a little more information regarding the maui wildfires:

hotels are still operating. hotels are still operating. they are not the ones offering shelters or housing or food. even bowling alleys are offering shelter, but hotels have the audacity to build on burial sites but not open their doors to local families who have lost everything.

donate to maui united way, the maui food bank, mutual aid, and maui humane society

Sadly it’s true, i think the government and media are trying not to scare people about the extent of the devastation, but it’s way worse than being reported according to official sources I have connections to.

On a nice note, Oprah Winfrey who lives on the island has been seen comforting evacuees at the rescue centers.

The city of Lahaina had pretty much been wiped out. I’m heading at least 80% from homes to businesses and historical sites. Lahaina is a very unique city too because you can still smell the remnants from sugarcane processing decades after they closed. I been there twice, it’s a dry, hot, but quaint place. Their high school, Lahainaluna HS houses the first printing press west of the Rockies, that’s how historic a place it is.

I hope the voters hold their representatives responsible for the lack of foresight and action that led to all the deaths

So I was scrolling and saw this image in an article about the European heat wave,

And was like, uh, are you missing something there, buddy? Like all that red in northern Africa? Because that's a lot of red.

And I was going to give them the benefit of doubt, since I don't know much about the climate in Northern Africa, aside from Morroco and Egypt, which seem like really hot places, so you know, maybe it's normal there?

But nope, that's not the case:

Some selections from the article:

"The region has been experiencing some of the most intense heat waves in recent years, but in many cases they’ve been under-reported due to misconceptions about Africans’ ability to withstand them.

“Africa is seen as a sunny and hot continent,” said Amadou Thierno Gaye, a research scientist and professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. “People think we are used to heat, but we are having high temperatures for a longer duration. Nobody is used to this.”

"The Sahel, for instance, has been heating at a faster pace than the global average despite being hot already. Burkina Faso and Mali, both in West Africa’s Sahel, are among countries that are set to become almost uninhabitable by 2080, if the world continues on its current trajectory, a UK university study found. Its people are especially vulnerable due to shrinking resources, such as water, and poor amenities, and a dearth of trees and parks means there are few options for places to cool off."

all across the continent of Africa, ice has been melting and not coming back. the ice caps and glaciers of every continent are vitally important for maintaining a balanced climate, but as you can see from the above image, even 10-20 years ago the ice deposits on Kilimanjaro and the Rwenzori mountains had shrunk to dangerous levels.

this is Kilimanjaro in 2023. it's only getting worse as climate change continues to ravage the globe.

because so much climate science is focused on europe and the americas, far too few know the extent of the damage that has been done to Africa by the corporations driving climate change. time and time again, the struggles across the African continent are minimised or outright ignored, because as OP said, people believe it to be a hot continent.

these heatwaves are just the tip of the iceberg. the entire western world owes it to the people living in Africa to stop the practices that are continuing to accelerate climate disaster, but billionaires and CEOs will put profit ahead of the suffering of billions of people. Africa is at the forefront of climate disaster, and any solutions for reducing or reversing climate change should be focused on how we can prevent the last African ice deposits from disappearing for good.