NPR

Everything Is Unprecedented. Welcome To Your Hotter Earth

Hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves and disease outbreaks are all a preview of our hotter future. Dramatically cutting greenhouse gas emissions would help.

The upshot of climate change is that everyone alive is destined to experience unprecedented disasters. The most powerful hurricanes, the most intense wildfires, the most prolonged heat waves and the most frequent outbreaks of new diseases are all in our future. Records will be broken, again and again.

But the predicted destruction is still shocking when it unfolds all at the same time.

This week, Americans are living through concurrent disasters. In California, more than 200,000 people were under evacuation orders due to wildfires, and millions are breathing smoky air. On the Gulf Coast, people weathered a tropical storm at the beginning of the week. Two days later, about half a million were ordered to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Laura. We're six months into a global pandemic, and the Earth

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