The Earth set unofficial record high temperatures last week. Scientists said they were a clear sign of how pollutants released by humans are warming the environment. But the heat is also just one way the planet is telling us something is seriously wrong, they added. “Heat sets the pace of our climate in so many ways ... it’s never just the heat,” said Kim Cobb. She is a climate scientist at Brown University in Rhode Island. Dying coral reefs, more intense storms, and the wildfire smoke that much of North America experienced this summer are other signs of climate troubles. “The increasing heating of our planet caused by fossil fuel use is not unexpected, but it is dangerous for us humans and for the ecosystems we depend on.” “We need to stop it, fast,” said Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.