Playing
With
Fire

From wildfires in the UK to Middle East wars – the fossil fuel age is burning
itself alive. We know exactly where this is headed, writes Nafeez Ahmed

Climate change. Energy and water scarcity. War.

We tend to think of these, if we think of them at all, as far-flung threats that future generations might have to deal with.

Three years ago, a landmark UN Environment Programme report warned that extreme, uncontrollable wildfires are on track to increase globally by 30% by 2050 because of climate change.

This year, people in 30 countries across six continents woke up and inhaled the terrifying stench of a global conflagration that has come far faster than the models anticipated.