‘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 trip to Iran and one of its mosques, Zirrar started believing in God and writing about the soul of travel. Six years later, Zirrar and his elderly father were participating in the sacred five-day Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj, when temperatures soared over 51°C. Temperature increases from climate change have made Hajj pilgrimages that happen in the summer, and even during the previously safer spring months, more dangerous.

Continue reading...