+
upworthy
Heroes

India just set a scary new heat record. It should be a warning.

To say that it was "shorts weather" in Rajasthan, India, yesterday would be ... a bit of an understatement.


That's 51 degrees Celsius. Which is 123.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Which is not only the hottest temperature ever recorded in that country — it's not all that far off from the safe internal temperature for a cooked chicken.

That's ... more than a little alarming.


OK, but just because it was super hot in one place at one time doesn't prove that global warming is a thing.

A man splashes cold water on himself in Kolkata, India. Photo by Jorge Royan/Wikimedia Commons.

True! Single extreme weather events can't prove or disprove global climate trends. What can prove them is actual long-term data. And that, unfortunately, keeps piling up.

January 2016 was the hottest single month on record.

Alright! Warm January! Heck yeah. I can get down with that. Photo via iStock.

Until it was beaten by...

February 2016, which smashed January's record like a particularly smashy bug.

This is getting a lil' weird, though. Photo via iStock.

February had a nice run, until it ran into...

March 2016, which totally owned February, ate its lunch, and kicked it out the door.

Now it's a little scary. Photo via iStock.

You can guess where this is going next. March's temperature record lasted all of no days at all before it was bested by...

April 2016, which was actually the 12th consecutive hottest month of all time.

Today's forecast: Angry sun. Photo via iStock.

Dang.

The good news is, for the first time in forever, we have something resembling a plan.

World leaders, cheering. Photo by Francois Guillot/Getty Images.

Last year in Paris, delegates from 195 countries, including top polluters the U.S. and China, signed the most comprehensive climate agreement of all time, each pledging to limit emissions in order to keep the total global temperature increase under 2 degrees Celsius.

Great, right? Pretty great.

But there's a hitch on the horizon.

Namely, this guy:

Photo by Mark Lyons/Getty Images.

Donald Trump told Reuters reporters yesterday that as president, he'd "re-negotiate" the Paris Agreement "at minimum."

"At a maximum, I may do something else," he warned.

Do we really want to find out what "something else" is, America?

Trump is, of course, free to say what he wants (and boy, does he know it, see his comments on women, Muslims and immigrants as evidence).

Given, however, that his approach to one of the most serious issues of our time is at best vague and at worst an implicit threat to human civilization, it's important that Americans who care about global warming exercise our freedom to not vote for him or any other politician that doesn't promise to take serious steps to combat climate change.

There's simply too much at stake.

Not just sea level rise. Not just massive population displacement. And not just worldwide crop devastation or extreme weather — but the loss of countless lives.

The good news? We still have a chance to vote that future down.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Let's not waste it, 'kay?


Time travel back to 1905.

Back in 1905, a book called "The Apples of New York" was published by the New York State Department of Agriculture. It featured hundreds of apple varieties of all shapes, colors, and sizes, including Thomas Jefferson's personal favorite, the Esopus Spitzenburg.






Keep ReadingShow less

Joey Grundl, Milwaukee pizza guy.

Joey Grundl, a pizza delivery driver for a Domino's Pizza in Waldo, Wisconsin, is being hailed as a hero for noticing a kidnapped woman's subtle cry for help.

The delivery man was sent to a woman's house to deliver a pie when her ex-boyfriend, Dean Hoffman, opened the door. Grundl looked over his shoulder and saw a middle-aged woman with a black eye standing behind Hoffman. She appeared to be mouthing the words: "Call the police."

Keep ReadingShow less
Photo by Katerina Holmes|Canva

Mom in tears after another parent calls about daughter's lunch


People say having children is like having your heart walk around outside of your body. You send them off to school, practices or playdates and hope that the world treats them kindly because when they hurt, you hurt. Inevitably there will be times when your child's feelings are hurt so you do your best to prepare for that day.

But what prepares you for when the child you love so much winds up accidentally healing your inner child. A mom on TikTok, who goes by Soogia posted a video explaining a phone call she received from a parent in her daughter's classroom. The mom called to inform Soogia that their kids had been sharing lunch with each other.

Soogia wasn't prepared for what came next. The classmate's mother informed her that her son loves the food Soogia's daughter brings to school and wanted to learn how to cook it too.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Listen to this organ in Croatia that uses the sea to make hauntingly beautiful music

It's a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.


In 2005, a Croatian architect designed a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.

Nope, not nonsensical bellows or chaotic tones. Real, actual, music.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modern Families

A comic from The Oatmeal illustrates how we're missing the mark on happiness.

I do the things that are meaningful to me, even if they don't make me "happy."

By Matthew Inman/The Oatmeal. Used with permission.

How to Be Perfectly Happy


Matthew Inman is the Eisner Award-winning author of The Oatmeal. He's published six books, including New York Times Best-Sellers such as "How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You"and "The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances."He enjoys running marathons, writing comics, and eating cake.

You can read more of Matthew's comics here.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

Sweeping UN study finds that 9 out of 10 people worldwide are biased against women

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways.

Photo by Joe Gardner on Unsplash

As the U.S. ramps into an all-too-familiar presidential election cycle where the only viable candidates left on the ballot are men, the UN announces a study that may—at least partially—explain why.

The Gender Social Norms Index released yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers a look at gender equality as measured by people's personal gender bias. The data, which was collected from 75 countries covering 81% of the world's population, found that 91% of men and 86% of women show at least one clear bias against women in the areas of politics, economics, education, and physical integrity.

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways. Splendid.

Keep ReadingShow less