In the summer of 2026, the Netherlands crossed a threshold that climate scientists had long feared but hoped to avoid: the hottest season since records began in 1901, with an average of 19.3°C at De Bilt — surpassing even the worst-case projections of the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute. What the thermometers recorded was not merely a broken number but a broken assumption, a moment when the future arrived ahead of schedule and asked what humanity intends to do next.