Heard about this massive heatwave going on in northern India and most of Pakistan not long ago. These are places - like the American Southwest, or the Arabian Peninsula, or Australia - which know something about hot weather conditions.
Yet, they are currently experiencing something which is quite extreme even by their standards. To me, that's saying something.
You know, it reminded me of a college friend turned into an enthusiastic Trump supporter, who attacked the very concept of global warming, or climate change, this past winter. We were experiencing frigid temperatures - which is not unusual in New Jersey during the winter months. And he basically suggested that this clearly disproved the reality of climate change/global warming.
Usually, I do not bother responding to people I know are Trump supporters, largely based on past experience. It often seems pointless to argue with them, since too often, facts do not matter.
However, I responded this time. Perhaps because he was an old college friend. But it seems to me more likely because he was restricting his argument to one topic in particular, but a very important topic at that. Mostly, I just wanted to ask what I felt were pertinent questions, which might shake his own seeming confidence at his advertised certainty that global warming is nothing more than a scam.
So I asked him if he actually understood what it was that scientists predicted for decades, in terms of climate conditions growing extreme, and not merely getting warmer everywhere, all around the world all of the time, without seasonal variations. Also asked if he expressed the same kinds of skepticism over climate change while New Jersey experienced heat waves. Or, for that matter, when he encountered headlines or news reports about record heat waves in places like the American Southwest, or Europe, or Asia, or the Arabian Peninsula, or Australia, or the Arctic. I even added a cheeky comment about it being "global" warming and not restricted to merely the Garden State.
Next I tried to appeal to his reason, explaining how my father could remember days when extreme cold and snowy conditions during the wintertime was nothing unusual in the Paris region of France. Now, it makes global headlines when Paris gets maybe an inch of snow. Then I asked him if he did not remember winters also being colder in New Jersey many years ago, when a stretch of cold days like the one he was complaining about were the norm and not the exception. Ultimately, I asked if he did not feel the reality himself that things have changed, and if this did not fit people's understanding of climate change.
He thanked me for a logical approach, and said that he would think of a response.
But to me, these are the headlines that make me worry. Because believe it or not, I would love to believe that climate change/global warming really is a hoax. That, in other words, we have nothing to worry about on that storm front, right?
Because seeing headlines about record heat waves and dangerous conditions like these all around the world scares me. Makes it feel like all of those dire predictions by scientists are coming true. When record heat waves and hot temperatures in the American Southwest, in Europe, in the Arctic, in the Arabian Peninsula, in Australia establish new records, only to be replaced with all new highs and records within a few years, which themselves are then replaced with still newer records within a few years. To me, this feels precisely what scientists have been trying to warn us about.
At the end of this, I included one article in which it is warned that record heat waves like this may double within just five years. That by 2030, this region of India, in this case, can expect the lengths, and perhaps the severity, of such heat waves to double within a relatively short period of time.
Please take a look at these articles below by clicking on the links. And I urge you to pay attention to these kinds of headlines, even though they are not comfortable to look at. Even if they make you at least pause for thought that indeed, climate change just might be real, and in fact seems to be in evidence fairly regularly every year, year after year, not just in one part of the world, but all across wide swaths of the globe.
To me, it feels like these kinds of headlines should serve as a warning. See if you agree:
Below are the links to the articles concerning the massive heatwave in India and northern Pakistan:
North India Heatwave 2025 LIVE: Punjab, Rajasthan Reel Under Extreme Heat; Red Alert Issued In Delhi As Temperatures Soar To 45°C Written By : news24desk Author Edited By : Sheetal Prasad June 12, 2025:
A Red Alert is in place for the national capital; Meanwhile, residents are advised to take necessary precautions as a surge in heat-related illnesses is being witnessed among people. The other affected places likely to face the wrath of heat are Himachal Pradesh, and West & East Rajasthan.
https://news24online.com/india/north-india-heatwave-2025-live-updates-imd-health-risk-hot-humid-condition-warm-nights-loo-warning-red-yellow-alert-delhi-rajasthan-punjab-uttar-pradesh-chandigarh-jammu-kashmir-weather-report/583927/
Northern India on the boil with heat waves disrupting normal lives and raising health concerns by BISWAJEET BANERJEE and RAJESH ROY Updated 8:30 AM EDT, June 10, 2025:
https://apnews.com/article/heat-wave-hot-india-climate-temperature-weather-85bab3f13c7bbf16f972ecf51fe9dd9b
A study released by IPE Global and Esri India on Tuesday (June 10, 2025) reveals that Mumbai, Thane, Chennai, Delhi, Surat, Hyderabad, Patna and Bhubaneswar are projected to witness a two-fold increase in heatwave days by Purnima SahJune 11, 2025 04:51 pm IST - MUMBAI Purnima Sah
By 2030 Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and five other cities to experience two-fold increase in heatwave days A study by IPE Global and Esri India reveals that by 2030, climate change is expected to drive 43% rise in the intensity of extreme rainfall events across India, making the country hotter and wetter. Updated - June 11, 2025 04:51 pm IST - MUMBAI Purnima Sah
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/by-2030-mumbai-delhi-chennai-and-five-other-cities-to-experience-two-fold-increase-in-heatwave-days/article69679263.ece
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