The brutal heatwave has finally broken here in the eastern United States. Yet, I found out - almost by accident - that parts of Europe have recently been going through a major heatwave of their own. In fact, numerous European cities including Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb, and Athens still has dangerously hot temperatures today, as I write this.
Scientists are suggesting that this is indeed a product of Climate Change. Here, according to an article by Danica Kirka of the Associated Press (see link below) is an alarming finding about extreme temperatures today compared to six decades ago:
Met Office scientists this week published research showing that climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme high temperatures in the U.K. The chance of temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) is now more than 20 times higher than it was in the 1960s, the researchers said.
Yikes.
Again, I invite all of those climate change skeptics who rail so loudly about how it is all a hoax during cold spells in the thick of winter to declare those same opinions right now. Preferably outside, at the peak temperatures, so that they can feel the full effects on such frankly unnaturally dangerously hot days.
I'm sure they'll have a huge audience, baking under the sun and ridiculously hot temperatures, preaching about how climate change is just one gigantic Chinese hoax. But man, the Chinese really seem to be good at convincing people with these dangerously hot temperatures, wouldn't you say?
The hottest temperatures experienced in the New York metropolitan area since 1888 happening at the same time as parts of Europe, which once used to be known for having relatively mild summer conditions, were experiencing yet another heat wave in 2025 (and it's not even July yet).
You know, I saw that these "Climate Update" blog entries get very few views. It reminds me of when I worked for the Guardian Liberty Voice, and how articles which, to me, seemed pertinent and worth viewing tended to get few views (including most of my own articles), while articles on nonsense and fluff, like the Kardashians, got a freaking ton of views.
Fine, let's play that game. Kim Kardashian.
Okay?
Let's move on.
Just the other night, I was commenting on how while driving to work at a quarter past nine in the evening, the temperature read 93 degrees Fahrenheit. As it turns out, this also is an alarming new "normal" that we might have to get used to. Here is a snippet from a CNN article by Andrew Freeman (see link below):
Milestones for record warm overnight low temperatures are also being set — another sign of climate change. Nighttime temperatures have been warming faster than daytime, which exacerbates the health consequences from heat waves. This is especially the case in cities, where the urban heat island effect keeps temperatures high overnight.
Great. Wonderful, eh?
Still with me? No?
Okay. Let's fixate on our collective celebrity obsession, since that seems to be the news that dominates headlines.
I'll play the game and mention them, as well.
The Kardashians. Let's keep up with them. That's surely a lot more fun, right?
What do the Kardashians have to do with climate change/global warming? Not much, other than being a prime example of how we remain too distracted with utter and meaningless nonsense which has no relevance to our actual lives, instead of paying attention to news and issues which actually have an impact on us, collectively. After all, here in the United States, look who we elected to be president. A celebrity who also happens to specifically go out of his way to deny the reality of climate change. But hey, he supposed to be entertaining, according to many of his fans. Personally, I don't find him all that entertaining, but we are all forced to pay attention to him now, aren't we? That's what happens when we pay too much attention to celebrities and things that don't really matter, to the point where we lose perspective on what truly is relevant in our lives. Our need for distraction is indeed contributing to climate change.
Alright, I'll get off the soap box. But I will not deviate from the topic again in this blog entry.
You know, Andrew Freeman's CNN article also had a solid summary of climate change/global warming, which it felt appropriate to add here. Read this:
Of all the forms of extreme weather — droughts, floods, hurricanes — heat waves are the ones that scientists can most reliably tie to climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution. As the world warms, the odds of extreme heat events increase dramatically, while the odds and severity of record cold extremes decrease.
“The physical process of how more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere lead to hotter and more frequent heatwaves is well-understood and straightforward,” said Fredi Otto, a climate scientist who leads the World Weather Attribution project, an international effort that examines the role climate change plays in individual weather events.
“Every heatwave that is occurring today is hotter than it would have been without human-induced climate change,” she said.
The heat waves we are experiencing now are occurring in 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming, with even more severe heat likely in coming decades as global average temperatures continue to climb.
In recent years, researchers have found that some heat waves would have been impossible without the temperature boost from global warming. Others have been made tens to hundreds of times more likely, and hotter than they would have been without the effects of climate pollution.
Is it time to acknowledge the reality of climate change yet? If you don't think so, I invite you to go outside and yell your opinions to your heart's content the next time that we have a severe heat wave. The way things have been going this year, that shouldn't be too long of a wait.
Listen, I know that this kind of news is a real bummer. Indeed, it can be nice to get your mind off concerning things. And for whatever the reason, we collectively seem to largely conveniently ignore these kinds of stories. Not just in the United States, either, although we seem to almost go out of our way here in the good ol' US of A in ignoring these stories, and even trying to discredit them.
But this is real. It sure the hell felt real enough during the peal temperatures in the past few days. Again, it's time for a long overdue conversation about climate change, and what actions we still can take to address this.
Below are the links to the recent massive heat waves experienced in the United States and Europe, and from which I obtained much of the information and all of the quotes used above. I urge you to take a look, or please do your own research, for that matter. This is important, and it sure feels like it's getting worse, not better:
Heat waves are getting more dangerous with climate change — and we may still be underestimating them by Andrew Freedman, CNN, June 23, 2025:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/23/climate/heat-wave-global-warming-links
Health officials issue warnings as UK and Northern Europe bake in the first heat wave of 2025 By DANICA KIRKA Updated 1:04 PM EDT, June 20, 2025:
https://apnews.com/article/hot-summer-weather-europe-britain-aaca201f598dedd0f3ac0e66df9733d9
More contrasting weather extremes in Europe by Quan Liu, Jürgen Bader, Johann Jungclaus and Daniela Matei More extreme summertime North Atlantic Oscillation under climate change. Communications Earth & Environment, June 18th 2025 (Updated June 23, 2025):
Due to global warming, the North Atlantic Oscillation, an atmospheric circulation pattern that strongly influences European weather, is becoming more extreme in summer
https://www.mpg.de/24911578/weather-extreme-heatwave-precipitation-climate-change
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