Current summer at the northern hemisphere is said to be one of the hottest recently experienced. Having experienced that I can confirm the temperatures are very high. Heatwaves, which occurred in many countries, affected both the health of people but also threatened the crops and sufficient food production. Some record-breaking temperatures were observed in Portugal(1). The devastation of crops and fields was not only due to very high temperatures and droughts, but also because of some extreme weather events, such as strong winds, hail, or storms. Some people state that such events were due to the movements of jet streams and the weather that happen to appear over the northern hemisphere at this time of the year; climate change might have a partial influence on such events(2). Both the movement of air streams, ocean's temperature and climate change might be responsible for such high temperatures. (3)

 However, many scientists confirm that those intensified difficult weather conditions were influenced by the climate change caused by the human contribution. Climate models which are used, for example by researchers affiliated with World Weather Attribution (WWA)(4), help to predict the likelihood of such scenarios, like heatwaves or storms, caused by the climate change. Thanks to such methods, past heatwaves that occurred in Europe in 2017 were confirmed to be more probable by the influence of the climate change(5).

In reality, there are many arguments against and for both positions. In my opinion, it is really important to take actions anyway, because it is also  eneficial for people?s health. By riding a bike instead of driving a car you make something good for a planet by decreasing your carbon footprint, reducing the emission of CO₂ and becoming  fit.  It does not require much effort and actually brings a lot of fun, as well as satisfaction. It is worth implementing such changes in our everyday decisions.

References (information from articles were paraphrased):

(1) https://www.dw.com/en/portugal-breaks-temperature-records-as-european-heat-wave-sizzles-on/a-44943755

(2)http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5999161/Climate-change-increased-odds-northern-European-heatwave.html

(3) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/24/why-is-europe-going-through-a-heatwave

(4) https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/attribution-of-the-2018-heat-in-northern-europe/

(5) https://worldweatherattribution.wordpress.com/analyses/euro-mediterranean-heat-summer-2017/