At the beginning of the fight against globalization – then led by liberals and today by extreme right-wing conspirators – a graffiti made a fortune.

“Half the world is starving and another half is dying of weight,” the facades shouted.

Today, in the era of TikTok or Instagram, you have to cultivate likes to be someone, even if this means doing extreme things, even risking your life, such as going to visit and taking pictures in a true hell of a regular, as you rightly say. its own name of Death Valley, the Death Valley of southeastern California, which is even more so under the impact of disproportionately high temperatures.

At this moment in which António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, warns that “the era of global warming has ended and that of global boiling has arrived”, in the month of July, which aims to be the warmest since records, when what you most want is to take shelter under the fan or go to a cinema in, for example, New York (in this landscape of contrasts, it is advisable to wear a jacket or you risk frostbite), well, that, that proclamation of the anti-globalization is applicable only by incorporating the word heat.

Faced with the wave of high temperatures, US President Joe Biden made a speech on Thursday to warn of the “existential threat of climate change and extreme heat.” He insisted on a series of measures to alleviate the effects, especially with the workers who must continue in the pit despite these conditions.

The aid does not apply, however, to all those who, defying common sense and reason, expose themselves to physical exhaustion.

One of the hottest places on Earth has drawn more visitors this week, not despite or near record high temperatures, but because of them. Tourists are flocking to Death Valley, a narrow strip of territory dubbed the hottest place on Earth, because they want to experience “triple digits” in degrees Fahrenheit, the official measurement in the United States. These days the mercury is climbing to close to 133º, equivalent to almost 56º Celsius.

Defined this site as a basin below sea level, in which the constant drought and record summer heat make it a place of extremes, the national park website has posted the warning for the high level of temperatures. “Don’t walk after 10 o’clock and travel prepared to survive”, indicates a bad omen.

At any bend, no matter how isolated, a danger sign appears. “Heat kills”, underline the pamphlets offered in the popular Zabriskie Point, from which spectacular views are observed. The photo of a red tombstone reinforces the drama of the message: “Don’t become a victim of Death Valley.” But not for these.

“I’ve never experienced a temperature like this,” Frenchman Nicolas Combaret told the Los Angeles Times, visiting with his wife and five-year-old son. “When we saw on the news that temperatures were going to hit 126º, we thought, wow, that’s amazing, it would be nice to have an experience like that. feel the greatest heat ever felt, ”he insisted.

Two deaths have already been attributed to this extreme tourism this summer. A 71-year-old man collapsed while walking around Golden Canyon, where warning signs remind us that “timely rescue is not guaranteed.” And at the beginning of the month another lifeless visitor was found inside a vehicle.

A spokeswoman for the park remarked that those who choose to enter areas off the trails expose themselves to the difficulty of helping them if they suffer the effects of high temperatures, while endangering the rescuers.

“It’s suffocating,” Scottish tourist Alessia Dempster told the AP. “Especially with the breeze. You think you’re going to get some relief, but it’s like a blow-dryer blowing your face.”

“I wanted to go to an Everest-type site, which you say I have achieved,” stressed a Las Vegas resident on CBS.

That is, half the world is dying of heat and another half to experience it.