If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, you’re probably aware that it was very hot. Parts of the United States are preparing for a possible record heat wave this week, while forest fires are already spreading across the American West.
Greece witnessed the first recorded heat wave of the season, which led to the closure of the famous Acropolis in Athens and the collapse of a number of tourists, and in some cases, the death of some of them while walking in parts of the Mediterranean country. This seems normal.
Before the beginning of the summer, heat waves had struck various parts of the planet, from Bangkok in Thailand to Barranquilla in Colombia. “At the end of May, more than 1.5 billion people — nearly one-fifth of the planet’s population — experienced at least one day in which the heat index exceeded 103 degrees Fahrenheit, or 39.4 degrees Celsius, the threshold that the National Weather Service considers life-threatening. May also marks the twelfth consecutive month in which global average temperatures exceeded all observations since 1850.
A report published by a group of 57 scientists this month indicated that human activities were responsible for 92% of the temperature rise seen last year, which was the hottest year on Earth. Scientists also expect that at least one year over the next half-decade will exceed the record average annual temperature set worldwide in 2023. “Researchers have linked rising temperatures to the El Niño climate pattern and decades of resulting global warming,” wrote my colleague Scott Dance. On human emissions of greenhouse gases.
He added: “A decade ago, scientists estimated that the chances of the planet warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius” – the upper limit of pre-industrial levels, exceeding which would lead to climate catastrophe on the planet, according to scientific consensus – “by 2020 are almost non-existent.” . Now, the chances of this happening by 2028 are 8 out of 10.” In other words, climate catastrophe is already here in many respects.
By the middle of this century, about five billion people on Earth will experience a month of extreme, health-threatening heat when outdoors in the sun, as my colleagues predicted last year. This number will already reach 4 billion people by 2030.
In April, a record heatwave in Asia sent temperatures soaring 100 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit in an arc from the Philippines to India. “Heat records are being surpassed across Asia, the most extreme event in global climate history to date,” weather historian Maximiliano Herrera wrote on the X platform.
“When the air is humid, sweat does not evaporate as quickly, so sweating does not reduce our feeling of heat as much as it does in drier environments,” said Scott Denning, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Colorado State University. He added: “In parts of the Middle East, Pakistan and India, summer heat waves can combine with humid air blowing off the sea, and this combination can be truly deadly. Hundreds of millions of people live in these areas, and most of them do not have access to air conditioning inside their homes.”
This supposed impact of climate change also illustrates the growing global gap in how it is experienced. My colleague Harry Stevens wrote: “Long-term projections suggest that rising future temperatures will also lead to milder winters, which will save people in the wealthy Global North. “But in hotter, less affluent countries — places where people are less able to afford air conditioners, where poor workers cannot afford to miss work, where water is scarce and the electricity grid is unstable — summer heat will become more dangerous.” With good reason, public health experts fear for the resilience of communities living in the era of climate change. The latest Global Risk Resilience Index, produced by Lloyd’s Register using data collected by Gallup, found a global increase among 147,000 people surveyed in 142 countries in “people who say they cannot do anything to protect themselves and their families from the impact of a disaster.” Futurism. Climate change clouds these sentiments, fueling what the index authors refer to as “a global loss of agency and a growing sense of powerlessness.” The index captures levels of individual and societal resilience – defined as “people’s ability to cope with the shocks they encounter in their lives and return to normal or near normal afterwards” – around the world. Nancy Hay, of Lloyd’s Register, an independent global charity, says the group’s research “clearly shows that some people are more vulnerable than others, with the poorest fifth of households disproportionately likely to have lower resilience scores than those with poorer resilience.” “They are better off.”
She added that gender differences also appear in the equation: “Women’s resilience rates are also equal to or lower than men’s resilience rates in all 141 countries included in the index, which highlights the importance of empowering women as an essential element in interventions related to the ability to adapt to change.” the climate”. But political developments in the West do not indicate much focus on these issues. At the same time, climate alarm bells are ringing. “Our planet is trying to tell us something,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said this month. “But we don’t seem to be listening.”
Ishaan Tharoor*
*A foreign affairs writer published by special arrangement with the Washington Post Leasing and Syndication Service.
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