This is the Theme of the Week edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a digest of our top commentary published every Sunday. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Threads and Facebook . Way back in 2013, this fledgling publication’s editorial board warned us that a failure to curb man-made carbon emissions — which definitely lead to climate change, people — would mean higher temperatures and a lot more violence. In the ensuing 10 years, overall temperatures have indeed continued to rise. This month is going down as Earth’s hottest on record, and there is no relief in sight, whether immediate or in our future. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere right now, maybe that explains why your neighbors — and pets — are crankier than usual. And if you work in a major urban area like New York City … well, maybe try some meditation before you catch your morning train. “Concrete surfaces absorb and re-emit heat, which, with little shade and limited air circulation, makes high temperatures even higher” in parts of the city, Bloomberg’s Azul Cibils Blaquier explains.  On the other side of the US, Phoenix has been suffocating under an unrelenting “heat dome” that has shattered records and killed dozens of people. Arizona is, of course, already hot — and that hasn’t been a deterrent for those flocking to one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. “Humans are amazingly adaptable, but there are limits,” warns Mark Gongloff. Escaping into our homes and cranking the AC just exacerbates the very problem we have both created and cannot escape from. (As F.D. Flam points out to those of us looking to stay cool without killing the planet, we can turn on a fan — and still get relief.) But we aren’t watching our consumption in other areas, either. “In this age of climate crisis, the world is consuming more crude than ever,” writes Javier Blas. “Currently there’s no chance that the world will reduce oil consumption by 2030 nearly as much as needed to meet its net-zero emissions targets. And that’s why many Western governments, while preaching green in public, in private tell oil executives to keep investing in more production.” That is simply an untenable stance, one that will continue to cost the earth in unfathomable ways. “For millions of people across the world, the heat has become impossible to ignore,” Bloomberg’s editorial board reminds us. “It’s time policymakers come to the same conclusion.” Saving the planet will save lives … and maybe it’ll make us a lot less angry, too. More Climate Reading: Japan is still viewed by the west as a Disney-like fantasy land. Headlines like “smile coaches,” “sexless couples” and “eyeball licking” only perpetuate the stereotype that it is a bizarre country. But “weird Japan” stories are nothing to smile about, says Gearoid Reidy. For years, the news media was obsessed with the supposed unique problems of its aging population, sexless couples and the hikikomori youth who opted to stay at home playing video games instead of taking part in society. The latest trend, the Japanese “smile coach,” is a milder form of this genre — it’s a real service, though one whose reach is exaggerated. Gearoid has lived in Japan for decades, and he’s sick of the way Western media portrays this complex, multifaceted society. Watch what he has to say in Bloomberg Opinion’s Sunday Feature Video. | 
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