The planet's boiling and we’re still dragging our feet over fossil fuels

An aerial view of the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii, United States, after 80% of it was destroyed by a wildfire on Aug 11, 2023. Fires, storms and floods are becoming more intense as the planet heats up. — AFP

For the last several weeks of August 2023, I’ve kept hearing, like a broken record, about broken records related to scorching global temperatures.

In June, we saw record hot days in the northern hemisphere, including in China, Europe, North Africa and North America. Then, June was declared the hottest month ever recorded. On July 4, we hit a new high for the hottest day. That was fast overtaken the very next day. And that record was broken the day after, on July 6 – the planet’s “hottest day ever”. A few weeks later, July was declared the hottest month ever recorded. The highest-ever ocean temperatures were also recorded then.