Editorial | Heatwaves a deadly reminder for world to act on climate change
- Dozens have perished amid record temperatures in parts of Canada and the United States, while countries elsewhere swelter
- Weather extremes will only worsen if global leaders do not take the issue more seriously
Summer is little more than a month old in the northern hemisphere and temperature records are already tumbling. An unprecedented heatwave has killed dozens of people in western Canada and the northwestern United States.
Unless the world dramatically reduces greenhouse gas emissions by turning to cleaner sources of energy, what some are referring to as a “new normal” could escalate into something far worse.
The Canadian province of British Columbia and American states of Oregon and Washington last week broiled in never before experienced temperatures of up to 49.5 degrees Celsius.
Residents have been shocked and frightened; the regional climate is usually temperate this time of year.
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But they are not alone in suffering extremes, with the unusual highs causing sinkholes to emerge in central Alaska, the melting of layers of permafrost in Siberia and further south, and the mercury to soar beyond 50 degrees in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.