Six months into the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe has been facing a parallel environmental crisis — which now appears to be reaching a tipping point. The drought in Europe is being described as the "worst in the last 500 years" — a phrase that was used for the 2018 drought as well. It is a crisis for Europe but, more so, it is a warning that catchy words and phrases around climate change control need to be materialised on the ground, in action, if the world is to prevent itself from being subjected to such disasters more frequently and intensely. Drought, it is well known, is a natural climatic condition in Europe. However, climate change has been exacerbating such natural phenomena, giving them a dreary outlook. Analysing the data available till August 10, Global Drought Observatory (GDO) stated that 64 per cent of the continental landmass in Europe was experiencing drought conditions — while 47 per cent was in "warning" condition, 17 per cent was on alert. Then there are regional variations. Certain countries, particularly in southern Europe, are facing graver conditions. The fact that the 2022 drought has come even before European soil could fully recover from the damages inflicted by the 2018 drought, makes the picture look gloomier. European media is flooded with dramatic visuals of sunken World War-II ships and "hunger stones" being exposed to the open eye. Europe's largest and longest rivers have shrunken abnormally. Global Drought Observatory has projected the situation to worsen further over the coming months. The prolongation of the drought will have far-reaching implications on Europe's socio-economic conditions. In the first place, projections for European harvests have come down by 16 per cent for maize, 15 per cent for soybeans and 12 per cent for sunflowers. Exorbitantly high percentages of agricultural lands in countries like Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland are rendered useless. The negative fallouts of ongoing drought in Europe will have a compounding effect on the already restricted grain supplies due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Given the interconnectedness of global trade in agriculture, it may not be wrong to say that negative effects will trickle down to other continents as well. It may be noted that China and the United States are also facing severe drought-like situations, which will further strain the global supply of foodgrains. For Europe, apart from shortage of foodgrains, mobility of ships is being affected — which is not a very good sign for the facilitation of trade. More importantly, the shrunken waterways have also come to cripple the power sector. Both supply of coal and operation of nuclear plants are essential components of the power generation process in Europe, and both are badly hit by the drying of waterways. Waterbodies may not be able to hold coal-containing cargoes and nuclear plants might not be getting the required water supply. It won't at all be an overstatement to say that large parts of Europe may face blackouts in the coming winter. The sheer intensity and frequency of European droughts are attributed by some to the worsening climatic situation. The ongoing drought has, in turn, the propensity to inflict further damages to the climate. Heatwaves and drought usually lead up to wildfires in Europe. Climate experts are warning that the severity of the 2022 drought could well lead up to extreme wildfires. It needs to be seen what course nature takes in Europe. The situation is undoubtedly precarious in the continent. All that the national governments can do at this point of time is to collaborate with each other and ensure that lives and livelihoods are least affected during this rough patch. The drought should serve as yet another nudge for the world to redefine its interaction with nature — in action, not just in words.