‘I’m surrounded by millions of people but I could still die from the heat’ – This is climate breakdown

He went to Saudi Arabia to perform the sacred hajj pilgrimage – then the heat came. This is Zirrar Ali’s story Location: Mecca, Saudi Arabia Disaster: Heatwave, 2024 After a transformative experience in Iran, Zirrar Ali quit his corporate 9-5 job and began travel writing. Seven years later, he and his elderly father were participating in the sacred five-day Muslim pilgrimage, the hajj, when temperatures soared to more than 51C. The climate crisis has already made peak temperatures in Mecca about 2C hotter than in preindustrial times. Continue reading...