A September to Remember

A September to Remember
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14 October 2021
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Decades ago, people in Cuba were wearing long-sleeve shirts and the most flamboyant coats in the ninth month of the year.

This year, September turned to be one of the hottest months to the point of breaking two maximum temperature records.

According to specialists from the Weather Center at INSMET (Institute of Meteorology), both the oceanic and atmospheric conditions had strong influence.

The citizens of this Caribbean island were not the only ones in waving their fans and sweating a lot. This time, September was one of the four hottest months ever —along with those of 2020, 2019, and 2016— since statistics are recorded worldwide.

There were record-breaking temperatures in Europe while other world regions like South America, northwest Africa, and South and East China recorded numbers well above average.

And while temperatures rose, the expanse of the sea ice in the Artic recorded its twelfth lowest numbers.

We endured last month the Sahara dust and the Sulphur dioxide gases released by the Las Palmas volcano, in the Canary Island, which came along that cloud of dust that fled across the Atlantic.

And all that was not just bad luck, or just coincidence. Planet Earth shakes and convulses like a wounded animal. We, human beings, are hurting the Earth.

Unprecedented drought and wildfires, an alarming loss of biodiversity —there are about one million species in real risk of extinction right now— while 31 species went extinct last year only…

But even when September just brought bad news, it was also a paramount month regarding the actions and commitment in the fight against climate change and on the eve of the UN Summit on Climate COP26, to be held early in November.

Nearly 40 nations with different levels of development undertook new and vital energetic commitments. The most powerful economies in the world, China and the U.S. committed to approved new and ambitious climate actions during the high-level meetings in the General Assembly; in Africa, more than 1,600 people attended to a virtual meeting to explore possibilities and showcase real solutions in the fight against global warming while steps were taken to overhaul the entire food system…

Not only the heat and the urgent need to protect our planet, but also we are resuming our routines, with caution, after facing a crusade against death caused by Covid-19. September will be a month to remember by all of us.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff

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