Its tangible Climate Change in front of us. We lose more americans to heat than most other disasters combined. Martha with no end in sight, how are communities handling the heat . Were live in the hot spots with ginger zee diving into the warming waters of florida. Palm springs mayor, and Washington State governor jay inslee. High alert. North korea fires off Ballistic Missiles after a u. S. Nuclear submarine enters the waters off of south korea. And we got exclusive access to the uss kentucky, a nuclear arm Ballistic Missile submarine here for the first time in 40 years in south korea. And the latest on the u. S. Soldier who fled across the border with House Foreign AffairsCommittee ChairMichael Mccaul. Trumps turmoil. If you Say Something about the election, they want to put you in jail for the rest of your life. Martha the republican frontrunner faces a third possible indictment as a federal judge sets his classified documents trial smack in the middle of the 2024 campaign season. All the fallout with our powerhouse round table. Martha good morning, and welcome to this week. Wherever you are joining us from this morning, the scorching summer heat wave unlike anything weve seen before is affecting your life. Its engulfed parts of the country for weeks, torching the southwestern and eastern United States with tripledigit temperatures, leaving tens of millions of people under heat alert this weekend. It is a lifethreatening emergency. The extreme heat is also searing europe and asia, putting the world on track once again for the hottest month ever recorded. Its a record that is not likely to stand for long as scientists warn that human activities contributing to an increasingly warming planet could lead to a future where weather like this will become more common, more deadly, and longer lasting. Its an urgent Global Challenge for people, their communities, their countries, and the planet we all share. Well cover the heat from all angles this morning beginning with zohreen shah just outside palm springs, california. Good morning, zohreen. Reporter good morning, martha. The palm springs area as you know, they are used to this heat, but theyve never seen anything like this before. This is incredibly dangerous, and this is just one of the many communities in this region facing this challenge of this long heat wave, and you get a sense of the strain on the Communities Just being out here. Yesterday, we were in downtown palm springs in the heart of that city. People finally came out in the evening, but it was practically a ghost town in the afternoon compared to a normal summer night. It is just too dangerous to be outside during the day. You could feel it, and the fear is that a prolonged stretch like this can impact businesses and just the entire ecosystem in a very big way. Palm springs reached a record ninth consecutive day of over 115 degrees. The alltime record high in palm springs is 123 degrees, and on friday, the area hit 120 inching very close to that record. Now we were here with firefighters yesterday too, and they tell me they have seen 26 pure heatrelated incidents and illnesses in the palm springs region since just friday. They actually predict the actual impact on emergency incidents is higher than too. Martha thank you so much to you. Lets go overseas now. Europe suffering through an intense heat wave with the highest temperatures ever recorded in some countries. Marcus moore is in greece where wildfires have raged for nearly a week outside athens. Good morning to you, marcus. Reporter well, good morning, martha. Whats been happening here particularly in Southern Europe is unprecedented. Not only have the records for daily high temperatures been broken in many places, but also for the duration of some of these heat waves. Spain right now seeing temperatures over 100 degrees, italy, the same story there, and here in greece, officials expect this current heat wave to extend to 17 days. That has never happened before. Its been so hot here that famous attractions like the acropolis have either curtailed their hours or they have shut down completely. Residents and tourists are being urged the hydrate and to stay indoors and as you know, the hot, dry, windy conditions have been fueling dozens of wildfires across parts of greece. Several European Countries have sent in reinforcements to help greece try to stay ahead of these fires that have been burning now for nearly an entire week, and right now we know that about 800 firefighters are involved in this fight. There have been Mass Evacuations in southeastern greece. Martha, they are hoping for a break in the weather to come on monday, but it wont last long because another heat wave is expected to last through the rest of next week. Martha thank you, marcus. As the planet records its hottest days, weeks, and months on record this summer, we want to look at how we got here and what can be done to slow this down both on land and at sea. Heres abcs chief meteorologist and climate unit managing editor, ginger zee. Reporter this july, the Desert Southwest to the florida keys have seen scorching temperatures obliterating records with no end in sight. Earths hottest 20 days ever recorded by human instruments have all been measured this month. We knew this would be a hot year, but humaninduced Climate Change is also amplifying the warming of our planet and were seeing the consequences. Both for us were about 20 up in our heatrelated emergencies for this month and also for this year. Reporter but also in the oceans. Were seeing Ocean Temperatures far exceeding bleaching thresholds that we normally only see in august and september. Reporter floridas reef has taken a beating over the last four decades, losing more than 90 of its live cover due to pollution, hurricanes and consistently warming water. The team came out to monitor this site a few weeks ago, and the corals were looking pretty good, but our water temperatures at that time were 91 degrees. Reporter we joined the team at the florida aquarium to check on floridas coral reef. Here we go. Reporter within seconds, we saw it. Its all white. Its dead. That means within the last two weeks, bleached, gone. Reporter this will likely be the worst bleaching event that the florida keys has ever seen. Immediately when we went in, you saw white. Yeah. Big patches. As soon as i put my face in the water, my heart dropped into my stomach. Reporter while this reef might not recover this year, researchers across southern florida say theyll keep working to protect coral reefs into the future. This is where we test coral reef viable intervention strategies. Reporter but they cant do it alone. Can our bandaids like this fix forever . Bandaids cant fix it forever. We need to take action to stop the warming of our planet. Reporter that observation station behind me is one of so many that have been recording those unprecedented hot water temperatures, but the scientists that we were diving with say you dont even need that data. The coral is telling us the story. All of this, both the marine scientists, the meteorologists and climatologists say they have a heavy fingerprint of humanamplified Climate Change. Thats why reducing emissions is so important. The Biden Administration also feeling the pressure to make meaningful climate goals a reality both at home and abroad. Every step forward depends not on one country acting alone, but acting all together, helping to push the rest of the world to do what we need to do to win this battle. Reporter but the 2024 president ial election raising questions about how big a priority climate will continue to be on the national stage. The oceans will rise over the next three years by oneeighth of an inch. It creates more beachfront property actually. Thats the way you have to view it. Reporter climate scientists agree that politics aside, business as usual will be a disaster for the climate. For this week, ginger zee, abc news, from virginia key, florida. Martha and our thanks to ginger. Joining us now is palm springs, california mayor grace elena garner. Good morning, mayor. Its great to have you with us this morning. We know palm springs is used to these very hot temperatures, but nothing like this. Not so extended, day after day after day. We heard from zohreen, but i want you to tell us the human toll youve seen. What impact this has had on your city. You know, for lifelong residents like me, this isnt unusual, but what is unusual is that duration as you said, and what we see is that we have workers who are outside every day doing gardening, working on ac repair, and then of course, are unhoused, and those populations are really getting the brunt of this impact. If theyre not able to be inside during our hottest hours, it really impacts their health. We do see our firefighters tending to more heatrelated incidents. We have robust education in our community, but it still is really important for people to stay inside. Martha you said even last year that your citys electric grid is at risk for rolling blackouts. So what has been done to secure that, and what plans are in place if it goes out . We have three cooling centers that are open seven days a week and theyre open throughout the summer. Any time anyone would experience a blackout, they have a place to go, but were also in very close communication with the Electric Company in our area to make sure that were addressing these concerns. They were just at a Council Meeting a couple of weeks ago, and were having a power talk with the Electric Company and our residents on august 1st to make sure were upgrading the infrastructure as often as possible so we dont have blackouts at all. Martha and mayor, you mentioned the unhoused. You have about 400 people experiencing homelessness there in palm springs, but were told you only have about 30 overnight shelter beds. That certainly wont help. Correct. We have 400 people who are experiencing homelessness in some way, but not all of those people are living outside at this time. They might be living in friends homes or with family members, but what were working on is opening up a Navigation Center that would have 80 beds for transitional housing as well as another 50 shelter spaces, and were working as hard as we can to get that open very quickly, but we also make sure to partner with other shelters within the area and with the Riverside County to get people into housing as quickly as possible. Martha and phoenixs mayor has called on the federal government to call extreme heat situations a Natural Disaster and increase the resources from the federal government. What would you like to see happen with the federal government . Do you agree with her . We absolutely need more support. We are seeing the impacts of Climate Change, and, you know, as i said for me, this temperature is something that im used to. Im a lifelong resident. What im concerned about is the rest of the country, the rest of the world who is experiencing this extreme heat for the very first time. When your body isnt used to these high temperatures, it can go into a shock. So if we dont act now, if we dont make sure that were putting in the actions that we need to reduce the impacts of Climate Change, we are just going to see this get worse and worse. Martha and what do you think has to happen . What would you like to see happen nationally, locally . In the shortterm . In the shortterm, i would love to see us put more funding towards electric vehicles, towards walking and biking paths, toward more shade. Were doing that in palm springs. Were adding shade to our playgrounds and working on shaded paths, walking paths in our city. We want people to be able to be protected even when they are outside, and those are really quick shortterm solution, but we need more money for housing. If people are living outside because they have no place to go, thats a huge problem and we dont have enough money to build housing as rapidly as we need to, and theres a lot of roadblocks even when we do have the funds. So anything that we can do to make sure that people are having safe places to live is of vital importance. Martha thanks very much for joining us this morning, mayor. We appreciate it. Were joined now by Washington State governor jay inslee, a leading advocate for climate action. Governor, thanks for joining us. How much do you think Climate Change is to blame here . Well, look. The Climate Change problem, the fuse has been burning for decades, and now the Climate Change bomb has gone off. The scientists are telling us that this is the new age. This is the age of consequences because whatever we thought of Climate Change last year, we now understand that the beast is at the door. We knew this beast of Climate Change was coming for us, but now its pounding on the door and i think its interesting, the most sort of summary of this situation with the Scientific Community is telling us now, is that the earth is screaming at us, and that is the situation. I talked to a leading International Scientist the other day who told me that we knew this was going to happen to us, but its happening to us maybe two des we really thought could be in the realm of the possible. So we have to dramatically increase our efforts. That is necessary. Now the good news theres good news here. We can do this. Look. Were electrifying our transportation fleet. Were electrifying our homes. This is a solvable problem, but we need to stop using fossil fuels. That is the only solution to this massive assault on humanity. Martha what at this point, you know, we heard ginger zee talk about this. What are meaningful climate goals . In one year, in five years, in ten years that can be achieved . Well, we can take shortterm action. Look. Weve said were not going to be selling internal combustion cars after 2035. Were electrifying our ferries here in Washington State. We have a law that demands 100 clean energy in a couple of decades. I want to note that this is not just something for the federal government. States can act. Our state is acting. We have 23 states in the u. S. Climate alliance, and this is necessary. We have had tremendous action under president bidens leadership with the Inflation Reduction Act and unfortunately the republicans are trying to repeal that now, but we need to go further and faster and states can go further and faster, and we are doing that, and again, the good news is all around my state, i cant turn over a rock without seeing new Jobs Associated with clean aviation fuel, with new types of battery. Its very exciting whats going on right now in inventing a new economy, and were doing that right in Washington State and people are getting great jobs because of this. Theres two parts to the story. This thing is the age of consequences. The bomb has gone off, but we do have the ability to restrain fossil fuels if we make the commitments we need to, and im glad that im in a state thats doing that. Martha on that point, lets broaden the lens here. You heard john kerry, the climate czar say that every step forward depends not on one country acting alone, but acting all together helping to push together the rest of the world to do what we need to do to win this battle. That really isnt happening. Just look at china. Not yet. Martha but time is running out. The bomb is already here as you said. Exactly. Martha so what do you do . How do you bring others together . Its one thing what your state is doing, what the nation is trying to do, but this is a worldwide problem. You lead. You tell your kids to lead when you send them to summer camp. You say, lead. The United States should be, and is the leader in this effort, and people are coming along. We need to lead, and we need to lead not just from a moral standpoint, but from our selfinterest standpoint. We need to build these jobs here and build these economies here, these Battery Companies that are throughout the midwest. Were rebuilding the rust belt in the midwest United States into the silicon belt, and the belt of new innovation. So this is a selfinterest for us to take action, and were certainly committed to it, and again, if you want to be an economic leader, follow Washington State in what were doing. Were building the, you know, the largest fuel cell in the world, powering the largest truck in the world. Martha governor . You bet. Martha governor, you have just quickly if you can, you have candidates out there like donald trump who mock the idea of Climate Change, and there are a vast number of americans who ignore it, dont care about it, or dont believe it. How do you convince those people its time to care . Well, we cant wait for donald trump to figure this out. We dont have time to mess around to wait for this knucklehead to figure this out. We just have to make sure hes not in office, and the way we do this is vote against climate deniers, vote against people who refuse to assist this moral and economic crisis that we have. You cant wait for these folks. You just got to make sure theyre not in office where they can do damage. Let them go off and play golf. Well solve this problem. Its a solvable problem if we work together, and people are coming around to this very, very rapidly because their homes are burning down. Theyre choking on smoke from the canadian fires. 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