We Did Start the Fire

This summer, much of the world is on fire — or close to it. Japan is suffering through brutal heat. France and the United States are fighting massive wildfires. Scientists warn that things could get even worse before the year is over, because a powerful weather pattern called El Niño has not yet reached its peak. All of these disasters are connected to climate change, which is the long-term warming of Earth caused mainly by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.

Governments around the world are rushing to respond to these disasters. In Europe, leaders are calling this summer a turning point. Wopke Hoekstra, the European Union's climate commissioner, put it simply: 'People are losing their lives. If you add the truly dramatic cost of the wildfires but also of the droughts, for example, for shipping, I don't think any one of us can be complacent.' That word 'complacent' means acting like everything is fine when it is not.

Extreme heat is one of the clearest signs of climate change. In South Korea, record-breaking temperatures have killed more than 20 people this month alone. Japanese weather scientists even came up with a new word — kokushobi, meaning 'cruel heat day' — to describe temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, which is 104 degrees Fahrenheit. That is hot enough to cause serious harm to people who are outside for too long.

El Niño is a natural warming pattern in the Pacific Ocean that raises temperatures around the world. Scientists say it will reach its strongest point in November or December. When it does, it will make an already dangerously hot year even hotter. Records for high temperatures could be broken all over the globe. The dangers we are seeing this summer may grow even larger.

Heat and dry conditions are also hurting farms. When crops fail, food becomes scarce and prices go up. The combination of heat and drought has also caused huge wildfires in both the United States and Europe. These fires are so large that countries are struggling to find enough firefighters and equipment to control them. In the U.S., wildfires are on track to burn more land this year than in any year since daily record-keeping began in 1994.

France faced one of its worst fire emergencies ever this summer. The country ordered 220,000 people to leave their homes to escape approaching flames. It was the largest peacetime evacuation in French history. Climate scientist Daniel Swain explained why France was hit so hard: 'What is so different about this year is the fact that France has experienced record-breaking heat wave after record-breaking heat wave after record-breaking heat wave.' In other words, the country never had a chance to recover between disasters.

Experts say the same story is playing out across much of the world. Samantha Burgess, a climate scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said heat waves are now happening every single day somewhere on Earth. She added that these heat waves are stronger, happen more often, and last longer because of climate change. She hopes world leaders are paying attention: 'Hopefully, governments do learn from this.'

Climate change is also causing problems beyond heat and fire. Ancient oak trees in England, some more than 600 years old, are dying because of extreme heat and drought. Scientists have also found that some diseases are spreading more widely because of dry conditions — a surprising effect called the 'drought-disease paradox.' Meanwhile, some U.S. states are passing new laws that make it harder for people to sue fossil fuel companies for damages caused by climate change. Critics say these laws protect big polluters instead of the people harmed by them.