Solving climate change through time-travel: To walk tomorrow’s earth is to feel the burn

Ominously setting the scene: the earth is on fire, and that’s not being written as a loaded political statement, but instead deployed as an empirical scientific fact. The reality that my previous statement needs to be said is troubling, a sign of climate change’s geopolitical standing. This year’s Australian summer has seen fires rage while Patagonia has been “left as ashes” in its own inferno, all whilst studies warn that days of ideal wildfire conditions are set to increase in frequency. Of course, the ‘fire’ in question can also be treated less literally, and instead as a metaphorical device depicting soaring temperatures amidst global warming. In that sense, the earth is still, of course, on fire. Somehow, the climate situation has become so dire that we can say we’ve got a multi-layered fire on our hands: literal and literary. Earth’s climate has become such a troubling hotbox that we’re officially breaking the laws of physics, even if only on an illustrative level. 

While graphic fires are a more visceral, powerful depiction of climate change, the majority of the world won’t see literal flames outside their window. Instead, the most noticeable short-term impact will be daily temperature spikes. We’ve all talked about the morning after those oppressively sweltering nights. 2025 was officially Britain’s warmest year on record, and we’re not alone on that front. Last year was the third-warmest globally on record, beaten only by the two years that preceded it. Given that climate-sensitive policy has moved from non-issue to political imperative to political football over the past five or so decades, it can be truthfully said that any hope for a systemic solution to global warming is likely misplaced. Still, it remains the responsibility of the climate-conscious to try to push its agenda, and one way a team at The Guardian and the University of Sydney is trying to achieve this goal is rather radical. They’ve gone time-travelling.  

The stunt was a powerful indication of where we’re headed if change remains a sidelined and unnecessarily contentious issue

What would be the best way to make people more acutely aware of the everyday impacts? Living those experiences in the present. Well, that’s what The Guardian Australia’s Graham Readfearn thought, using the University of Sydney’s climate chamber to simulate the harsh temperatures of a warming climate of the future. You can find the full video of their efforts here. 

After experiencing a heatwave of the future, Readfearn said his eyes were stinging and that he was so damp it was as if a bucket of salty water had been poured over him. It was a privilege when it ended, he said, particularly since some won’t have the same choice to return to a refreshing, air-conditioned room. Instead, they will be forced to live and work in these conditions without real respite. The experience clearly put the depravity and urgency of the issue in perspective for Readfearn. 

In a multi-media article expounding on the science of the experience, the authors outline how future temperature trends will exacerbate numerous heat-induced threats. Readfearn’s simulation attempted to induce accurate conditions based on direct exposure to solar radiation and humidity, leading to a ‘feels like’ temperature of 49°C. Such temperatures have been found to cause stillbirths, exacerbating exposure for infants and the elderly while remaining potentially deadly to people of any age. The stunt was a powerful indication of where we’re headed if change remains a sidelined and unnecessarily contentious issue in the international arena. 

The best way to warn about the burn is to make the affected (everyone) feel it

While the climate chamber is in its own right a thoroughly interesting experiment, what is on display here is potential. Currently, 20% of Britons believe the UK should spend more on climate change, while 24% believe the whole phenomenon to be exaggerated. Though the majority see the climate as one of the major issues the nation faces, it’s generally frowned upon to spend more on addressing it, because we are already perceived as doing more than other nations. However, utilising public-facing experiences and similar future-grounded narratives that allow people to experience the climate issue firsthand could shift this agenda. In shifting public perception, we could increase calls for the UK to become an international climate leader. As Readfearn experienced, physical exposure to the future climate places great clarity on the issue and the need to circumvent this avoidable future. Akin to the Natural History Museum’s earthquake simulator, which brings a past earthquake to the present, we can bring the climate of the future into the here and now, alongside a broader narrative shift to the everyday impacts climate inaction is set to have on daily life. Of course, such a strategy is not bound to just Britain, but could hold equal merit in other developed nations with the means to opt for climate-sensitive policy. The best way to warn about the burn is to make the affected (everyone) feel it.

If the simplistic, but often true, notion that votes elicit political action holds true, a public-facing push that tries to anchor the climate issue in personal experience could be a different but effective avenue to pursue climate activism. The Guardian Australia’s work highlights how there are other potentially fruitful means of communicating the importance of climate-related issues, particularly in terms of global warming. One of the most effective and radical solutions for bringing the very-real literal and literary fires earth faces into the public eye is to give said public just a touch of the former: a safe, controlled, but uncomfortable and perspective-shifting experience of the future. 

Now we just need to fund it. Anyone got a couple of quid going?