{"id":12333,"date":"2022-11-19T09:53:15","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T07:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.famelab.gr\/?p=12333"},"modified":"2022-11-19T09:53:15","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T07:53:15","slug":"the-new-york-times-extreme-heat-will-change-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/the-new-york-times-extreme-heat-will-change-us\/","title":{"rendered":"The New York Times: Extreme Heat Will Change Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12344 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.famelab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Extreme-Heat-Will-Change-Us_1-300x226.jpg\" alt=\"Extreme Heat Will Change Us_1\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" \/><em>Extreme Heat Will Change Us.\u00a0Half the world could soon face dangerous heat. We measured the daily toll it is already taking.\u00a0When it\u2019s this hot, laborers start work in the middle of the night. The heat of the day can give you a fever. Even play is impossible when a merry-go-round can sear the skin.\u00a0<\/em><em>We visited two cities already transformed by climate change \u2014\u00a0Kuwait City\u00a0and\u00a0Basra, Iraq\u00a0\u2014 to document what billions may experience as human emissions warm the planet.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>I. HEALTH<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>How heat damages our body<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>ON A TREE<\/strong><strong>L<\/strong><strong>ESS STREET\u00a0<\/strong>under a blazing sun, Abbas Abdul Karim, a welder with 25 years experience, labors over a metal bench.\u00a0Everyone who lives in Basra, Iraq, reckons with intense heat, but for Abbas it is unrelenting. He must do his work during daylight hours to see the iron he deftly bends into swirls for stair railings or welds into door frames.\u00a0The heat is so grueling that he never gets used to it. \u201cI feel it burning into my eyes,\u201d he says.\u00a0Working outside in southern Iraq\u2019s scalding summer temperatures isn\u2019t just arduous. It can cause long-term damage to the body.\u00a0We know the risk for Abbas, because we measured it.<\/p>\n<p><em><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12346 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.famelab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Extreme-Heat-Will-Change-Us_2-300x159.jpg\" alt=\"Extreme Heat Will Change Us_2\" width=\"300\" height=\"159\" \/>By late morning, the air around Abbas reached a heat index of 125\u00b0F (52\u00b0C), a measure of heat and humidity. That created a high risk for heat stroke \u2014 especially\u00a0 with his heavy clothing and the direct sun.\u00a0<\/em><em>Thermal images show additional heat coming off his equipment, making his workspace even more dangerous. The body\u2019s struggle to sweat and cool itself can cause dehydration and put extra pressure on the\u00a0kidneys. Over time, this increases the risk of kidney stones and kidney disease. The\u00a0heart works harder, too, laboring to pump more blood to the skin and carry heat out of the body. As Abbas worked, our monitor found that\u00a0his pulse rose, indicating to experts that his body temperature had risen by about three degrees, which puts dangerously high stress on the heart. The blood reaching Abbas\u2019s brain was probably reduced for about an hour, as the blood flow was needed elsewhere. He felt unsteady and had to stop. \u201cIt feels like the heat is coming out of my head,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-body\">At these extreme temperatures, normal life is impossible. Ordinary activities can turn dangerous. Work slows. Tempers flare. Power grids fail. Hospitals fill up.\u00a0Yet what Abbas was experiencing wasn\u2019t a heatwave. It was just an average August day in Basra, a city on the leading edge of climate change \u2014 and a glimpse of the future for much of the planet as human carbon emissions warp the climate.\u00a0By 2050, nearly half the world may live in areas that have dangerous levels of heat for at least a month, including Miami, Lagos and Shanghai, according to projections by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Washington.\u00a0Just how bad it gets will depend on how much humanity curbs climate change. But some of the far-reaching effects of extreme heat are already inevitable, and they will levy a huge tax on entire societies \u2014 their economies, health and way of life.\u00a0While people in hot climates can build up tolerance to heat as their bodies become more efficient at staying cool, that can protect them only so much.\u00a0As we tracked the daily activities of people in Basra and Kuwait City, we documented their heat exposure and how it had transformed their lives.\u00a0What we saw laid bare the tremendous gap between those who have the means to protect themselves and those who do not. We also saw a still more unsettling reality: No one can escape debilitating heat entirely.<\/p>\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"5\">\n<p class=\"g-has-temperature g-body\"><strong>BASRA, IRAQ\u2019S THIRD-LARGEST CITY,<\/strong> has always been hot. But in the last few decades, Persian Gulf countries have warmed almost twice as fast as the global average, and more than many other parts of the world. The highest heat index recorded last summer was about 5\u00b0F higher than the peak value between 1979 and 1998, researchers at Harvard University estimate. Now, the worst months of the summer are nearly unlivable. One evening in August, a man rushed into the emergency room of a city hospital carrying his 8-year-old nephew, Mehdi, a diabetic who had collapsed in the street while playing in the heat.<\/p>\n<p><em><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12359 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.famelab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Extreme-Heat-Will-Change-Us_3-300x168.png\" alt=\"Extreme Heat Will Change Us_3\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>The boy was barely conscious. The doctor suspected severe dehydration and diabetic shock. Mehdi was given an IV, but a blood test showed that his glucose level was almost four times normal for a child of his age and weight, a common effect of extreme heat on diabetics. Within an hour of getting fluids and insulin, Mehdi was half-conscious and appeared stable. But for diabetics, even one severe episode like this can increase the probability of long-term cognitive deficits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-body\">Other families crowded into the waiting area with loved ones suffering from heat-related ailments.\u00a0Some had painful bites and stings from snakes and scorpions that had crawled into their houses \u2014 or even their shoes \u2014 to escape the heat.\u00a0Others, like this woman, arrived writhing from kidney stones. Chronic dehydration allows the stones to form more easily, a problem made worse by the high levels of salt in Basra\u2019s drinking water.\u00a0With the heat disorienting laborers, work accidents were also common, including broken bones, cuts and burns sustained when workers fell from scaffolding or mishandled their tools.\u00a0As the crowd grew, relatives of the sick and injured shouted, threatened, pushed and begged the policeman at the door to let them see a doctor.\u00a0By the time the doctor in charge went home at 2 a.m., the emergency ward had treated about 200 patients just on his shift, nearly all of them affected by the heat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-body\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>II. ADAPTATION<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-chapter-break-subhed svelte-ndom6e\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>How Heat Distorts Daily Life<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>NOT LONG AFTER<\/strong> the emergency room doctor finished his shift, the heat roused Kadhim Fadhil Enad from sleep. His family\u2019s air-conditioner had stopped, and he found himself sweating in the dark.\u00a0High temperatures would govern the rest of his day. For him and many others in his city, the growing heat has turned workdays and sleep schedules upside down.\u00a0When Kadhim, 25, and his brother, Rahda, left for work just after 4 a.m., the air outside was a steam bath, so hot and humid that it felt like 114 degrees.\u00a0Kadhim and Radha work in construction as day laborers. In the sweltering summers of southern Iraq, that means racing to finish as much as possible before the sun comes up and ushers in the harshest heat of the day.<\/p>\n<p><em>They began work amid laundry hanging limp on nearby balconies, unable to dry in the humid air. Once the sun rose, bleaching the sky and baking the bricks around them, they barely spoke, conserving their energy for the work at hand. By 7:22 a.m., it was too hot to keep going on the roof, so they ate breakfast in the shade and switched to indoor tasks. At 9 a.m., they quit for the day.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-body\">Across Basra and the wider Gulf region, people\u2019s lives have been reshaped by the extreme heat.\u00a0Even if they can adapt their schedule, as Kadhim has, and start their job in the middle of the night, it is still so hot that exhaustion truncates the workday, reducing productivity and chipping away at earnings.\u00a0At a society-wide level, it means every project takes longer to get done.\u00a0And it makes doing anything else \u2014 from working a second job to going to school \u2014 doubly difficult.\u00a0Sports and social life start late and end later, meaning that many whose workday begins before dawn struggle with constant sleep deprivation.\u00a0The heat also wears on infrastructure, leading to power outages and contaminated water. People get sick. Emergency rooms fill up.\u00a0It is not just countries in the Gulf. Extreme heat is altering life across the globe, including in Pakistan, India, Tunisia, Mexico, central China and elsewhere. And the more temperatures rise, the greater the number of workers who will be affected.\u00a0Already, the effects of extreme heat add up to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2022-01-climate-worsening-toll-humid-outdoor.html\">hundreds of billions<\/a> of dollars in lost work each year worldwide. To survive the heat, Basra residents try to adapt.<\/p>\n<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12350 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.famelab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Extreme-Heat-Will-Change-Us_4-300x167.png\" alt=\"Extreme Heat Will Change Us_4\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" \/>Most residents have limited electricity and low incomes, so to stay cool, they douse their faces or clothes with water and hide in the shade during the day\u2019s hottest hours. Refrigerated trucks sell chilled watermelon, since fruit from the outdoor markets is warm. Families buy ice to preserve food, as the heat can cause power outages. But for many people, there is no escape.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"app\" class=\"has-top-cover\">\n<p>The day before, these garbage collectors said, three of their coworkers fainted, and one went to the hospital. All were dehydrated. One told us he had a headache. Another was dizzy. All three moved as if in slow-motion. Kadhim returned home around 9 a.m. exhausted and eager to rest in his family\u2019s air-conditioned living room. But as he cooled down, the women in his family began the hottest part of their day. In the kitchen, his mother, Zainab, cooked a giant pot of chicken and rice for a religious holiday. The room had neither air-conditioning nor a fan, but she and her daughters-in-law still wore traditional long black dresses that kept the heat in. The gas flame and the steam from the pot turned the kitchen into a sauna. Zainab cooked in extremely dangerous temperatures \u2014 a heat index above 125 degrees \u2014 for more than an hour. Her risk of heat stroke was severe. But Zainab felt obliged to keep cooking for the festival. \u201cI told my family I did not want to do the cooking this year,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they insisted.\u201d<\/p>\n<article id=\"interactive\" class=\"interactive\">\n<section id=\"extreme-heat\" class=\"css-l08pwh interactive-minimal interactive-content interactive-size-medium\" data-id=\"100000008638565\" data-source-id=\"100000008638565\">\n<div class=\"css-17ih8de interactive-body\">\n<div class=\"g-story g-freebird g-max-limit\" data-preview-slug=\"mideast-heat\">\n<div id=\"g-chapter2\" class=\"g-container g-chapter\">\n<div id=\"\" class=\"g-container g-chapter-inner\">\n<div class=\"g-asset g-svelte g-heat-container-inline g-asset-width-bleed g-asset-nomargin\" role=\"figure\" aria-label=\"svelte\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"15\">\n<div class=\"g-heat-video svelte-1hb2int g-ready-to-load\" data-url=\"https:\/\/int.nyt.com\/data\/videotape\/finished\/2022\/10\/mideast-heat\/mideast_024-1254w.mp4\" data-target-width=\"1256\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12361 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.famelab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Extreme-Heat-Will-Change-Us_6-1-300x155.png\" alt=\"Extreme Heat Will Change Us_6\" width=\"300\" height=\"155\" \/>III. INEQUALITY<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-chapter3\" class=\"g-container g-chapter\">\n<div class=\"g-asset g-svelte g-asset-width-bleed g-asset-nomargin\" role=\"figure\" aria-label=\"svelte\">\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"16\">\n<div class=\"g-chapter-break svelte-ndom6e\">\n<div class=\"g-chapter-foreground svelte-ndom6e\">\n<div class=\"g-break-text-wrapper svelte-ndom6e\">\n<div class=\"g-chapter-break-text svelte-ndom6e\">\n<p class=\"g-chapter-break-subhed svelte-ndom6e\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Money Can\u2019t Save You<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"g-container g-chapter-inner\">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>IT WAS 5:30 A.M. IN KUWAIT CITY<\/strong> when Abdullah Husain, 36, left his apartment to walk his dogs. The sun had barely risen, but the day was already so sweltering and the air so laden with vapor that it coated his body in a hot film, sticking his clothes to his skin. In the summer, he said, he has to get the dogs out early, before the asphalt gets so hot that it will burn their paws. \u201cEverything after sunrise is hell,\u201d he said. Abdullah, an assistant professor of environmental sciences at Kuwait University, lives a very different life from Kadhim in Basra. But both men\u2019s days are shaped by inexorable heat. Basra and Kuwait City lie only 80 miles apart and usually have the same weather, with summertime temperatures climbing into the triple digits for weeks on end. But in other ways, they are worlds apart.\u00a0Both places produce oil, but in Kuwait it has produced great wealth and provided citizens with a high standard of living.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-body\">This vast economic gap is never clearer than when it comes to how well people can protect themselves from the heat, a divide between rich and poor that is increasingly playing out across the globe.<\/p>\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"18\">\n<p class=\"g-has-temperature g-body\">Abdullah makes breakfast in an apartment cooled to 68 degrees. Kadhim\u2019s mother toils in a kitchen nearly twice that temperature. Abdullah drives to work on broad highways in an air-conditioned car. Kadhim walks to work on streets lined with swiftly rotting garbage. Abdullah teaches at a heavily air-conditioned university. Even working at night, Kadhim cannot escape his heating world. Kuwait\u2019s tremendous oil wealth allows it to protect people from the heat \u2014 but those protections carry their own cost, crimping culture and lifestyle alike.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-asset g-svelte g-asset-width-bleed g-asset-nomargin\" role=\"figure\" aria-label=\"svelte\">\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"22\">\n<div id=\"heatscrolly_3\" class=\"g-heat-scrolly g-heat-scrolly-style-default svelte-wfohqd\">\n<div class=\"g-slides g-slides-layout-single svelte-wfohqd\">\n<div class=\"g-slide g-slide-0 svelte-wfohqd g-ready-to-load g-active\">\n<div class=\"g-heat-video svelte-1hb2int g-ready-to-load\" data-url=\"https:\/\/int.nyt.com\/data\/videotape\/finished\/2022\/10\/mideast-heat\/mideast_030-1254w.mp4\" data-target-width=\"1256\"><em>When the heat hits, people desert parks and outdoor dining areas. Empty soccer fields bake in the sun. Slides, swings and other playground equipment get so hot that they can burn children\u2019s legs. One park has a track lined with water sprayers to cool off joggers. Most Kuwaitis avoid going outside at all.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"scrollstory-items svelte-1p7ckx5 has-custom-foreground\">\n<div id=\"scrollstory_6-item-4\" class=\"scrollstory-item scrollstory-item-4 svelte-wfohqd\">\n<div class=\"g-textwrap svelte-wfohqd\">\n<p class=\"bg g-body\" aria-hidden=\"true\">So life has moved indoors. People don\u2019t just shop at malls, they walk around them to exercise. Zoo animals live in air-conditioned cages. Children play indoors, rarely touching trees, grass or dirt. Many Kuwaitis never step outside for longer than it takes to walk to their cars. The rest of life is air-conditioned: where they sleep, exercise, work and socialize. That affects their health. Despite the abundance of sun, many Kuwaitis suffer from deficiencies of vitamin D, which the body uses sunlight to produce. Many are also overweight. By the end of the century, Basra<strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>Kuwait City and many other cities will most likely have many more dangerously hot days per year. Just how many depends on what humans do in the meantime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"23\">\n<p class=\"g-has-temperature g-body\">According to forecasts by researchers at Harvard University, even if humans significantly reduce carbon emissions, by the year 2100, Kuwait City and Basra will experience months of heat and humidity that feel hotter than 103 degrees, far more than they have had in the last decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-asset g-graphic g-f-only g-asset-margin\" role=\"figure\" aria-label=\"graphic\">\n<p class=\"g-caption_heading\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Estimates long into the future are inexact, but scientists agree that the situation will worsen \u2014 and could be catastrophic if emissions aren\u2019t reined in. In that scenario, Miami, for instance, could experience dangerous heat for nearly half the year.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-asset g-graphic g-f-only g-asset-margin\" role=\"figure\" aria-label=\"graphic\">\n<div id=\"g-heat_map_2-box\" class=\"ai2html ai2html-responsive ai2html-resizer\">\n<div id=\"g-heat_map_2-Artboard_6\" class=\"g-artboard\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.124\" data-min-width=\"0\" data-max-width=\"354\">\n<div id=\"g-ai2-30\" class=\"g-Layer_1 g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">Abdullah, the professor, said most Kuwaitis don\u2019t think about the relationship between burning fossil fuels and the heat. \u201cPeople complain about it, but it is not something that registers action or a change of behavior,\u201d he said. \u201cThey use it to tan or go to the beach, but if it is too hot, they stay home in the air-conditioning.\u201d And since atmospheric emissions don\u2019t respect borders, Kuwait City and Basra will continue to get hotter regardless of what they do, unless major emitters like the United States and China change course. For now, Abdullah, like many Kuwaitis, spends his day moving between air-conditioned pockets. The apartment he shares with two dogs and two cats is filled with plants that would quickly wither outside. He works out in a sleek gym with exposed piping, a juice bar and glass walls that show the desolation outside. In one direction, a lap pool with no one in it because it is too hot. In another, a grassy golf course, also empty. In yet another, an empty tennis court, baking in the sun. Abdullah spent 13 years as a student in Oregon, and thinks back on all the people spending time outside walking, fishing and enjoying nature. Kuwait, he said, is a place that is much more resistant to environmentalists. He worries that in insulating themselves from the heat, Kuwaitis have lost touch with the natural world.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"g-body\">\u201cNo one really cares about what is outside their door,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when it doesn&#8217;t factor into their thought process, it doesn\u2019t even matter. They don&#8217;t see it.\u201d While Kuwaitis with the means can insulate themselves from the heat, their lifestyle depends on a caste system of sorts.\u00a0The bulk of the work needed to keep society running is done by low-paid foreign laborers from India, Bangladesh, Egypt and elsewhere. These include gardeners, herders, plumbers, construction workers, airport baggage handlers, air-conditioner repairmen, paramedics, ice cream vendors and trash collectors.<\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset g-svelte g-asset-width-bleed g-asset-nomargin\" role=\"figure\" aria-label=\"svelte\">\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"26\">\n<div id=\"heatscrolly_1\" class=\"g-heat-scrolly g-heat-scrolly-style-default svelte-wfohqd\">\n<div class=\"g-slides g-slides-layout-single svelte-wfohqd\">\n<div class=\"g-slide g-slide-0 svelte-wfohqd g-ready-to-load g-active\">\n<div class=\"g-heat-video svelte-1hb2int g-ready-to-load\" data-url=\"https:\/\/int.nyt.com\/data\/videotape\/finished\/2022\/10\/mideast-heat\/mideast_037-1254w.mp4\" data-target-width=\"1256\"><em>Kuwait\u2019s fishermen, all foreigners, spend long days at sea in the heat. So do the men who transport ice to keep the fish fresh. A bus monitor spends all day in a metal bus stop that roasts in the sun.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"scrollstory-items svelte-1p7ckx5 has-custom-foreground\">\n<div id=\"scrollstory_7-item-2\" class=\"scrollstory-item scrollstory-item-2 svelte-wfohqd\">\n<div class=\"g-textwrap svelte-wfohqd\">\n<p class=\"bg g-body\" aria-hidden=\"true\">He brings a piece of cardboard to sit on and three frozen water bottles that he holds next to his body to try to keep cool. It doesn\u2019t really work. \u201cI go home completely finished off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-chapter4\" class=\"g-container g-chapter\">\n<div class=\"g-asset g-svelte g-asset-width-bleed g-asset-nomargin\" role=\"figure\" aria-label=\"svelte\">\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"27\">\n<div class=\"g-chapter-break svelte-ndom6e\">\n<div class=\"g-chapter-background svelte-ndom6e\">\n<div class=\"g-chapter-media svelte-ndom6e\">\n<div class=\"g-heat-video svelte-1hb2int g-fullbleed g-ready-to-load\" data-url=\"https:\/\/int.nyt.com\/data\/videotape\/finished\/2022\/10\/mideast-heat\/mideast_040-1254w.mp4\" data-target-width=\"1663\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12363 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.famelab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Extreme-Heat-Will-Change-Us_7-1-300x145.png\" alt=\"Extreme Heat Will Change Us_7\" width=\"300\" height=\"145\" \/>IV. THE FUTURE<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-chapter-foreground svelte-ndom6e\">\n<div class=\"g-break-text-wrapper svelte-ndom6e\">\n<div class=\"g-chapter-break-text svelte-ndom6e\">\n<p class=\"g-chapter-break-subhed svelte-ndom6e\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Can This Place Still Be a Home?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"g-container g-chapter-inner\">\n<p class=\"g-body\"><strong>BEFORE ABBAS,<\/strong> the welder, was born in 1983, Basra was a greener, cooler city.\u00a0Expansive groves of date palms softened the temperature, and canals that irrigated Basra\u2019s gardens earned it the nickname &#8220;the Venice of the East.&#8221;\u00a0Many of those stately palm groves were being cut down when Abbas was a child, so many fewer remained when Kadhim, the construction worker, was growing up in the early 2000s. But even then, the city was still dotted with tamarisks, hearty shrubs that erupted yearly with pink and white flowers.\u00a0\u201cIt was a joy to see the street full of tamarisk trees and flowers,\u201d Kadhim said. \u201cWhenever you see green, you feel at peace.\u201d Now, most of those are gone too. Without them, Basra has become a drab city of concrete and asphalt, which soaks up the sun and radiates heat long after sundown. Sewage and trash clog Basra\u2019s canals, which now do little to moderate the scorching temperatures. In the future, many people around the world will migrate to escape the heat. But there will most likely be many others who, like Abbas and Kadhim, lack the resources to make it to a greener country. And richer countries that have already tightened their borders will probably make immigration even more difficult as climate pressures increase. Abbas and Kadhim both dream of living elsewhere. Abbas wants somewhere \u201cgreener,\u201d Kadhim somewhere \u201ccooler.\u201d Kadhim hopes to marry and have children, and raise them somewhere that has \u201cspace for nature.\u201d \u201cThe houses will be made of wood, and there will be a forest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"g-asset g-svelte g-asset-width-bleed g-asset-nomargin\" role=\"figure\" aria-label=\"svelte\">\n<div class=\"g-svelte\" data-component=\"29\">\n<div id=\"heatscrolly_5\" class=\"g-heat-scrolly g-heat-scrolly-style-default svelte-wfohqd\">\n<div class=\"scrollstory-items svelte-1p7ckx5 has-custom-foreground\">\n<div id=\"scrollstory_8-item-3\" class=\"scrollstory-item scrollstory-item-3 svelte-wfohqd\">\n<div class=\"g-textwrap svelte-wfohqd\">\n<p class=\"bg g-body\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><strong>Credits<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"g-heat-footer\">\n<div class=\"g-heat-footer-inner\">\n<div class=\"g-asset g-credits\">\n<p class=\"g-credits-text g-footer-text\">By Alissa J. Rubin, Ben Hubbard, Josh Holder, Noah Throop, Emily Rhyne, Jeremy White and James Glanz. Produced by Josh Williams, Sarah Almukhtar, Rumsey Taylor and Josh Keller. Falih Hassan and Ehab Al-Rikabi contributed from Basra, Iraq.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-endmatter\" class=\"g-asset g-methodology\">\n<div class=\"g-methodology-inner\">\n<p class=\"g-method-subhed g-footer-subhed\"><strong>What we measured for this\u00a0<\/strong><strong>article<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">To understand the risks of extreme heat to the people in this story:<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014 We used temperature and humidity monitors to measure the heat index, which captures how hot it feels to the human body.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014 We used a thermal camera and an infrared thermometer to capture surface temperatures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014 We asked some of the people we interviewed to wear heart rate monitors as they worked, so we could estimate the changes to their body temperature.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">Researchers who study heat stress helped us understand the risks to each person\u2019s health given these measurements and other factors, including sun exposure, wind, clothing and exertion. Climate researchers modeled the number of high heat index days around the world expected in the coming decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-subhed g-footer-subhed\"><strong>How we measured heat index<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">There are a few ways to measure what heat feels like to the human body. We measured the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.weather.gov\/ama\/heatindex\">heat index<\/a>, commonly known as the \u201cfeels-like\u201d temperature, which is based on temperature and relative humidity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">While heat index is a commonly used measure of evaluating the risk to humans in certain conditions, other measures can offer more precision. Wet-bulb temperature, which is regularly used in heat-stress studies, takes into account wind speed, cloud cover and sun angle. Some\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/23328940.2022.2044739\">recent research<\/a>\u00a0indicates that wet-bulb temperature is a more precise gauge of physiological stress caused by working in the heat than heat index alone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">While it was not practical to record every factor for every location in the story, we did record additional factors for primary subjects working in the heat, including sun exposure, clothing and exertion level. Heat stress researchers reviewed these observations, along with videos of the subjects, to help give us a deeper understanding of the risks they were facing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">To determine the heat index of locations described in this article, we placed a temperature and humidity monitor nearby. The device, a Lascar EL-USB-2-LCD, logged the temperature and relative humidity of the environment every 15 seconds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">The device\u2019s temperature readings have been found to be accurate within \u00b11\u00b0F, and its humidity readings within \u00b12.25%. The heat index was calculated from those measurements using an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov\/html\/heatindex_equation.shtml\">equation<\/a>\u00a0that has an error margin of \u00b11.3\u00b0F.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">We placed the measurement device near each subject in the shade, to avoid artificially high readings from direct sunlight. This may understate the actual risk. The National Weather Service estimates that in direct sunlight, heat index values can be as much as 15 degrees higher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">To account for fluctuations in local humidity, we used a five-minute rolling average of humidity for each heat index value. And because temperature loggers need time to acclimatize when switched between indoor and outdoor areas, we used multiple monitors and kept them dedicated to separate tasks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">In a few instances, we needed to substitute a later heat index measurement from the same location. All of the measurements are within 15 minutes of the time each video was shot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">Heat indexes above 103\u00b0F (39\u00b0C) are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.weather.gov\/ama\/heatindex\">classified<\/a>\u00a0as dangerous by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and mean that heat exhaustion is likely and heat stroke is possible with extended exposure. Heat indexes above 125\u00b0F (53\u00b0C) are categorized as extremely dangerous, meaning that heat stroke is highly likely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-subhed g-footer-subhed\"><strong>How we measured spot temperatures<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">To capture thermal video for some of the hottest places in this story, we used a radiometric sensor, a FLIR Lepton 3.5. Instead of capturing visible light, the uncooled sensor calculated surface temperatures by measuring the intensity of longwave infrared signals between 8 \u00b5m and 14 \u00b5m with a thermal sensitivity less than 50mK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">We soldered a modified USB cable to a PureThermal Mini Pro JST-SR development board, containing the FLIR sensor and an STM32F412 ARM microprocessor, so we could capture thermal video on a Linux laptop. The microprocessor analyzed the incoming images and recorded video using open source firmware and software from GroupGets. The sensor\u2019s frame rate was capped at 8.7 Hz in order to comply with federal regulations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">We measured surface temperatures using a Bosch Infrared Thermometer that had an accuracy of \u00b11.8\u00b0F (1.0\u00b0C). We adjusted the thermometer to account for the emissivity of the materials we measured. Environmental factors such as dust or steam, along with the reflectivity of the material being measured, could affect the accuracy of the temperature readings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-subhed g-footer-subhed\"><strong>How we estimated Abbas\u2019s rise in body temperature<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">We relied on several methods to estimate that the welder\u2019s body temperature rose by about three degrees as he worked. While the figure is an estimate, several heat stress researchers said the estimate was consistent with data we collected about the welder and his surroundings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">Abbas wore a monitor that measured his heart rate. We monitored the heat, humidity and sunlight exposure in his workspace, as well as the heat given off by his tools. We also observed his heavy clothing, protective equipment, water intake and rest times. And we noted when he said he felt unsteady and needed to take a break.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">As he worked, Abbas\u2019s heart rate rose by about 45 beats per minute.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/30606899\/\">\u0388\u03c1\u03b5\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1<\/a>\u00a0on heart rate under heat stress suggests such an increase corresponds to a roughly 3 degree rise in core body temperature.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">We consulted Andreas D. Flouris, an environmental physiologist at the University of Thessaly in Greece, whose team has performed many field studies into heat stress involving thousands of workers. Dr. Flouris\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6885605\/\">modeled<\/a>\u00a0the welder\u2019s core temperature increase using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/research\/downloads\/\">software developed at his laboratory<\/a>, and he compared our findings with the trends seen in his fieldwork.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">Kenzen, the maker of the monitor he wore, also estimated that the welder\u2019s core temperature rose by about 3\u00b0F, based on the company\u2019s algorithm, which incorporates weight, fitness levels, environmental temperature, humidity and other factors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">A body temperature rise of roughly 3\u00b0F is consistent with all of those methods, Dr. Flouris said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">There are a number of potential sources of error in the estimate, Dr. Flouris and several other researchers said. Unknown medical conditions or variation in sunlight exposure or water intake could throw off the estimates, along with other factors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-subhed g-footer-subhed\"><strong>Estimating heat in 2050 and 2100<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">While the future is uncertain, climate scientists widely agree that even in the best-case scenarios \u2014 in which humans take dramatic action to lower carbon emissions \u2014 days with dangerous levels of heat and humidity are very likely to become more common in much of the world. In many places, they already have.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">The forecasts of heat stress shown in this article are by Lucas R. Vargas Zeppetello and Em Murdock at Harvard University and Adrian E. Raftery and David S. Battisti at the University of Washington. The details of this model were described in an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s43247-022-00524-4\">article<\/a>\u00a0published in Communications Earth &amp; Environment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">Three scenarios are shown, which represent low, median and high estimates of the atmospheric CO2 levels by 2100. These scenarios correspond to increases in the average global temperature of 2.1\u00b0C (3.8\u00b0F), 3.0\u00b0C (5.4\u00b0F) and 4.3\u00b0C (7.7\u00b0F), respectively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">The projections for the number of dangerous days each city will experience in 2050 are based on a global temperature rise of 1.8\u00b0C (3.2\u00b0F) by 2050. The number of dangerous days is approximate, based on a global dataset with a resolution of approximately 35 square miles. This analysis does not account for local effects, such as cities being hotter than the surrounding rural areas due to human activities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">The 5\u00b0F increase in Basra\u2019s highest heat index values is based on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecmwf.int\/en\/forecasts\/datasets\/reanalysis-datasets\/era5\">ERA5<\/a>\u00a0estimates for 1987 and 2021, and heat index modeling by Lucas Vargas Zeppetello and Em Murdock at Harvard University. Weather station data for Basra between 1979 and 1998 is incomplete, so the ERA5 estimates likely have more uncertainty than other time periods.<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-subhed g-footer-subhed\"><strong>Additional sources<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/environment.harvard.edu\/people\/lucas-vargas-zeppetello\">Lucas Vargas Zeppetello<\/a>, research fellow at Harvard University<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/people\/\">Andreas D. Flouris<\/a>, an environmental physiologist and associate professor at the University of Thessaly in Greece<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/medicine.nus.edu.sg\/phys\/research\/research-programs\/integrative-physiology-programme\/jason-kai-wei-lee\/\">Jason Lee<\/a>, associate professor at the National University of Singapore, where he is director of the Heat Resilience and Performance Centre<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.jhu.edu\/faculty\/3774\/chirag-r-parikh\">Dr. Chirag R. Parikh<\/a>, professor of medicine and director of the nephrology division at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hopkinsmedicine.org\/profiles\/details\/matthew-levy\">Matthew J. Levy<\/a>, associate professor of emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and a former emergency medical technician<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014 \u200b\u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/hhd.psu.edu\/contact\/w-kenney-phd\">Larry Kenney<\/a>, professor of physiology and kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University who studies the effects of heat, cold, altitude and dehydration on the human body<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014 S. Tony Wolf, postdoctoral scholar in kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dworakpeck.usc.edu\/academics\/faculty-directory\/lawrence-palinkas\">Lawrence A. Palinkas<\/a>, professor of social policy and health at the University of Southern California<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texashealth.org\/ieem\/Education\/Postdoctoral-Fellows-Residents\/Josh-Foster\">Josh Foster<\/a>, postdoctoral research fellow, Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/daniel-brooks\/\">Daniel R. Brooks<\/a>, associate professor of epidemiology at Boston University, who studies the effect of heat stress on the development of kidney disease<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=vROMoy8AAAAJ&amp;hl=en\">Abderrezak Bouchama<\/a>, chairman of the experimental medicine department at the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/globalhealth.washington.edu\/faculty\/kristie-ebi\">Kristie Ebi<\/a>, professor of environmental, occupational and global health at the University of Washington<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lboro.ac.uk\/schools\/design-creative-arts\/people\/george-havenith\/\">George Havenith<\/a>, professor of environmental physiology and ergonomics health at Loughborough University, Leicestershire, England<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.harvard.edu\/barrak-alahmad\/home\">Barrak Alahmad<\/a>, research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/erg.berkeley.edu\/people\/hausfather-zeke\/\">Zeke Hausfather<\/a>, research scientist at Berkeley Earth<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpic.de\/3783327\/profile-jos-lelieveld\">Jos Lelieveld<\/a>, director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fennerschool.anu.edu.au\/people\/affiliates\/dr-liz-hanna\">Liz Hanna<\/a>, Honorary Associate Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.indiana.edu\/research\/faculty-directory\/profile.html?user=zschlade\">Zachary J. Schlader<\/a>, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, Indiana University<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/applied-health-sciences\/kinesiology\/faculty-research\/faculty-directory\/stephen-sau-shing-cheung-ph-d\/\">Stephen Sau-Shing Cheung<\/a>, professor, kinesiology senior research fellow, Brock University<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-method-text g-footer-text\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucsusa.org\/about\/people\/rachel-licker\">Rachel Licker<\/a>, principal climate scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"standalone-footer\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<div id=\"interactive-footer-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"css-1sm67ns\">\n<div role=\"toolbar\" data-testid=\"share-tools\" aria-label=\"Social Media Share buttons, Save button, and Comments Panel with current comment count\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">Link for free access to the story: <\/span><a class=\"css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1cvl2hr r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-1ny4l3l r-1ddef8g r-tjvw6i r-qvutc0\" dir=\"ltr\" role=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/R0PFk5dFgi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-hiw28u r-qvk6io r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\">https:\/\/<\/span>nyti.ms\/3Okreis<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/11\/18\/world\/middleeast\/extreme-heat.html?unlocked_article_code=999vfZsEyfn3xQfxRfs_um1L59mNAwrd4Q0RA-X5q1c5wlCM4_kVrJ7bnN0i9KQsv8cWVPUpElfDVg09hOzCetQeceLzqIkIDicNCJ2HM6jMhETk0YyW4GzSHO95J0xX2H2hRVsAgQN2awTREPn3izoI0FPL98tG503CKvQcsjrPYmNPB8-moWU0gHrYIFj5RaHauhtTEqbJC8px4ie3tmluQ2qa6RJoc0mF_QKwYvuBP35RzoljNhSVm48SoQcETRtzxGzy5qyEQzW4obnWcSJyuqqgXb3Htk7son5S26r_KuVAFjULrc9NZUIErxhciS7DPlXp9JMajZRTMb4XRBQyPdbZj92iDTIGDtHwDYs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/11\/18\/world\/middleeast\/extreme-heat.html?unlocked_article_code=999vfZsEyfn3xQfxRfs_um1L59mNAwrd4Q0RA-X5q1c5wlCM4_kVrJ7bnN0i9KQsv8cWVPUpElfDVg09hOzCetQeceLzqIkIDicNCJ2HM6jMhETk0YyW4GzSHO95J0xX2H2hRVsAgQN2awTREPn3izoI0FPL98tG503CKvQcsjrPYmNPB8-moWU0gHrYIFj5RaHauhtTEqbJC8px4ie3tmluQ2qa6RJoc0mF_QKwYvuBP35RzoljNhSVm48SoQcETRtzxGzy5qyEQzW4obnWcSJyuqqgXb3Htk7son5S26r_KuVAFjULrc9NZUIErxhciS7DPlXp9JMajZRTMb4XRBQyPdbZj92iDTIGDtHwDYs<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Extreme Heat Will Change Us.\u00a0Half the world could soon face dangerous heat. We measured the daily toll it is already taking.\u00a0When it\u2019s this hot, laborers start work in the middle of the night. The heat of the day can give you a fever. Even play is impossible when a merry-go-round can sear the skin.\u00a0We visited [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/famelab.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}