🐣 Male fertility crisis?

Good morning! It’s Monday, July 31 — people are talking this summer’s historic heat wave, a potential male fertility crisis, and more.

As always, we’ve summarized and organized the different shades of perspective, so you can see the big picture quickly.

🌡️ In the news: The summer heat wave

Heat waves are fueling alarming headlines. Is the panic over rising temperatures fair, or are heat waves just a part of summer?

🌡️ Summer 2023 has been usually hot and dangerous. Blame climate change, says a letter to the LA Times. The world must do something before it's too late!

🌡️ Bloomberg agrees — it's time to act. Heat records are getting broken. Governments need to deliver on their promises to lower emissions, ASAP.

🌡️ But Hot Air says we should quit catastrophizing! Summer is always hot, and we only started tacking the heat index in 1979. Heat records aren’t a big deal.

🌡️ The WSJ agrees — heat waves in the summer are normal. The media's obsessed with climate change, and it's making people neurotic!

🌡️ Either way, climate change is alarming people. A Lancet study found that 55% of people 16-25 were “very or extremely worried” about climate change.

🐣 Cultural trend: Male fertility crisis?

Male sperm count and quality are declining. The causes are subject to debate, as is how serious the problem really is.

🐣 BBC says declining sperm count is a fertility crisis driven by poor lifestyle habits and an increase in toxic pollutants, like plastics.

🐣 The Week says it's mostly because men just aren’t healthy. To fix the problem, we have to tackle our society's unhealthy eating and exercise habits.

🐣 The Guardian is seriously worried. We need to act before this crisis reaches a tipping point, otherwise dropping birth rates will cause major trouble.

🐣 But the NYT says this is all totally overblown — sperm counts and quality are fine. The studies claiming a crisis are based on flawed conclusions.

Quick hits from today & yesterday

🇺🇦 Zelensky said that the war is “returning to Russia” as Ukraine gets stronger. He said it was “an inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process”. (Axios)

⚫ A bomb exploded at a political rally in Pakistan, killing 43. Officials suspect that ISIS is responsible. (NYT)

🎤 After a fan threw a drink at Cardi B during a performance, she threw her microphone at them. (CNN)

🌎 Saudi Arabia announced that it will host talks between world leaders to boost support for Ukrainian peace demands. Russia's not invited. (WSJ)

That’s it for today! Reply at [email protected] with your takes, topic suggestions, or anything at all. Here at Shades we’re trying something new – quick summaries from different points of view. We’d love to hear what you think.