This *should* be front-page headline news every day, leading every TV newscast.
But it's not. Why? Because if it was, that might deter us from accepting the perpetuation of Business As Usual.
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If global temperatures increase by 1° Celsius or more above their current levels, billions of people will face wet-bulb temperatures every year so intense that their bodies will not be able to naturally cool themselves.
Indeed, if global temperatures exceed 2° above pre-industrial levels, four billion people will encounter intolerable heat and humidity on a yearly basis, often in regions where air conditioning and other forms of relief are not widely available. That could include more than two billion people in Pakistan and India, one billion in eastern China, and 800 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Once global temperatures rise 3° above pre-industrial levels, much of the U.S. Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest will also regularly experience unlivable wet-bulb temperatures.
There is no universe in which this development will not lead to millions of deaths. "It is important to understand that wet-bulb temperatures of 95°F (35°C) are not conditions we can just get used to," said Dr. Peter Reiners, a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona. "Human bodies have fundamental physiological limits; our planet's perturbed, angry climate doesn't care about them."
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We're already at, or close to, 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures. And 2°C is not far away.
At the rate we're going, BILLIONS of people soon will be at grave risk of death from climate chaos.
FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.salon.com/2023/10/16/heat-is-making-our-planet-uninhabitable-why-isnt-this-the-top-news-story-around-the-world/
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual