A brutal heat wave, a Biden possibility, and what they might mean for higher education

Two developments crossed my radar this week and I’d like to flag them here. Both concern the climate crisis. Each has implications for higher education.

I: Heat wave

Last week I visited Phoenix, Arizona for a conference. At one point I stepped outside, wearing my suit and tie, socks and shoes, like an idiot, to get a sense of what 110°F felt like. It began as pleasantly warm and rapidly became debilitating. “This must be what my food feels like in the oven,” murmured another person next to me.

Wearing full professional battle dress — suit, tie, buttoned up shirt — and starting to question my sanity.

That was famously hot Phoenix and I experienced it voluntarily. This week swathes of Europe are feeling similarly over-like and Europeans had no such choice. France is enduring temperatures past 100 F:

44% of Europe is now on a drought warning and 9% on alert, according to the EC. A British airbase at Brize Norton shut down after part of a runway melted. while that government issued its first-ever red warning. Wildfires hit dried out parts of Spain and France.