Wednesday, July 18, 2018

*The Unbearable Heat | How to Age | Countries Behaving Like Kids at School - Daily Pnut

*The Unbearable Heat | How to Age | Countries Behaving Like Kids at School - Daily Pnut

*The Unbearable Heat | How to Age | Countries Behaving Like Kids at School

"There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'." – Philip K. Dick

"Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night." – Ibid.

The Unbearable Heatness of Being: Texans are used to frying eggs on sidewalks in July, but Scandinavians? Their normal July temperature is in the 60s and 70s. This week Scandinavia is scorching. Temps have soared to more than 20 degrees above normal. Even thermometers at the Arctic Circle nearly hit 90 degrees. Quite different from a century earlier when Admiral Peary, covered in heavy furs, made it there.

This summer every continent has set new all-time heat records. In May, extreme heat killed dozens in Pakistan, and it's devastating the health and livelihoods of tens of millions more. Scientists and economists warn that if global greenhouse gas emissions continue as they are now, the heat and humidity level could become unbearable. Especially hard hit are the poor In India's capital of Delhi, outdoor workers can become so weak or so sick that they routinely miss days of work, and their daily wages. One official said: "Heat goes unreported and underreported. (The people) take it for granted. It's a silent killer." Another said: "These cities are going to become unlivable unless urban governments put in systems of dealing with this phenomenon and make people aware. It's a major public health challenge."

The world has changed–it's much hotter. And as a recent analysis of climate trendsin several of South Asia's biggest cities found, if current warming trends continue, by the end of this century, people directly exposed to that level of heat and humidity for six hours or more won't survive.



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