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‘This is a glimpse of not only what our future will look like, but in fact, it will look quite a bit worse than this,’ professor tells CNN

The current summer heat wave is due to climate change, a University of Pennsylvania professor told CNN.

Presidential Distinguished Professor Michael Mann said that it is currently extremely hot this week due to climate change. However, future problems can be prevented “by getting off fossil fuels.”

“This is a glimpse of not only what our future will look like, but in fact, it will look quite a bit worse than this,” Professor Mann told CNN host Brianna Keilar during an interview Monday.

“We will see more widespread, and hotter, and longer lasting heat waves in the future if we continue to heat up the planet,” Mann said. “And so all of this gets worse if we continue pumping carbon pollution into the atmosphere and warming up the planet, that’s the bad news.”

In addition to “getting off fossil fuels,” there is a “direct and immediate impact,” to bringing down carbon emissions,” he said later in the interview.

However, the warning about the heat wave needs historical context, according to one commentator.

CNN’s Brianna Keilar interviewed their number one climate czar, Dr. Michael Mann from UPenn, yesterday, to discuss how this week’s “brutal” and “unprecedented” heatwave is being fueled by global warming and is a taste of our future.

“𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗻𝗼𝘁… pic.twitter.com/yrTxzkNRYC

— Chris Martz (@ChrisMartzWX) June 18, 2024

“Someone should tell these people that this is what a glimpse of SUMMER looks like,” Chris Martz wrote on X. “There is nothing unprecedented or all that unusual about this heatwave. Not by summer standards nor by June standards.”

Martz then provided data from the major cities highlighted by CNN to show how historically they have faced hotter days for the same time period.

“No daily records are in forecast for any of those locations,” Martz wrote. “This week’s [heat wave] does not compare to those of June 1936, 1944, 1953 or 1988.”

The undergraduate student has previously explained how fears about climate change are overblown.

“The weather we observe today is really no different than it was 30, 50 or 100-years ago and the coupled, non-linear ocean-atmosphere system is far more complex than many scientists make it out to be,” he wrote in a June 8 post on X.

“The more I research, the less concerned I am. Sure, we impact the environment around us, and that includes the climate,” Martz wrote.

“But, this idea that we’re in a ‘climate crisis’ just isn’t a scientifically supportable statement.,” he said. “The human condition has never been better than it is today, and that is largely thanks to fossil fuels.”

“And, life without reliable and affordable energy such as oil and natural gas is cold, dark and short.”

Editor’s note: The article has been updated to reflect Martz is an undergraduate student.

MORE: Penn creates climate change vice provost role

IMAGE: CNN/YouTube

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