July has arrived, but summer seems to have forgotten to check the calendar.
In Hyderabad, mornings have become slightly kinder after a few spells of rain. Across parts of India too, the monsoon has begun to make its presence felt.
Yet the larger picture remains disturbing. The heat refuses to retreat. Scientists warn that a powerful El Nino could prolong extreme weather and disrupt food production across continents.
If one part of the world symbolises the changing climate more dramatically today, it is Europe.
Paradise lost
For generations, Europe represented the perfect escape from tropical summers.
People from countries like India dreamt of London, Paris or the Swiss Alps as places where one could finally breathe cool air. A little sunshine was welcomed there. Beaches filled up at the slightest hint of warmth. A tan was fashionable because sunshine itself was a luxury.
That Europe is disappearing before our eyes. The continent is now recording temperatures once thought unimaginable. Countries accustomed to celebrating summer are now trying to survive it.
A continent built for winter
Unlike most of Asia and Africa, Europe was designed to keep people warm. Homes were built to trap heat. Heating systems were indispensable. Air-conditioners were almost an afterthought.
Now roads soften, asphalt peels off, railway tracks buckle, wildfires spread and infrastructure struggles to cope. Hospitals are treating heat-related illnesses instead of winter ailments.
France has already reported around a thousand excess deaths linked to the continuing heatwave, most involving elderly people. Across Europe, nearly 191 million people are forecast to experience temperatures above 35 degrees C.
Heat kills quietly. It does not produce spectacular television images like floods or earthquakes. Instead, it silently overwhelms the elderly, infants, and those with chronic illnesses.
The dangerous comparison
Whenever Europe suffers, someone remarks, ‘But India sees 45 degrees every year.’ The comparison is misleading and unfair.
Temperature alone tells only part of the story. Europe’s cleaner skies allow more solar radiation to reach the ground. Long summer days, heat-trapping cities, and limited cooling infrastructure make high temperatures especially dangerous.
Some have even argued that India’s pollution helps reduce temperatures by blocking sunlight. That is a dangerous half-truth.
Some aerosol particles may reduce sunlight reaching the ground, but the same pollution damages lungs, weakens hearts, and shortens lives. Poisonous air is not an air-conditioner. No society should celebrate toxic air as climate protection.
We have only one address
Climate change is no longer tomorrow’s problem. Every year brings new records for heat, floods, droughts or wildfires. What were once described as ‘once-in-a-century’ events now seem to occur every few years.
The atmosphere recognises no borders. Carbon emitted in one country alters the weather in another.
Climate conferences have produced declarations, targets, and photographs. The planet has continued to warm.
The debate is no longer about whether climate change exists. Europe’s scorching summers, India’s relentless heatwaves and disasters across the globe have settled that argument.
The real question is whether governments, industries, and citizens are prepared to change how we live.
The Earth is not asking for sympathy. It is a demanding responsibility. After all, despite all our scientific progress, we still have only one planet to call home.
