With everything going on with political unrest, racial tension and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, things can feel a bit overwhelming.

We at the Daily Eastern News want to remind people that global climate change remains a threat.

Denver recorded temperatures of 101 degrees on Saturday and experienced snow and temperatures in the 30s on Tuesday. Multiple California counties are in states of emergency as wildfires ravage the state and are exacerbated by some of the highest temperatures in history.

According to climate.nasa.gov, “Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates.”

The site also states that Earth’s average surface temperature is increased by the burning of fossil fuels by humans, which then raises the temperature of an area already subject to wildfires, such as California.

This year’s hurricane season has been exacerbated by the rising temperatures in oceans, another result of climate change. The warming of the oceans is also caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

“Scientists predict that warmer oceans will make storms like hurricanes and tropical cyclones more intense in the future,” writes Alejandra Borunda in an article for National Geographic.

This increasing intensity could also be responsible for “speeding up the rate at which they intensify; and increasing the likelihood that they’ll release enormous volumes of rain,” writes Borunda.

Through 2020’s constant threats to maintaining our sanity, let us remind you that climate change is and will continue to be a danger to our planet.