Poll workers, pilgrims, hiking tourists.
People have died in recent weeks in scorching heat around the world, with a severe heat wave hitting more than 70 million Americans this week serving as a harrowing reminder of the global toll of extreme weather.
Dozens of cities Mexico breaks heat record India experienced an unusually long heat wave in May and June, killing several election workers. This week, even Nighttime temperature Temperatures are expected to remain in the 90s Fahrenheit, or around 30 Celsius. Greece is bracing for wildfires this week after the country endured several waves of heat waves. Several tourists died. Hospitals in Bamako, the capital of Mali, reported More than 100 people died in early April, according to the Associated Press.
Between May 2023 and May 2024, An estimated 6.3 billion peopleAbout four-fifths of the world’s people experienced at least one month of abnormally high temperatures in their region, according to a recent analysis by Climate Central, a nonprofit science group.
The damage it is doing to human health, agriculture and the global economy is only beginning to be recognized.
The heat killed a Estimated 489,000 people According to the World Meteorological Organization, heat waves hit record highs every year between 2000 and 2019, becoming the deadliest of all extreme weather events. Insurance giant Swiss Re said in a report this week, Risk accumulation Climate change could further drive a growing market for insurance against strikes and riots. “Climate change could also lead to food and water shortages, which could trigger civil unrest and mass migration,” the report said.
As for the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, both face common dangers this summer. This week, one in five Americans were under extreme heat alerts, and several areas in northern China set records for the highest temperatures. Earlier this week, the capital, Beijing, was under a heat alert, with temperatures reaching 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius).
The two countries are also the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. China’s current emissions are by far the highest in the world, while the United States’ cumulative emissions over the past 150 years of industrialization are also the highest in the world.
Scientists have repeatedly found that such emissions from burning fossil fuels are responsible for these unusually high temperatures. “Not surprisingly, heat waves are becoming increasingly deadly,” Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, said in a statement on Thursday.
Global Temperature First five months of this year This means that 2024 will be the hottest year on record, breaking last year’s record.
Saudi Arabia, a petro-state that opposes diplomatic efforts to phase out fossil fuels, experienced a heart-wrenching episode this week. 1000 people In central Algeria, another oil-rich country, Riots broke out over water In mid-June, rising temperatures and a lack of rain caused drinking water supplies to dry up.
Doctors around the world are increasingly pointing out the often underestimated health effects of high temperatures.
Many hospital systems don’t have adequate ways to count heat stroke or deaths, which can be exacerbated by high temperatures. Many other situationsSuch as kidney disease or asthma, which means that deaths due to heat are sometimes attributed to other causes and presented as Overkill mode.
“Moving away from fossil fuels is the best way to prevent future heat-related death and disease — everything else is just a Band-Aid on the gunshot wound,” said Renee Salas, an emergency room physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and lead author of a special issue on climate change and health in the medical journal The Lancet.
Heat waves aren’t the only extreme weather disaster affecting the world.
Heat waves dried up the soil in China’s northern agricultural provinces, forcing the government to take emergency measures to combat a widening drought, including artificial rainmaking. Meanwhile, heavy rains flooded southern China and landslides blocked roads. Power outage affects 100,000 people family.
In the United States, weather in New Mexico went from fire to flooding in a week. About 23,000 acres have burned in southern New Mexico since two fast-moving wildfires were discovered on Monday. At least two people have died. Then, heavy rains poured down on Wednesday, sending floodwaters scorching the burned hillsides.
Last week, three days of tropical rains in Florida wreaked havoc on airports and highways.
Alberto, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, slammed into the northeastern coast of Mexico on Thursday, killing three children in the fierce storms and heavy rains, local officials said. One child drowned while trying to save a ball in a fast-flowing river. Two others were electrocuted when power cables touched a pond.
Hurricane season is This year is expected to be exceptionally strongThat’s because of unusually high ocean temperatures, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s also partly due to the burning of fossil fuels.
John Liu contributed reporting.
