Global Warming is Making Extreme Heat Waves More Common, Says Study
According to a new study by researchers in Britain, global warming is causing dangerously hot weather to become more common and extreme on every continent. The study takes a unique approach to identifying which places are most at risk.
Communities can suffer when the mercury spikes for many reasons, such as older people living alone without anyone checking in on them, poorer people without air conditioning, and workers who have no choice but to toil outdoors. The study focuses on one simple reason societies might be especially vulnerable to an extreme heat wave: because they haven’t been through one before.
Societies are generally equipped to handle only the gravest disaster they have experienced in recent memory, whether it’s heat, floods, or epidemics of disease. Right after a catastrophe, people and policymakers are hyper-aware of the risks and how to respond, said Dann Mitchell, a climate scientist at the University of Bristol in England and an author of the study. “And then, as…
2023-04-25 11:44:30
Original from www.nytimes.com