The Northern Hemisphere is heading into what will surely be another of the hottest summers on record. Texas has already seen more days registering about 90 degrees Fahrenheit in May than ever before in recorded history. The weekend before Memorial Day—the typical start of summer weather—saw heat advisories issued across the United States, from Massachusetts to Mississippi. Meanwhile, temperatures in India and Pakistan have topped 122 degrees Fahrenheit. In May, the UK Meteorological Office issued a study documenting that greenhouse gas emissions had increased the likelihood of extreme heat waves in Pakistan and India by a factor of about 100. Heat now threatens humans’ ability to survive in whole swaths of the globe.
And yet this year’s temperature spike is just the beginning: a rise in temperatures over the next 30 years is all but inevitable. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this heating trend will continue even if countries immediately slash their carbon emissions to zero. Any reductions in emissions will merely stave off the worst effects of global heating—and it is far from assured that countries will take the steps needed to do so.
