In the afternoons when I would reach for the air conditioner’s remote control, unable to go on without turning on the cooling machine, I grieve a little. I know it didn’t used to be this hot. I remember playing outside as a child at this hour. The days were warm, but they were not unbearable.

Perhaps, for many New Yorkers, the thick haze blanketing the city from wildfires in Canada last week was the first time that they noticed an anomaly in their environment. For many of us in Southeast Asia, erratic and unusual behaviors of the natural world that impact our daily lives, health, and income, have been a reality for quite some time. And we know they are here to stay.