As the impact of the European heatwaves hits closer to home, Brian Reade asks why as a species we are whistling and looking away, the majority of us choosing to believe those getting rich on the back of climate change denial07:00, 25 Jul 2026Three summers ago a tweet went viral which warned how the human race was sleepwalking into a man-made catastrophe. “Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you’re the one filming it,” ran the post.‌Today many of us are the ones filming it. Two weeks ago I was on holiday in southern France when a third severe heatwave in two months struck, sparking thousands of wildfires, forcing thousands of people from their homes and causing 5,700 excess deaths in June alone.‌‌During afternoons, when temperatures hit 42C, the town of Bergerac was like a post-apocalypse film set, deserted save for a few people walking around in a semi-stupor, struggling to breathe in the roasting air.Last week, members of my family, including my eight-month-old granddaughter, had to flee a holiday villa in inland Spain, and book into a coastal hotel after wildfires roared towards them. My son sent pictures on his phone. It looked terrifying. Not far from them, retired British couple Christine and Michael Chard, were burnt to death in their car and in Almeria uncontrollable blazes wiped out a small expat community killing seven Brits.‌Closer to home as hundreds of wildfires spread across Britain, even parts of Scotland are ablaze, including Arthur’s Seat in the middle of Edinburgh, and on my own doorstep 400 fish have died in a nearby park lake due to excess heat depriving them of oxygen.Europe has now become the world’s fastest-warming continent, with its ice caps melting at an alarming rate and it will get much worse much sooner than we think. Meteorologists claim there is currently an “unprecedented” Super El Niño weather event forming in the Pacific, predicted to be the biggest ever seen, ramping up ocean temperatures which likely means severe food shortages, rising prices and an even hotter Europe summer next year.Ask any climate scientist who is to blame for this looming Armageddon and the virtually unanimous response would be “us”.‌Yet as a species we are whistling and looking away, the majority of us choosing to believe those politicians, businessmen and opinion-formers who are getting rich on the back of climate change denial who denounce anyone who warns of this crazed suicide strategy as “eco-zealots”, “net zero fanatics” or the “green Taliban”.So we side with the old despots who ramp up oil production to fund illegal wars, boost economic growth and satisfy the demands of big businesses that bankroll them. Old men who get off on screaming “drill, baby, drill,” knowing they will be gone before the planet descends into a death spiral. So why should they care?Every generation born after the Second World War, who has seen footage from the Nazi death camps, is dumbfounded at how humanity ignored the holocaust that took place under its nose.‌Unless we act, future generations will look back in anger at the way we ignored the truth-telling scientists and derided green campaigners as “climate Nazis” when they warned we were making parts of our planet uninhabitable.The flames are now licking up on our doorsteps and if you’re not the one filming it yet, you soon will be.I hope for the sake of my granddaughter’s generation that humanity comes to its senses before it’s too late.Article continues below