This past month set several new records as the hottest July in recorded history in one state, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Information, the Guardian reported.
What's happening?
July saw the state of California experiencing its hottest month on record, with an average temperature of 81.7 degrees Fahrenheit, with some areas experiencing days of over 100 Fahrenheit. Palm Springs hit 124 degrees on July 5, the Guardian noted, while Redding up north set a high of 119 degrees Fahrenheit the following day.
Other places in the American Southwest, such as Nevada and Arizona, also experienced record highs.
"The trend is toward more frequent, more extreme, longer-lasting heat waves all over the world," Alexander Gershunov, a research meteorologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told the Guardian. "California is certainly no exception."
Why is the continued overheating of our planet concerning?
As the planet continues to overheat, people and environments all over the globe are feeling the consequences. More and more people are dying from the effects of extreme heat. In many areas, crops that have long sustained people are no longer viable. The ranges of disease-carrying insects are spreading. These are just a few of the issues that society is grappling with.
The problems aren't limited to overheating, either. As the planet continues to warm, that causes changes to our climates and water saturation levels in the air, resulting in more intense extreme weather events, including hurricanes, flooding, drought, and more.
What's being done about the overheating of our planet?
As the changes to our climate are primarily caused by people burning dirty energy sources such as gas and oil, the most important and pressing step that can be taken is to switch from those energy sources to clean, renewable sources like wind and solar.
However, though there are many individuals and organizations attempting to press for those steps, they are being hampered at every turn by large, for-profit corporations whose shareholders are content to let the world burn as long as they continue to maximize profits, as well as by politicians who oppose clean energy for (apparently) ideological reasons.
To truly confront this ongoing crisis, we must all come together with a common goal of saving the planet.
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