Well, Well: The Economist Suddenly Finds Prospect Of A Burning, Melting World "Worrying"

[hatrack]

EDIT

The picture that emerges is bleak. One study, published in June by Andrew King of the University of Melbourne and his colleagues, found that the number of Europeans who can expect to witness a temperature above the current record, wherever they happen to live, would double from 45m today to 90m if the planet warmed by another 0.5°C or so on top of the 1°C since the 1880s. If, instead of 0.5°C, it warmed by 1°C, the figure would rise to 163m. This looks even more alarming if you factor in humidity. Human beings can tolerate heat with sweat, which evaporates and cools the skin. That is why a dry 50°C can feel less stifling than a muggy 30°C. If the wet-bulb temperature (equivalent to that recorded by a thermometer wrapped in a moist towel) exceeds 35°C, even a fit, healthy youngster lounging naked in the shade next to a fan could die in six hours.

At present, wet-bulb temperatures seldom exceed 31°C. In 2016 Jeremy Pal of Loyola Marymount University and Elfatih Eltahir of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology found that if carbon emissions continue unabated, several cities in the Persian Gulf, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai, could exceed wet-bulb levels of 35°C by the end of the century. A follow-up study reckoned that, by 2100, parts of South Asia, which is much more populous than the sheikhdoms and a lot poorer, could suffer a wet-bulb level of 34.2°C every 25 years.

The effects could be devastating. The World Bank has warned that rising temperatures and changing monsoons could cost India 2.8% of GDP per person by 2050 and affect the living standards of 600m Indians in areas identified as hot spots. The global cost of productivity lost to heat has been estimated at $2trn by 2030.

The toll on human lives is hard to imagine. But at least people can learn from past mistakes. Thanks to better government responses, particularly in care for the elderly, in 2012 Europe survived a summer hotter still than 2003 with fewer casualties. As Indians get richer more will be able to afford air-conditioning; even those in shantytowns can paint their corrugated-iron roofs white to reflect sunlight. If only the world could take in a similar lesson about the importance of stopping climate change in the first place.

Ed. - Emphasis added, along with tired, sad trombone noise.

EDIT/END

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/07/28/heat-is-causing-problems-across-the-world

[hedda_foil]

1. The Economist has been writing extensively about climate change for years. Google it.

[hatrack]

2. Yes, and economic growth will solve it! (see last paragraph above)

.

[Nitram]

4. That's right hatrack. Looks like the bleak reality of global warming has finally leaked through

their thick right wing skulls and into their bullish little economic world. Maybe they are beginning to realize that economic growth is part of the problem if that growth is based on fossil fuels, gas-powered vehicles, and the destruction of forests world-wide.

[Nitram]

3. Oh, my goodness. Sometimes it actually isn't "better late then never."

[Boomer]

5. Yup, more like: Too little, too late