ᶦ ‘Miami Holy Ship Beach Party’
ᶦᶦ‘Hot Girl Summer 2019’
Coming to the end of this pandemic, I’m sure we are all looking forward to enjoying a well-deserved hot summer of leisure—nothing beats sipping a cold beverage under the blistering hot sun while relaxing on the beach with a good book. And much to our delight, Summer 2021 has been predicted to reach record highs in temperature, surpassing the intensity of previous heatwaves of the last century. But what if I told you this ‘hottest summer ever’ will come at a high price, one that your children and future generations will ultimately be the ones paying for?
According to a recent NASA report, August 2020 was the hottest month ever for the Northern Hemisphereᶦᶦᶦ and on a global scale, 2020 was the hottest year on record thus far.ᶦᵛ Summers are likely to only get hotter from here on, and while most of our lives have been on pause, climate change has not. The rise in temperature affects more than just your summer holiday destination, soon you will have to plan your vacations around the climatic risks and natural disasters to strategically avoid visiting the growing list of countries who are being (or are going to be) decimated by encroaching climatic changes.
Having the hottest summer ever will also have a damaging impact on the wildlife that rely on certain conditions to survive. The Daily Star reported "some locations are warming more rapidly than others. For example, temperatures in the Arctic are warming at twice the rate of other regions.”ᵛ
Their lives look like this:
ᵛᶦ ‘Drifters’
So yours can look like this:
ᵛᶦᶦ ‘Only Ibiza Boat Party’
This hot summer isn’t sounding so hot now, is it? Signing up to a carefree summer seems like a bargain until you realise that it isn’t consequence-free— it is at the expense of increasing risks of wildfires, floods, natural disasters and impending climate-related pandemics. Researchers from the Geophysical Research Letters have studied historical climate data and reported that “our summers are already about 20% longer than they used to be”ᵛᶦᶦᶦ. Furthermore, surprising projections in the research indicate that by 2100, summers could last an average of 166 days and reduce winter to a mere 31 days while “squeezing out all the other seasons”.ᶦˣ
What has caused the rise in temperatures? The ongoing release of greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere occurs when fossil fuels are burnt, and this the most common source of energy usage. This energy provides us with heating, electricity and transportation, all essential to our lifestyles, but ultimately destructive to our environment. However, there are a few things we can do to minimise our personal usage ˣ:
- Opt for locally-produced food over processed foods
- Walk or use public transport, rather than driving
- Turn down the heat in your home
- Switch your lights and electrical appliances off when not in use
There are many ways to reduce your carbon footprint, and in order to make a big impact, we all need to get involved. A good place to start would be to calculate your carbon footprint and locate a starting point for your impact so that you can access meaningful ways to preserve and sustain in the long-term. The Carbon Footprint Calculator on the WWF’s website is a fantastic resource to begin your self-assessment and do summer right! https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/?pc=AUT005007&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=Cj0KCQjwo-aCBhC-ARIsAAkNQitzJwG6P9F41LIgjstCrGrqpCOqnRrWouvLp2JxjK3EylKJ9tRP-2oaAv6SEALw_wcB#/ ˣᶦ
Now, that’s hot!
ᶦ Stellaperformanceusa.com [Miami Holy Ship Beach Party]< http://stunningplaces.net/9-of-the-worlds-best-beach-parties-to-rock-out-at/ > Accessed 19 March 2021.
ᶦᶦ Hip Hop/R&B Lyrics, ‘Hot Girl Summer 2019 (Megan Thee Stallion, City Girls, Saweetie & more!) [Lyrics+MV]’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPxp39ony9g Accessed 19 March 2021. Stellaperformanceusa.com [Miami Holy Ship Beach Party]< http://stunningplaces.net/9-of-the-worlds-best-beach-parties-to-rock-out-at/ > Accessed 19 March 2021.
ᶦᶦᶦ Lauren M. Johnson, ‘Northern Hemisphere endures its hottest summer on record’ (CNN September 14, 2020) < https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/14/weather/hottest-summer-on-record-northern-hemisphere-trnd-scn/index.html> accessed 19 March 2021
ᶦᵛ NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, Lori Perkinsm, Kathryn Mersmann ‘2020 Tied for Warmest year on record, NASA Analysis shows’ (nasa.gov January 14, 2021) < https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/2020-tied-for-warmest-year-on-record-nasa-analysis-shows> accessed 20 March 2021
ᵛ Lottie O’Neill ‘2021 set to be ‘one of Earth’s hottest years on record- Met Office’ (Daily Star 19 December 2020) < https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/2021-set-one-earths-hottest-23191602> accessed 20 March 2021
ᵛᶦ Eric Lefranc/Solent [Drifters: The polar bear cub snuggles against its mother as they drift 12 miles from land] ‘Polar bear and its cub drift on shrinking ice 12 miles from land ... but is it all it seems?’ (Daily Mail, 3 Mach 2010)https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254862/All-sea--polar-bear-cub-drift-shrinking-ice-12-miles-land-expert-says-survived.html accessed 20 March 2021
ᵛᶦᶦ ‘myguideibiza.com’[Only Ibiza Boat Party] < https://www.myguideibiza.com/things-to-do/only-ibiza-boat-party> accessed 20 March 2021
ᵛᶦᶦᶦ Kate Ravilious, ‘Summers could last for half the year by 2100’, The Guardian (London, 20 March 2021) < https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/mar/20/summers-could-last-for-half-the-year-by-2100-climate-crisis> accessed 23 March 2021
ᶦˣ Ravilious (n 8)
ˣ Harvard University ‘Top 5 steps to Reduce your Energy Consumption’ (green.harvad.edu) < https://green.harvard.edu/tools-resources/poster/top-5-steps-reduce-your-energy-consumption > accessed 20 March 2021
ˣᶦ WWF, “How big is your environmental footprint?” (World Wide Fund for Nature) < https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/?pc=AUT005007&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=Cj0KCQjwo-aCBhC-ARIsAAkNQitzJwG6P9F41LIgjstCrGrqpCOqnRrWouvLp2JxjK3EylKJ9tRP-2oaAv6SEALw_wcB#/> March 20 2021