Southeast Louisiana is sitting under a heat dome. Today’s high is 99, and the heat index is 109.

Activist Greta Thunberg and co-authors address extreme temperature, precipitation, and drought caused by climate change in The Climate Book. I discovered the book on the new non-fiction shelf at the library and was the second person to check it out. 

I stopped reading after a few chapters because I had insomnia and feared the book might be keeping me awake. I returned it, but vowed to read it when my sleep improved. Medication cured the insomnia, and I went back to the library to retrieve the book.

The book was missing from the new non-fiction shelf. I presumed someone had checked it out; but to my surprise it was available, and I found it in the stacks.

As I left the library, I double-checked the return date. The sticker had three dates, and the last two were mine. 

Apparently, Southeast Louisiana was not eager to read about climate change. I wasn’t either, but I finished the book. I wanted to know what weather extremes to expect and why.