Prolonged periods of extreme heat resulting from global climate change are rapidly transforming the way people live and work, requiring an “urgent call” for action by world leaders who have not yet fully embraced the growing crisis.

“We have entered into the brand new phase,” Jason Lee, director of the Heat Resilience and Performance Center at the National University of Singapore, told the National Press Foundation’s International Trade Fellowship program. “You think global warming; that’s not true. It’s global boiling now and we are right in the midst of the crisis.”

Lee, who has long focused on human adaptation to heat stress, said no sector of society is immune to rising temperatures and the risks to workers, school environments, the elderly and even pets.