When it comes to climate change, you can study statistics, graphs and charts. Or, you can just look. As climate scientist Kate Marvel noted in September, “It has not been a good summer.”

She points to the hottest June, followed by the hottest July and then the hottest August. To the Canadian wildfires that made it hard to breathe in the U.S. She points out the 31 consecutive days of over-110-degree weather in Phoenix, nearly 100 lives lost in the Maui fires, and parts of Vermont washed away in flooding. In Florida, ocean water was as hot as a jacuzzi.

We no longer debate whether climate change is happening. Deniers are dwindling in numbers. But what worries climate scientists like Marvel now is the notion that we can just adapt. To find out why that’s a problem, and tick through some of the difficult truths of the climate situation, Marvel joins host Robin Young.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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