I’ve needed a few days to cool off from last week’s UK heatwave.
Temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in recorded history.
I know 40 degrees is a walk in the park for some countries, but in a place unused to such temperatures, our buildings, transportation systems, and homes were unprepared.
Transport for London advised only essential journeys.
Some offices told staff to stay home because their air conditioning units were only capable of cooling down the building if the outside temperature was below 32 degrees.
And little south-facing flats like ours—which I’m grateful for in the middle of the UK winter—were baked during the day and retained that heat throughout much of the evening.
The BBC shared an image which was equal parts crushing and fascinating. It was a comparison of global temperatures in 1976 and 2022, with the average global temperature between 1951 and 1980.
I love when a chart summarises a huge amount of data into something easily digestible and understandable.
Read: the world is getting hotter. Much hotter. And it’s not isolated to one area or another, but is happening across the global.
I’ll spare you the climate change platitudes, but perhaps think about sharing this image with someone who needs to see it.