Who will bell the climate change cat?

Torrential rain, cloudbursts, flashfloods are wreaking havoc in large parts of the world. Countries such as Greece are seeing wildfires ravaging one part, and flashfloods leaving people helpless in others. While large swathes of China and India are experiencing record temperatures, thunderstorms, continuous downpours and floods other parts have paralyzed people's daily life and destroyed houses and properties.

Europe, despite its strict environmental laws and relatively low levels of emissions, is also feeling the heat of climate change. In Southern and Western Europe, temperatures were forecast to break the 48 C record set in Athens in 1977, thanks to the waves of scorching hot air sweeping in from Africa.

The unbearable heatwave in Europe has already caused wildfires and crop failures. Now it seems set to claim freshwater fish as its next victim. Reports say rivers such as the Rhine in Germany and Austria and the Elbe in the Czech Republic have soaked up so much heat that fish are beginning to suffocate. And several nuclear power stations in Germany are lowering their energy outputs because waters from rivers used to cooling the nuclear plants are too warm to do the job.