The hottest summer has passed, what’s next?

Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1824

Earth has experienced one of the hottest summers on record. The United Nations Meteorological Organization and its partners officially announced on August 8 that July 2023 will become the month with the highest global average temperature since human beings have meteorological records, and may break the historical record for at least 120,000 years.

During the Dragon Boat Festival this year, many cities in North China ushered in the “hottest day”. There are 556 meteorological monitoring stations in Beijing. Since the Southern Suburb Observatory was built in 1951, it was the first time that the high temperature weather exceeded 40°C for two consecutive days.

On an e-commerce platform, 63,000 air conditioners were sold in Beijing in the first four months of this year. This summer, on 1,818 first-class urban roads in Beijing, more than 4,000 sweeping vehicles, floor washing vehicles, and scourers are used to humidify and cool the ground every day. On the ground where the temperature was as high as 60°C, more than 3,000 traffic policemen stood guard all day, directing the traffic. More than 9,300 power security personnel and 165 sets of emergency power generation vehicles are on standby for Beijing’s power supply system.

In the city, people are experiencing a heat wave of ultra-high temperature. Sometimes, the high temperature is a part of their lives that they must grit their teeth because summer is so long; sometimes, it is the most bearable little thing in their survival dilemma, because summer will always pass.

There is no cool route, only the fastest route

People recalled the hottest days in Beijing. A rider described “the wind blowing on the face is hot, hot.” An old man fishing by the Liangma River put his hand into the water and marveled at “morning The water will be warm at 8 o’clock.” On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, a tourist from Jiangsu spent a day in the Forbidden City. Her mobile phone was shut down due to overheating, and her sandals and slippers were scalded by the 70 ℃ road surface and degummed.

There are several pharmaceutical factories on the way to work for Feng Rui, the security guard. When the strong smell of Huoxiang Zhengqi water wafted from the pharmaceutical factory, he knew that summer was coming.

Every day after putting on her security uniform, Feng Rui rubbed olive oil on her bare arms. He heard from the Internet that it can moisturize and protect against sun. In hot weather, the only cooling equipment he could bring was a 500ml bottle of water, which he stuffed in his trouser pocket and drank in two hours. After standing down one day, Feng Rui’s arms were drenched with sweat, and his security cap was soaked.

During the hottest days, Feng Rui saw several passers-by wearing long trousers, sun protection clothing, sun protection hats, and sun protection masks, with only one pair of eyes exposed. He also witnessed a couple quarreling over “going under the shade of a tree or under the eaves to cool off”.

Most of the time, Feng Rui had nothing to do, just stood under the shade of a tree, listening to novels with headphones in his ears. Feng Rui works 8 hours a day, and has to stand outside the Chengshou Temple subway station for 7 hours to maintain law and order. Only when the heat is unbearable, he will get into the subway station to blow the draft. He envies the security guards who do security checks in the subway, “at least indoors, and they have more rest time.” In the first two weeks of July, three of his more than 30 colleagues standing outdoors suffered from heat stroke.

However, there are also people who envy him, such as a gray-haired sanitation worker near the subway station. He asked Feng Rui, young man, how much do you pay for this job a month? Feng Rui said that after becoming a regular worker, there will be 4,500 yuan, including food and housing, but the age requirement is under 50 years old. Hearing this, the sanitation worker sighed and left.

Dong Dacheng, who is in his 60s, is one of the few people who hope that the weather will be hotter. “When the weather is hot, the melons will sell well.” He has been selling watermelons near the Chengshou Temple subway station for three consecutive summers. Last summer, he sold nearly 100 Qilin melons a day.

The hot wind blew on his wrinkled, dark face. He said that this year’s wind made people a little breathless. But compared to himself, he is more worried about his son who is a tour guide at Universal Studios, “I can stand in the shade of the trees anyway, but he stands in the sun all day long.”

Like Dong Dacheng’s son, Xu Xiaolong works as a VIP tour guide at Universal Studios and wears a uniform with long sleeves and trousers all year round. On the hottest day in July, he put 12 cooling patches on his chest, back and neck, and sprayed his uniform with cooling spray. But after two hours, the coolness is gone. He could feel sweat dripping down his sleeves and trousers.

The tourists led by Xu Xiaolong also failed to restrain the heat. A little girl was lying on the bench unwilling to move while listening to the explanation. After getting up, she vomited. The parents touched her forehead and said it was as hot as a high fever. Xu Xiaolong quickly stopped playing and sent the girl to the medical station.

After get off work that day, Xu Xiaolong felt that his clothes and pants were stuck to his body. He didn’t think he was working hard. “Those colleagues who wear dozens of catties of doll clothes are the hottest.” He said.

Wang Junqiang, a 27-year-old delivery rider, spent more than 300 yuan on a pair of color-changing sunglasses for this summer. When you look too far, the lenses turn jet black. He wore black ice sleeves on his arms and a black sunscreen mask on his face. After a few orders, the black ice sleeves and black mask were soaked with white salt stains. The jersey was also soaked in sweat and dried by the wind, becoming stiff after a day.

Riders will hang 2.5-liter mineral water bottles on the front of their cars, at least two bottles a day. Wang Junqiang felt nauseous after drinking too much water, but he still had to force it down, “If you don’t drink, you can’t bear it.” He hardly needs to go to the toilet all day long, “all the water he drank is sweated out.”

The rider group often discusses “where is it cool?” Some people recommend some corridors in the community, and some people find that the food court is air-conditioned and the prices are low, which is suitable for everyone to have lunch at noon. Riders are willing to go to a store like “Nanchengxiang”, not only can buy a takeaway rider discount meal, but also sit down and enjoy the air-conditioning for a while.

On hot days over 40 degrees, the rider can be rewarded with 50 cents for each order. In the hottest two weeks, Wang Junqiang ran more than 60 orders a day and earned more than 500 yuan. In the past, he took 5 or 6 orders at one go, but it was too hot and he only dared to take 2 or 3 orders at a time. He was afraid that if he ran too fast, his body would not be able to bear it, “then he would not be able to earn more money.”

The hot sun fell on the intersection, and Wang Junqiang, who was waiting for the traffic lights, was unwilling to ride in the shade. He always rides in the front row of the white line.

“For a rider, there is no cool line, only the fastest line,” he said.

Special water for 1 yuan, a temporary home of 7 square meters

Majuqiao is located in the southeast corner of Beijing. The heat is a small matter for those who wander here.

On the commercial street here, there are a row of “human resources” and “labor dispatch” shops along the street. The colorful handwritten board at the entrance of the store clearly marked the price of life here – the daily settlement of 140 to 180 yuan, and the bed at 20 yuan a night, and the daily rental room at 30 yuan a night.

At four or five o’clock in the morning, the sky just dawned, and crowds came out from all the streets and alleys and gathered on the sidewalk at the intersection of Huo Tongdao and Xinghua Middle Street. Soon, there were so many people overflowing onto the road. As soon as the recruiting car arrived, the crowd cheered and rushed into the car.

“Most of them don’t have ID cards, mobile phone numbers, or bank cards. They just squeeze into the car and wait until they get there,” said Zhang Na, an employee at a labor dispatch shop. She has been in Maju Bridge for two years and saw people wandering here, “Earn one day, spend three days”.

In Majuqiao, there is a “three-piece set” that must be done after earning money: eating, surfing the Internet, and buying lottery tickets. The two lottery shops on the commercial street are less than one kilometer apart, and they are patronized from morning till night. In February last year, a store here won the million-dollar prize of Shuangseqiu. This summer, someone bought 5 double-color balls in one go with the 180 yuan daily settlement he just received, hoping that luck would come to him.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, the bright sunlight shines on the road. People in twos and threes sit on the curb under the shade of the trees. They don’t play with their mobile phones or talk to each other. They just hang their heads and stare at the road expressionlessly. The curbs were scorching hot, and someone picked up a plastic bottle and put it under their buttocks. There were three or five people lying on the marble steps of a building, equally expressionless.

Additionally, the remaining dozen or so people across the street were clustered on the sidewalk at the intersection. They are not finding a live day job. Zhang Na shook her head and said, there was obviously a lot of work, but they didn’t want to do it. They whistled and chatted to young women passing by. A middle-aged man was wearing a pink T-shirt with a ripped collar. He hadn’t found a job for almost a week. He felt that the porters were too tired and the factory gave them too little. He sat down on the curb and muttered, “ Majuqiao can’t stay any longer.”

In a discount store at the intersection, Yibao mineral water only sells for 1 yuan. “That’s all, some people think it’s too expensive.” The boss said.

The owner of the Internet cafe in the roadside era feels the same way. This summer, the price of Internet cafe package night has risen to 30 yuan a night. The boss did the math. This year it was hot early, and the air-conditioning was turned on in late May. The electricity bill was 40,000 yuan a month, and the air-conditioning fee accounted for 10,000 to 20,000 yuan.

After the price increase, the number of people who came to consume did not increase, but more people came to enjoy the air-conditioning. At the beginning of July, during the hottest days, day-to-day workers walked into the Internet cafes and filled up all the empty seats, and some people just stood by the computers in a daze. They don’t consume, and they don’t even have the money to buy water. When they are really thirsty, they run to the bathroom to turn on the tap water to drink.

In Majuqiao, migrant workers with stable incomes only rent monthly houses, and those with less stable incomes rent daily houses. “In summer, when the temperature is high, many people sleep on the road.” In comparison, the cold is more terrifying. The hotel owners have also discovered this pattern, so in the summer, the hotels in Majuqiao begin to cut prices.

After the sun went down, the evening wind was still filled with the sultry heat of the day, and there were more people on the commercial street. Someone set up a street stall selling jeans from nowhere for 10 yuan each. After three or five people spread a bed sheet under the tree, they started drinking. Most people just sit on the steps of shops along the street, playing with their mobile phones, or doing nothing at all. The intersection was still crowded with people, and some nonsensical words came out.

Liu Hongtao, wearing a black short T, sat on the curb. He is a factory worker, 34 years old, just one year away from the “under 35” age limit imposed by some factories. He wanted to do some work other than the assembly line, but after half a year, he could only stay in the factory. Liu Hongtao lives in a monthly rent of 600 yuan, which is the one on the top floor. Apart from the bed, wardrobe, and bedside table, there is only one fan in the room of 7 square meters.

On the hottest night in July, at 2 a.m., Liu Hongtao was so hot that he couldn’t sleep, so he simply walked out of the house and bought himself a bottle of iced Coke for 3 yuan. With the evening breeze blowing, Liu Hongtao walked on the familiar commercial street, and saw many people sleeping on the marble steps along the street and on the wooden benches by the roadside.

In Majuqiao, there are also grades for summer night camping. Zhang Na said that in the early days, when the bank was still closed, it was the best choice for staying overnight, indoors, with charging ports. The second is the tent under the bridge hole, which is covered. In the back row is the marble countertop, which is cool. Finally, there are wooden benches in parks and roadsides. I can’t straighten my legs, and the mosquitoes can’t scatter.

In Mira Park, a man in his 50s slept on a silver potholder, insisting he came out to cool off because he was bored. He waved his hands to those who walked towards him and said, “Hurry up, hurry up, there is no future here.”

summer on the road

In Beijing, there are 114,000 registered sanitation workers. There are more than 2 million sanitation workers nationwide, and the actual number is much higher. Yuan Jinjiang is one of them. He is the first group of people to go to work in Sanlitun every day. At 5 o’clock in the morning, the mineral water bottles, soda cans, and wine bottles left overnight were scattered on the roadside of Workers Stadium North Road. Picking up litter back and forth between traffic lights and sweeping the ground, he walked more than 30,000 steps in a day.

At 6 o’clock, after Yuan Jinjiang finished sweeping, several construction workers in Sanlitun started to work. They were an hour earlier than usual. The weather was too hot and they were working outdoors. The foreman advanced the start time. They waited until 10 to 15 o’clock, the hottest day, before they stopped working.

A few hours later, 19-year-old Jia Ziyi stood in the security booth of Sanlitun SOHO. He is small and thin, wears a pair of glasses, and his white shirt and gray suit pants look too big for him. He is from Baoding, Hebei, and came to Beijing to work in summer vacation because of the salary of “food and lodging included, 4,500 yuan/month”. He hopes that the money saved in two months will be enough to pay the tuition fees for the new semester of college.

At the beginning of July, when he was on duty, he was unlucky. The security box he was standing on was knocked down by the wind, and he stood there for three hours under the most vicious sun of the summer. His sweat was all in his shirt and suit pants, and his face was a shade darker. While standing guard, Jia Ziyi saw many people as young as him coming and going. One day after the morning shift, he also became one of them and walked to the opposite Taikoo Li for a stroll. Looking at the price of xiaolongbao on Din Tai Fung’s menu, he remembered that there was also Jiasha County across the road where he stood guard. That was the first time he felt that there was so much difference between the two ends of the road.

Near Taikoo Li, Cui Zepeng, also a 19-year-old sophomore, works as a summer job in a coffee truck. Although the coffee cart is air-conditioned, it is wide open to the outside world. Once Cui Zepeng leaves the air-conditioning outlet, he can feel the heat wave rolling in the cool wind. He turned on the air conditioner to 16 degrees and stood under the air outlet to get comfortable.

Several people came to buy ice cream and he had to get out of the coffee cart. Like Cui Zepeng’s boss, many people bought cold drink appliances this summer. A “2023 High Temperature Consumption Observation” from JD.com shows that the number of smoothie machines sold this year has increased by 3.5 times, and the sales of freezers and ice bars have more than doubled compared to the previous summer.

After making more than a dozen ice cream cones, Cui Pengze’s back was sweating profusely. The freshly whipped ice cream dripped like a tap that was left open two minutes later.

Standing on the streets of Sanlitun, the biggest worry for fitness coach Li Feiyu is how to distribute the 300 leaflets in his hand. The performance of the gym is not good this year, and all the coaches have to take turns to distribute leaflets on the street. Li Feiyu suffered from heatstroke in early July. On that day, he felt chest tightness and nausea, and his eyes began to turn white. Also, he has no memory of heat.

After one summer, he learned from his experience that the leaflets should be distributed to those who go out at noon, and they are often in a hurry to go swimming and fitness. Therefore, the consultation rate will be particularly high after receiving the leaflets. More people choose to exercise at night. According to data from Meituan, in the first week of July, the number of night exercise and fitness orders increased by nearly 90% compared with the previous summer. Among them, the top three types of exercise that people love most are Billiards, badminton, basketball.

The bigger the sun, the denser the flow of people on the road. The rubbish on the road is like a game that cannot be cleared. When one line is removed, a new line appears. At 10 o’clock in the morning, Yuan Jinjiang’s face was flushed red, “When it’s hot, people lose energy.” After the morning shift, he sat down under the flyover to rest.

Yuan Jinjiang swept the North Road of Workers’ Stadium for 6 years, walked back and forth more than 17,000 times, and knew exactly where the coolest place is.

Yuan Jinjiang pointed to a big tree near Building A of SOHO in Sanlitun, “It’s suitable for taking a nap, it’s windy, there are few people, and it’s clean.” At noon on the hottest days, Yuan Jinjiang walked to the Liangma River not far across the road. He took off his orange overalls, plunged into the water, and compared swimming with a group of foreigners, he was happy whether he won or not.

This summer, enthusiasm for the water is at an all-time high. The number of hotel reservations including “swimming pool” on Meituan was 3.5 times that of the summer of 2019. In July, the number of guide notes related to “indoor amusement park” on Dianping also increased by 8 times compared to this time last year.

In Beijing, the Liangma River is the most popular of the 52 major rivers within the Sixth Ring Road.

A couple in their 60s lived nearby, and their children had emigrated abroad. When the weather was hot, they would come to the river to practice diving. The old man raised his hands above his head, bent his knees, jumped into the air, jumped out of a parabola, and fell into the water. Huge arc-shaped splashes gradually rose in the river. The wife on the side smiled and said, “You have to straighten your legs, straighten your legs, and jump up to dance well.”

Several white-collar workers in the financial industry took advantage of their lunch break to sneak out to play paddle boards. Fifteen minutes of buzzing electric inflators inflated the paddles. They actively invite passers-by to join them, charging only 128 yuan, half the price on the pier. A couple was moved and decided to join them. They paddled for a while, and finally stood on the paddle boards, shot each other with water guns and laughed. After the end, they returned to their respective cubicles and continued to work.

A 55-year-old security guard from a nearby bank also came to stroll along the river. He picked up his mobile phone and took pictures of the black carp in the water. Although there are still 5 years before retirement, he has decided that the first thing to do after retirement is to learn to fish. Another retired security guard was preparing to go home. In order to resist the summer, he specially installed a small black umbrella on his chair. But at noon, the sun shone on the water, making his eyes hurt. He collected the fishing rod, bait, small chair, and small black umbrella, determined to come back at 4 or 5 o’clock the next morning.

The sanitation worker Yuan Jinjiang had enough swimming and hurried back to Sanlitun for the afternoon shift which started at 14:00. The wages of sanitation workers are not high, 3,500 yuan per month, plus 500 yuan for food allowance. What Yuan Jinjiang likes is that there are five insurances and one housing fund. “It’s good to have a guarantee in retirement. After all, the children are under a lot of pressure now and can’t take care of me.” He said.

He has two sons who are still unmarried. Yuan Jinjiang wanted to save some money for his sons to marry a wife. “Now, a minimum of 1 million yuan is the starting point for a marriage.” He counted down on his fingers, not to mention 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Wedding photos and dowry gifts are required…for These numbers sound a bit far away. He works until 8 or 9 pm every night, and gets 17 yuan per hour for overtime. Jumping into the Liangma River during lunch break is the happiest moment of his working day.

Extreme heat may just be the beginning of the climate crisis

The ultra-high temperature summer not only threatens people’s physical and mental health, but also challenges the survival of animals. Every summer, Feng Yu, a veterinarian, tells pet owners to avoid going out for a walk with the dog at noon, and remember to bring water for the dog when going out, especially dogs with short nasal passages, not to exercise strenuously in summer, while cats should pay attention to the ventilation of the cat bag when going out to avoid Keep pets alone in the car, on a balcony in direct sunlight.

In Feng Yu’s impression, the most serious case of pet heatstroke was the summer two years ago. An owner took a teddy to swim. Due to excessive exercise and strong sunlight, when he arrived at the hospital, the teddy’s temperature exceeded 40°C, he had shortness of breath, his tongue was purple, his whole body was convulsed and he couldn’t stand up. The anxious owner lost a shoe on the way to deliver the dog.

Feng Yu immediately gave the dog an infusion and applied ice packs. After half an hour, Teddy’s condition stabilized and his convulsions stopped. An hour later, he stood up to drink water.

In summer, cats and dogs become vulnerable. Cat food and dog food are prone to spoilage under high temperature. Feng Yu will treat some pets suffering from acute gastroenteritis every summer. A dog owner was afraid that the dog’s hair would be too thick and overheated, so he shaved the dog and took it for a walk on the street. As a result, the dog was exposed to the sun and got skin diseases.

In the Beijing Zoo, about 870 kg of seasonal fruits and vegetables and 1,600 kg of green fodder were supplied this summer. As early as May, the animals started eating 280 kilograms of watermelon per day. Air conditioning was installed in the Panda Pavilion when it was built in 1990. By 2018, the golden monkeys and black bears were also equipped with air conditioning.

This summer, in addition to swimming pools, showers, and mud pools, polar bears can enjoy 200 kg of “assorted ice cubes” made of fish, fruits and vegetables. Animals sleep on rush mats, rush mats and other mats, and the ice cubes used to cool them down are made into various forms such as bamboo leaf ice cups, colored ice, and sack ice.

Since June this year, Beijing Ambulance has received about 30 120 emergency calls related to heat stroke every day. On July 2, a 48-year-old tour guide collapsed in the Summer Palace and died of “heat stroke” after continuous exposure to high temperatures. Sixteen days later, a child in Xicheng District did not drink water after exercising outdoors for a long time, and became unconscious. He was diagnosed with heat stroke and had to be intubated.

Elderly people are also vulnerable to high temperatures. According to the Chinese version of the Lancet Countdown Population Health and Climate Change Report 2022, 76% of heat-related deaths in 2021 will be among people aged 65 and over.

In addition to the body, high temperature weather is also prone to “emotional heatstroke” – when the temperature exceeds 35°C, the sunshine time exceeds 12 hours, and the air humidity exceeds 80%, the temperature will affect the emotional regulation center of the human hypothalamus, making people emotionally irritable, Memory loss, lack of interest in things and so on.

A Spanish study found that the risk of being involved in a car accident increases by 2.9 percent on heat waves. Another study, published in the prestigious medical journal JAMA Psychiatry, found an 8 percent increase in emergency department consultations about mental health on days of extreme heat. Other studies have found that higher temperatures may temporarily trigger relapses in people with bipolar disorder, while higher sun exposure may increase the risk of manic episodes.

The super hot summer took its toll. A research team from the Social Science Data Center of the University of Copenhagen collected 7.41 million nighttime sleep records and local daily meteorological data from 68 countries and regions, and found that when the night temperature is higher than 30°C, people’s sleep time per night will be reduced by 14 minutes. Zhang Chi, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology and deputy director of the Lancet Countdown Asia Center, published a study in The Lancet that compared with the average from 1986 to 2005, the continuous high temperature weather in 2021 will cause Chinese people to lose an average of 40 per day. minutes of safe outdoor physical activity.

This year, the loss of labor force caused by the high temperature also caused serious economic losses. Zhang Chi said in an interview that US$285.8 billion was evaporated as a result, accounting for 1.68% of GDP this year.

“What kind of concept is this? It is that the economic loss caused by the loss of labor and productivity caused by high temperature is higher than our annual defense budget expenditure.” Zhang Chi said in an interview with “WSJ Chinese Edition”.

The El Niño phenomenon under global warming is responsible for the soaring heat this summer. Tim Lenton, professor of climate change at the University of Exeter, said that as the extra heat from the buildup of greenhouse gases enters the surface ocean, the excess heat tends to mix down into the deeper ocean, but the movement of ocean currents (like El Niño) can bring it back to the surface. When this happens, a lot of heat is released into the atmosphere, causing temperatures to rise.

Some scientists have disputed the extremely hot summer claim as imprecise. However, it is impossible not to notice the changes that are taking place. “But it does emphasize that we live in a different world,” the scientist said.

At the end of a BBC report on “Why it’s been so hot this summer,” journalist Justin Rowlatt wrote: “Clearly, we are accelerating towards a hotter, more chaotic climate future, but we do have less technologies and tools to reduce emissions. The question now is whether we can move quickly enough to cut greenhouse gas emissions to slow the impact of climate change and keep it under control.”

“The era of global warming is over, and the era of global boiling is here.” At the end of July, UN Secretary-General Guterres issued a new warning.

The good news is that summer always passes. In Beijing, although there are still occasional high temperatures above 34 degrees after the beginning of autumn, the hottest days have passed, and the heat has been dissipated continuously by successive rains.

Xu Xiaolong, the VIP tour guide in Universal Studios, has just received a yellow lightning warning. To him, heavy rain was more unbearable than extreme heat. As a VIP tour guide, Xu Xiaolong’s only equipment on rainy days is a raincoat. “When it rains heavily, the clothes in the raincoat are completely wet, and the shoes become water shoes.”

Yuan Jinjiang, a sanitation worker in Sanlitun, still sweeps back and forth along Workers Stadium North Road 8 times a day, regardless of the scorching sun or heavy rain, but no matter how low the temperature is, it is not suitable to jump into the Liangma River for swimming.

Summer passed, and Li Fei, the fitness trainer standing by the road, didn’t feel much better. “Because in addition to the heat, there will be wind, rain, snow, and very cold days.” And he has to send 300 leaflets every day before he can go back indoors.

Not only is it hot, but the brutal challenge of survival does not only threaten a certain city, a certain region, or a certain country. For several consecutive days at the end of July, heavy rains hit most of Beijing, Tianjin, central and southern Hebei, and parts of northeast China. The cumulative rainfall in Hebei even exceeded 1,000 millimeters. The torrential rain has triggered successive disasters, and many people are still rebuilding their lives that have been destroyed to varying degrees.

In addition to extreme heat, global warming has also brought climate disasters such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires.

The temperature in the two most populous states in India has exceeded 42 degrees Celsius for many days, and the death toll due to the high temperature is close to 170. A hearse driver in the town of Dioria in India said that he transported 26 corpses in one day. Britain experienced its hottest June since records began in 1884, with record high temperatures killing fish in canals.

The cycle of extreme, continuous heat waves is draining more and more water from the forest’s surface and vegetation, and the dry conditions allow fires to spread quickly. Since the beginning of this year, there have been more than 5,000 fires in Canada, burning an area of ​​more than 10 million hectares, roughly equivalent to the land area of ​​Iceland or Portugal.

The Met Office has declared 2022 to be the hottest year on record for the UK (this year’s figures are not yet available). If the world continues to warm, such years will be considered “normal” by 2060 and “cool” by 2100.

We’ve had a summer like no other, and this may just be the beginning of the climate crisis.

Dong Dacheng, Xu Xiaolong, Zhang Na, Liu Hongtao, and Li Feiyu are pseudonyms in the article

Likun Zhu checked the facts and figures for this article

Title image source: Fire of Love (2022)

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