The human body is very adaptable: over time, it can acclimate whether it is in a very cold or a very warm area. Thanks to this, we have been able to colonize practically every corner of the planet. Nevertheless, we cannot forget that even we have our limits.
The extremes are very harmful, and they will be precisely the ones that will rule life on Earth unless we manage to stop global warming. According to a new study, by 2050 heat stress will affect 350 million more people than today.
The climatologist at Liverpool John Moores University named Tom Matthews, lead author of the research along with other collaborators, has analyzed 44 of the 101 most populous "megacities" in the world, thus revealing that heat stress doubled with 1,5 degrees Celsius heating.
If we take into account that the average temperature of the planet is expected to increase by 2ºC, more than 350 million additional people will experience heat stress by 2050, since as the planet warms the number and intensity of heat waves will also increase.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers used climate models and looked at how heat stress projections might affect temperature change. Thus, they were able to conclude that, although global warming could be stopped, the megacities of Karachi (Pakistan) and Kolkata (India) could face annual conditions similar to those they experienced in 2015, when a heat wave killed 1200 people in Pakistan and more than 2000 in India. But they would not be the only ones.
The megacities of the world could be seriously threatened as they contain a large amount of asphalt, which absorbs heat making the temperature in the urban nucleus higher than in rural areas.
You can read the study here (It is in English).