Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

I’m going to do something a little different this week. I’m going to post an editorial written by the Editor-in-chief of The Week magazine, William Falk in this week’s magazine. He wrote:

It hit 97 degrees this week in the ocean off South Florida. Not the air temperature — the ocean itself. In steam-bath Miami, the heat index has surpassed 100 degrees for more than 30 straight days. Large swaths of Texas, Nevada, and Arizona have been broiling in 110-plus degrees for a week (Phoenix: 118 degrees), with no end to the inferno in sight.

In Canada’s Northwest Territories—just a few miles south of the Arctic Circle—temperatures climbed to 99.3 degrees. In China, officials are opening underground air-raid shelters so people can hide from life-endangering heat.

Climate change’s effects are becoming surreal: Last week was the hottest week ever recorded in terms of the average global temperature. July 4 was the hottest day ever recorded — warmer, say scientists, than any other day over the last 125,000 years. With the El Niño climate pattern releasing even more heat in coming months, said climatologist Christopher Hewitt of the World Meteorological Organization, “we are in uncharted territory.”

So what do we do? Like the proverbial frog that does not jump out of the slowly heated pot, people really do get used to almost anything, no matter how unpleasant. Just 8 percent of Americans identify climate change as the most important issue facing the country, a recent poll found. Yet extreme weather events like floods and wildfires that cause more than $1 billion in damage are becoming commonplace, occurring every 18 days now — compared with every 82 days in 1980.

The world is finally moving toward solar, wind, and renewable energy, but at too slow a pace. This summer’s extremes already are exceeding the most pessimistic climate scenarios. As we continue to burn fossil fuels, climatologists warn, the heat will grow even more punishing in coming years, and disasters more frequent.

My fellow frogs, have you noticed that the water in this pot is getting awfully warm?

And that brings me to this week’s provocative question.

What is your reaction to Mr. Falk’s editorial? Are you among the 92% who don’t see climate change as the most important issue humanity faces? Will humans, like the proverbial frogs in a pot of slowly heating water, not acknowledge or take seriously enough the jeopardy of climate change until it’s too late?

If you choose to participate in Fandango’s Provocative Question, you may respond with a comment or write your own post in response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.