Aussies love the heat. We head to the beach in swimmers and sunnies, slop on the sunscreen and lie on a towel to get that essential tan.
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But have you noticed it's getting hotter?
Across the world, scientists plead with governments to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. In Australia, CSIRO has reported an average temperature rise of 1.44 degrees since national records began in 1910.
Our country has almost reached the limit, and, on our current path, it will get a lot worse.
As the temperature rises, we humans can cope to some extent. Our bodies sweat and the evaporation of that sweat cools us a little. We can move into the shade or the air conditioning.
If we get it wrong and our body temperature reaches 42.3 degrees or more, proteins are denatured, the body turns into scrambled eggs and the brain is damaged irreparably.
During the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, Melbourne broke temperature records with three consecutive days above 43 degrees, with the temperature peaking at 45.1 degrees. The heatwave may have contributed to the deaths of about 374 people. That was in addition to 173 deaths from the bushfires.
Our much-loved dogs are also at risk from the increasing temperature. Because they are covered in fur, they only have sweat glands in the pads of their feet. They rely on panting to cool down.
A dog that is shut in a vehicle during hot weather can die within six minutes. Excessive exercise also causes heat stress.
When Jax, a young Staffy, collapsed and subsequently died from heat stress after running round a park in NSW, the owner couldn't understand why his dog hadn't had the sense to stop running.
Native animals and birds are also at risk. An extreme heatwave in Far North Queensland during 2018, when temperatures exceeded 42 degrees, killed more than 23,000 spectacled flying foxes, about a third of that species in Australia.
Thousands of budgerigars and finches have died in the hot arid climate of the centre.
There have been reports of koalas drowning in swimming pools while trying to get a drink during a heatwave.
The temperature will continue to rise unless we stop producing greenhouse gas emissions. Modelling has predicted a global temperature rise of 4.5 to 6 degrees in response to a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Unfortunately that is far too much because even two degrees warming is safe neither for animals or for the planet.
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