--- title: "UN Warns That We’ve Gone Beyond Global Warming and Into “Global Boiling”" description: "With this July on track to be the hottest month ever, the UN is warning that we've moved past global warming as the planet begins to boil." date: "2023-07-28" modified: "2023-07-28" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/un-global-warming-boiling" categories: - "Environment" - "Global Warming" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "climate change" - "heat wave" - "record breaking" - "the digest" --- # UN Warns That We’ve Gone Beyond Global Warming and Into “Global Boiling” ![With this July on track to be the hottest month ever, the UN is warning that we've moved past global warming as the planet begins to boil.]() *APOLLANA, GREECE - JULY 27: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Alternate crop) A man stands ready to fight flames as they engulf a hillside on July 27, 2023 in Apollana, Rhodes, Greece. Flames continue to spread on the island of Rhodes as Greece battles some 63 fires across the country during an intense heatwave. The fires on Rhodes prompted preventive evacuations of tens of thousands of tourists in the middle of the high summer season. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) \Image: Dan Kitwood via Getty Images\* ## El Scorcho With this [July on track to be the hottest month ever](), the United Nations is warning that we've moved past global warming. And now? We're boiling. "The era of global boiling has arrived," [UN secretary-general António Guterres announced today]() in the wake of scientific confirmation that the past three weeks have been the hottest since temperature record-keeping began, and that July will, "short of a mini-Ice Age," almost certainly be the hottest month ever recorded. "Climate change is here," the Portuguese diplomat said. "It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning." In a tweet, [Guterres laid it out]() even more plainly, noting that the "tragic" consequences of climate change are all around us: "children swept away by monsoon rains, families running from the flames (and) workers collapsing in scorching heat." ## Lobster Pot The situation has been inexorably getting worse. Two years ago, the [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced]() that July 2021 was, at the time, the hottest month ever — though it appears that 2023 has now surpassed it. Earlier this month, our planet [broke and then reset the record]() for the hottest day every three times in succession as the planet's average temperature teetered up towards 63 degrees Fahrenheit. While that doesn't sound particularly high as [temps creep ever upward in much of the United States]() amid this week's heat wave, it's much higher than July's monthlong average even a decade ago, which the [NOAA recorded]() as just 60.4 degrees Fahrenheit. This record-breaking heat is so intense, in fact, that it's even surprising scientists. "I personally find the magnitude of this record a bit stunning," Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist with the nonprofit Berkeley Earth, [told the *Guardian*](). "We don’t see anything analogous in the historical record for the month of July." As with each subsequent warning about climate change, the secretary-general tempered his rhetoric with a faint note of hope. "We can still stop the worst," Guterres said. "But to do so we must turn a year of burning heat into a year of burning ambition." **More on climate change:** [*Climate Scientists Horrified That Their Predictions Were Correct*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()