Lip service on the issue of our time

Yesterday, as Met Éireann issued a severe weather warning and as 3,000 schools closed in England and Wales because of snow, Australians were warned to prepare for temperatures greater even than the spectacular ones of recent weeks.

Australia’s heat wave has sent temperatures to record levels, melting roads and setting off hundreds, if not thousands, of wildfires. Homes and businesses have been turned to cinders and people in what we call the developed world have been exposed to the raw, uncompromising force of nature in a way most of us have thankfully never experienced.

The highest temperature recorded this week was in the southern outback town of Oodnadatta, where the mercury hit 48.2C — forcing the local petrol station to close because fuel was evaporating. But it may get worse — the Australian Bureau of Meteorology yesterday predicted temperatures over 50C for swathes of the continent on Monday. The prospect has forced meteorologists to update their colour code, incorporating purple, as they could not identify temperatures over 50C with colours used heretofore.