Scorching skies, drowning earth

Amid the extreme weather events, echoes from ancient myths caution us about our planet's fragile existence in the face of climate change

The summer of 2023 is playing out as an eerie enactment of multiple end-of-the-world mythologies. From the crash-and-burn scenarios depicted in Ragnarök (Norse mythology) and in Central American myths, to the apocalyptic flood myths found across cultures, and the cyclical plague-famine-drought-flood destruction mythology of Mesopotamia, every story from the timeless past reads like a cautionary tale for the times.

July has already been declared as the hottest recorded month, while wildfires, floods and typhoons worldwide have put lives at risk and gutted livelihoods. Extreme heat has turned the idyllic European summer into a procession of heat waves, and unseasonal rains and