As the world heats up, will climate action, too?

The Northern Hemisphere is hot this week. Very hot. 

In London, temperatures climbed above 104 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in recorded history. It was enough to melt the runway at a British air force base.

In southwestern France, wildfires fueled by the hot, dry weather burned through pine forests and forced the evacuation of some 14,000 residents. In Portugal, temperatures reached 117 F, and the Portuguese health ministry reported that this heat was responsible for some 700 deaths. Hundreds of people died in Spain’s heat wave, as well, according to officials there. 

In the U.S., residents across the Great Plains braced for what meteorologists were predicting could be the hottest days anyone has ever experienced there, while in China, officials warned that temperatures of up to 107 F could last for 40 days in the southern part of the country.

All of this prompted United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to urge more concrete action on climate change, saying to international leaders in Berlin this week that the world could either take “collective action or collective suicide.”