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The Indian subcontinent is currently a sickly pink on colour-coded temperature charts. A heatwave of unusual intensity is threatening millions of people in India, as summer is still months away. Temperatures are expected to exceed 48°C on the border between Pakistan and India this week. The heat broke a record that had stood for 122 years a month ago. What can people do? Can they weather the worst and prepare themselves for the future of extreme heat.
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Many Indians and Pakistanis will be unable to work outside due to the heat. This is especially true for rural areas. According to research by Lancet, more that 150 billion work hours were lost due to extreme temperatures and humidity in 2018. This trend will have worldwide consequences.
“Half of the world’s food is produced by smallholder farms with most of the energy input from physical labour carried out by the farmers,” says Mark Maslin, professor of Earth system science at UCL. “As the world warms, there will be more and more days when it will be It is physically impossible for you to work outside., reducing productivity and food security.”
There are many ways to make streets more comfortable, even in extreme heat, in cities. One of the most popular, with wider potential benefits for wildlife seeking habitat, is urban greening – or making more space for trees and other vegetation amid the concrete sprawl.
But a study led by Cardiff University’s Mark O. Cuthbert, published in February, found that carpeting roofs and walls with greenery and weaving green corridors between expanded parkland can either Subdue floods and mitigate heat, but it can’t do both in one city.
Cuthbert and his coauthors, Denis O’Carroll of UNSW Sydney, Australia, and Gabriel C Rau of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, believe that the reason cities overheat during hot weather and flood during heavy rains is the same. The abundance of concrete and steel absorb and retain heat, while those same sealed surfaces “can’t act like a sponge to soak up and store rain, unlike the soil they’ve replaced”.
The researchers argue that greener cities in areas of high rainfall – such as around the northern Europe and around the equator – are likely to offset stronger heatwaves because plants release water vapour during photosynthesis, which has a cooling effect.
The research team expects the benefits of urban greening to be less pronounced in drier areas where there’s plenty of energy from sunshine, but rainfall is more limited, like cities in India and Pakistan. It is worth expanding green spaces in these areas, as this is where the greatest potential for water retention is soils, which can help to avoid flooding.
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A report published at COP26, the UN’s most recent climate change summit, suggested that Africa is in trouble. Heating faster than other regionsof the world. Abdu Mohiddin is an assistant professor at Aga Khan university in Kenya. He predicts that by 2030, 118 million people will be extremely poor and will suffer the devastating effects of extreme heat and drought.
Mohiddin believes that the continent requires immediate financial and technological assistance in order to adapt to the warming climate. He also recommends funding for research to determine who and where the most vulnerable.
These designs and techniques can be used to provide relief in these areas and other regions. Amin Al-Habaibeh studies the methods builders use to create their structures. Cooling people for centuries has been a key factorIn the Persian Gulf (another hotspot to intensify heatwaves).
Here, homes built with limestone and other natural materials absorb moisture when it’s humid and release it through evaporation on hot and sunny days. Al-Habaibeh explains that this has a cooling effect. The buildings’ sandy texture and colour reflect a lot of solar radiation.
Narrow roads and alleys maximise shadows, while glass is scarce and windows small to maintain air flow but keep out the Sun’s heat. He says that the courtyards inside the house funnel hot air upwards at midday, when the sun is at its peak, and replace it with cooler air from nearby rooms.
While ingenuity and solidarity can help communities adapt to increasingly brutal heatwaves, there is a limit, say Tom Matthews and Colin Raymond, climate scientists at King’s College London and California Institute of Technology, respectively.
“The range of weather humans can encounter on Earth – the ‘climate envelope’ – is shifting as the planet warms,” they warn. “New conditions are required for civilisation could emerge in the coming decades.” That means heat extremes that exceed what humans can survive.
According to a 2021 study, One in three deaths are caused by extreme heatClimate change can be linked since 1991. If you find yourself in a heat wave, Chloe Brimicombe, a PhD candidate studying climate change and its consequences for human health at the University of Reading, has some advice for staying safe: “Keep cool. If indoors, trying bathing your feet in cold water or have a shower … Close the curtains and open windows on the side not facing the sun,” she says.
You can also open doors and turn on fans to keep the air moving throughout the building.
Brimicombe stresses that it’s very important to stay hydrated, as you lose a lot of water through sweat during heatwaves. “Drink more often than you usually would, even when you don’t feel thirsty,” she says. And don’t forget to check on people who may need extra help.
“Look out for over 65s, pregnant women, children under five and those with medical conditions. These groups are more susceptible to heat. You should also avoid being in direct sunlight between 12pm and 3pm when the Sun is at its strongest.”
