This year saw some truly stunning episodes which sure seemed to illustrate the detrimental impact of climate change, much as scientists have consistently predicted for decades now. There were record heatwaves across much of North America and numerous record heat waves in Europe. Record hot temperatures were established in many, if not most, European nations, as well as Far Eastern nations such as South Korea, Japan, and China. Along with all of that, there were record wildfires, which includes a massive wildfire in eastern Canada for the second time in recent years, for a region that generally does not see major wildfires. Add to that the glacier collapse in Nepal that blocked a river and caused a massive flood, and which was caught in some dramatic video, and you really would have to be willfully blind or stubborn to not acknowledge that something very strange is going on, and seemingly around the world.
Of course, some parts of the world are more susceptible to the effects of climate change than others. Europe and the Mediterranean in particular seemed to see a lot of the impact in recent years, and especially this year.
Meanwhile, where I live in New Jersey, it seemed like an unusually moderate and rainy summer. Don't get me wrong: we certainly had some very hot days. It is just that we did not have the kind of heatwaves which the rest of the continent had, let alone the European continent.
Recently, the United Nations released a report (this past Wednesday), which warned that we already reached the tipping point of climate change. In fact, we are currently on track globally to see up to 2.8°C of global warming. That kind of altering of the climate will surely bring with it all sorts of disasters which, again, were projected already by scientists for many decades now.
However, there are actions which we can take to at least attempt to slow it down a bit. We likely will see 1.5°C temperature change by the end of this century. However, we also might have a chance at making sure that it does not exceed this, because any hotter will surely make the impact of climate change more severe. Perhaps, in the future, we may even see a reversal.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
Right now, we really are only at the beginning point of actually seeing the effects of climate change. There still are plenty of people who either do not believe in climate change, or do not believe that it is caused by humans (and thus, by that logic, no actions that humans take has any bearing on it), or simply are not really concerned about it.
Yet, it sure feels real, and not just on a hot summer day. When the weather remains unseasonably warm consistently, when traditionally it was much cooler decades ago, it feels like a source of concern. And it is difficult, if not impossible, to ignore the very concerning headlines from around the world which all seem to have a common theme: the climate does indeed seem to be changing.
Let us hope that we collectively will possess the wisdom to address this obviously crucial issue, before it is indeed too late (assuming it's not already).
Below are the two articles used in writing this particular blog entry, and from which the specific information regarding projected temperature shifts globally by the end of the century were taken. Please take a look, this is a crucial issue:
UN says 1.5°C is over and world is on track for 2.8°C of global warming by Madeleine Cuff 21 October 2026:
The best-case scenario now is that the planet will only temporarily breach 1.5°C of warming, but current climate pledges fall way short of that hope
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2594831-un-says-1-5c-is-over-and-world-is-on-track-for-2-8c-of-global-warming/?utm_id=97758_v0_s00_e0_tv1_a1demo0ecg7rma&fbclid=IwY2xjawVH8BZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5Y4g3ndiKOvufN9-5R6Q1iwWiHxoumR6tFBL1h2uFoy-0hLNdBcjsw-BWd0A_aem_9Ix7a6J5f5VwU3PMOqymxw
UN says 1.5°C is over and world is on track for 2.8°C of global warming | New Scientist
Global warming will breach 1.5°C – but deep, fast cuts can still bring it back published by the United Nations, 21 October 2026:
Two industrial chimneys release a dense plume into an orange, hazy sky over Chisinau. © Unsplash/Alexei Scutari After decades of not cutting emissions enough, the world will very soon pass the 1.5°C warming limit and it can no longer be avoided, according to the UN Environment Programme.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/10/1168634
Global warming will breach 1.5°C – but deep, fast cuts can still bring it back | UN News
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