UK temperatures passed 40°C for the first time in history, with 40.2°C near Heathrow Airport in London. At the same time Paris experienced 41°C, and the heatwave has been hitting Spain for 10 days. Portugal reached the European record of 48.8°C, set last year in Sicily. Germany, Belgium, etc... have all recorded temperatures close to 40°C.
Should we get ready to have conditions closer to 50°C within 20 or 30 years? Apparently yes, and 40°C will likely be the new normal.
If you agree with this UK tabloid publishing at the start of this week: "It’s just a bit of sunshine", then not to worry, you won't need to look for wamer destinations on holidays as you will have it at home. Otherwise, everyone else need to act NOW with radical changes to face climate modification.
It's not a bit of sunshine, but a major catastrophe just around the corner. "It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land" says the latest IPCC report written by scientifics on climate change. There is no assumption, there are facts: 80% of the heatwaves recorded in Europe for the last 100 years happened within the last 30 years and it is accelerating. Two years ago it was Australia burning and last year US and Canada were under a dome of extreme heat. It happens all over the world, more and more frequently , and we should all be scared.
Consequences of climate change will hit in various ways, but some countries have already started to implement radical changes. Indonesia is probably one of the most striking example. In our magazine this summer, you will read that Indonesia's current capital city Jakarta is sinking quickly into the sea and it has been decided to build a new capital on the main island of Borneo. Saudi Arabia also decided to build a new city from scratch: read about Neom, a revolutionary concept to be build in the middle of the desert, with a legal system separate from the rest of the country. Both mega project will bring similarities with our article published in March about Egypt's future administrative capital.
A large part of the magazine is devoted to elections this month. We report about the surprising result of the French parlimentary elections, with a defeat for the newly re-elected president, where not only he lost his majority, but was unable to form a coalition. We also report about the historical win of the left-wing presidential candidate in Colombia. On the election topic, you will also learn that the UK parliament is changing the rules to allow British citiens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years to still vote for their national elections.
Last week we also had the opportunity to
interview a removal company in Ukraine. They explain the challenges they are facing and how they cop with the situation.
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