Climate change is more and more evident, more and more damaging, its effects are more and more devastating, however, efforts to reduce it are not being carried out, or at least not enough as they should be.
As we know from other occasions, climate change increases the frequency and intensity of heat waves and droughts, However, in the media we do not hear the word "climate change" or "global warming", but only speak of a more or less intense and lasting heat wave. What will happen if this continues?
Heat waves increase
Global warming and climate change are occurring mainly due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions that humans emit since the industrial revolution. It is estimated that 74% of the world's population will be exposed to deadly heat waves by the year 2100. This is estimated with parameters in which gas emissions continue to increase at the same rate as it is currently doing. This has been published in the British journal Nature.
The research, developed by the University of Hawaii (USA), predicts that, even if these emissions were drastically reduced, around 48% of the population will be affected by the sudden increase in temperature. In this way, we are exhausting our options for the future. Nowadays, heat waves are very harmful for a large part of the population (especially the elderly). That is why, if we continue like this, the chances that we will have to resist heat waves will be less and less.
Heat waves cause thousands of deaths around the world each year. A big problem associated with heat waves is drought. The warmer we have and the more hours of sunshine, the more water evaporates and the less water resources we have. So the impact of heat waves is much greater when there are droughts.
If greenhouse gas emissions continue at this rate, global average temperatures will continue to rise more and more and there will be no Paris Agreement that can stop it.
“The human body can only function within a narrow range of body temperatures of about 37 degrees Celsius. Heat waves present a considerable risk to human life because high temperatures, aggravated by high humidity, can raise body temperature and create conditions that endanger life”, Adds Mora, one of the experts in charge of the study.
As the optimal temperature is 37 degrees, our metabolism cannot dissipate the heat that is generated when the ambient temperature is higher than 37 degrees. Therefore, such high temperatures are a health risk, since a build-up of heat can occur inside the body that causes damage.
Fatalities and high temperatures
The study has carried out an investigation on all the deaths that have caused the episodes of heat waves since 1980. More than 1.900 cases have been identified in different parts of the world where high temperatures have caused fatalities. There have been 783 lethal heat waves and they have discovered a threshold of temperature and humidity in which, from there, the effects on health are deadly. The area of the planet where weather conditions will exceed that threshold for 20 or more days a year has increased in recent years and scientists believe it will continue to grow even as greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.
Examples provided by experts include the heat wave that hit Europe in 2003 and caused approximately 70.000 deaths, the one that affected Moscow (Russia) in 2010 and that killed 10.000 people or that of Chicago in 1995 , which reached 700 fatalities. At present, Around 30% of the world's population is exposed to these deadly conditions each year.
This is what is causing climate change and each time the efforts to reduce them are less.