” across many parts of the world this past week. That includes those in the Southern and Western parts of the U.S. that have been facing triple-digit temperatures on the Fahrenheit scale.
A dangerous and prolonged heat wave has been hitting large parts of the southern U.S., buckling … [+] highways and forcing people to seek ways to cool off as temperatures have soared past 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius). Excessive heat warnings were in place from Arizona in the southwest all the way to Alabama in the southeast. (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
That also includes people in China, the U.K., Mexico, Northern Africa, India and other locations that have been scorched by the Easy Bake Oven that the Earth has become lately. The following graphic shows where people have been feeling the heat the most in recent weeks:
Pictures here is an infographic titled “People worldwide swelter, suffer, die under climate … [+] change-fueled heat waves” created in Ankara, Turkey on July 4, 2023. (Photo by Yasin Demirci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
But, all you climate change deniers out there, go on claiming that the world is not facing an environmental emergency. And keep trying to overlook the finding that 99.9% of peer-reviewed scientific papers agree that human activity such as spewing pollution into the air has been contributing to climate change, according to a October 19, 2021, publication the journal Environmental Research Letters.
It’s unclear whether breaking this temperature record will simply sound like a broken record or will actually spur some more real action from politicians and business leaders who have been dragging their feet and knuckles all these years. Listening to scientists hasn’t exactly been in vogue these days among many political leaders. But here’s the thing about science: it’s about reporting what the facts and evidence show. And the facts show that pollution is harmful to human health. Denying facts and evidence can only work for so long.
Such increasing global temperatures do have massive health implications. You know that Canadian wildfire smoke that you’ve been dealing with in recent weeks? Be prepared for such air quality warnings to become a more and more common occurrence as hotter temps and drier conditions make it more likely for brush and vegetation to catch fire.
And warmer temperatures have been a ticking time bomb so to speak as well. The tick population has been thriving with warmer and shorter winters, which really sucks and bites at the same time. In biting and sucking, ticks can pass along lovely pathogens such as the Powassan virus and the microbes that cause Lyme disease. Climate change can also change and expand the habitat of other disease-carrying organisms such as mosquitoes and kissing bugs.
Will such scenes from Rome, Itlay, in August 2021. become more and more common in the coming years. … [+] (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Then there’s what more heat can do directly to humans. It can worsen a range of different chronic medical conditions such as respiratory and heart diseases. It can lead to things like heat stroke. Plus, feeling hotter in a non-sexual way can really adversely affect your mental health.
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg, which by the way may be melting with increasing temperatures. Higher temperatures can trigger very complex changes in weather systems, leading to more severe weather patterns that, in turn, can have very complex health effects. Plus, this is one arena where unfortunately records are made to be broken. The highs seen on July 3 and 4 are likely to be surpassed in the near future as political and business leaders continue to treat the Earth like a spouse who has been asking for marriage counseling for years. With each passing day, month and year of not doing enough about reducing pollution, the chances of hitting a point of no return gets greater and greater.
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