Well, gang … summer is about to give way to autumn in less than three weeks, bringing with it some relief from the summer heat that has many of gasping for air, swilling tons of water and the weather guys telling us what we already know — that it’s hot, damn hot, out there!

Except that the summer of 2025 has bordered on pleasant this summer. Don’t get me wrong. I am not going to say I want the weather to stay like this year-round. Weather forecasters tell us we had fewer 100-plus-degree days this summer than in the recent past. We’ve had a good bit of rain on occasion … with more expected this weekend. The playas look pretty full. So do the reservoirs, such as Lake Lavon near my home in Princeton.

I want to caution everyone against accepting the view from climate-change deniers who are bound to view this improved weather as a sure sign that the climate change crisis is a “hoax,” that it’s part of the deep state fake news machine.

Climate change is real. Earth’s climate is producing stronger than normal wind, heavier than normal ocean storms, ice caps melting at a faster rate, diminution of mountain glaciers that provide water for many communities (such as my hometown of Portland, Ore., which relies on Cascade Range snowpack runoff to fill reservoirs).

We measure weather changes that occur day to day, or week to week. Climate change is measured in much larger and longer time increments. A blip in the weather has little tangible impact on a region’s climate, according to scientists who know a lot more about this than your chump blogger.

I welcome the relief we seem to be getting from Mother Nature during the summer of 2025. The heat hasn’t been unbearable. However, all of us must remain vigilant and do what we can to prevent further damage done to our good planet Earth by our changing climate.