Due to my incredible ability to compartmentalise, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this unseasonably warm winter. But it turns out it really is time to panic because the United Nations weather agency has announced that the planet Earth has just experienced its hottest three months on record. Climate change, you nasty little thing.
Data released by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organisation revealed that the northern hemisphere summer contributed to a 0.66C rise in global temperatures, making June, July and August the hottest-ever consecutive months on record.
Wow, I never thought it was climate change putting the ‘hot’ in ‘hot girl summer’.
The rise in temperature wasn’t just reserved to us land-dwellers either.
The 2023 northern hemisphere summer has seen record-breaking high sea surface temperatures across the North Atlantic and global oceans. Plus, marine heatwaves took place across Europe, the UK, and the Mediterranean in July and August.
While I’m the first to admit to enjoying the benefits of a mild winter here in the southern hemisphere, there’s no doubt that this data is actually kind of terrifying.
According to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, it’s another sign that climate breakdown is well and truly upon us.
“Our planet has just endured a season of simmering, the hottest summer on record. Climate breakdown has begun.” Guterres said, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Scientists have long warned what our fossil fuel addiction will unleash. Surging temperatures demand a surge in action. Leaders must turn up the heat now for climate solutions. We can still avoid the worst of climate chaos, and we don’t have a moment to lose.”
Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organisation’s Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said that the repeated heatwaves have had a “lasting toll on the environment”.
The data leads researchers to believe that 2023 will be the hottest year on record and currently, it’s only coming second to 2016. But at the rate we’re going, it’s not looking good.
Big yikes all round, my friends.
If this isn’t enough to wake up our politicians to the fact our planet is literally burning up around them, I don’t know what will.
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