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July was the world’s hottest month on record. Wildfires this summer destroyed a Hawaiian city and prompted evacuations in Canada, Greece, and Thailand. Floods devastated towns in Vermont in July and killed thousands of Libyans in September.
If this is climate change, governments and voters do not seem too alarmed. Rishi Sunak has just watered down the UK’s net zero policies. Last year, the Biden administration — the same one that enacted vast clean energy subsidies — implored drillers to pump more oil to make petrol cheaper. And with elections looming, politicians seem suddenly reluctant to talk about the sacrifices that may be needed to halt global warming.
John Vaillant’s new book Fire Weather aims to shake us out of this stupor with a tale of terror from a climate…
