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The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

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221–230 of 414 posts

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#221

The gloom and doom posts on HN seem to be increasing lately. I can go to CNN if I want this kind of content. That being said I would be ok with posts talking about fixing climate change especially if it preserves human rights and dignity.

In your book, what counts as fixing climate while preserving human rights and dignity?

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I sometimes feel like I'm at death's door when jogging outdoors. Myself and some Westerners I know haven't "adapted", even after years being here. The strategy is just always have ice water in hand if outdoors for prolonged time. I sometimes get laughed at for not adjusting to the heat, but I think it's just too much for some genetic lineages from outside tropics. Unfortunately a large percentage of folks in HDB…

I'm in Denmark, when it gets 26 degrees here I drench my shirts in ice water and put in the freezer for a bit and then put on to cool down. I'm guessing, given what a wimp I am about the temperature, a few more degrees and I'm one of the first to die.

I've lived in Australia and Norway. Your body adapts to ongoing temperatures. In Norway you're taking off your jumper as heads into double digits entering spring time. In Australian summer your putting on a jumper at 22 if there's a cold summer night.

We've literally be talking to Norwegian family about their nice 22 degree day at the beach while I was loading the fire place, they asked me the temperature, checked and was 22 also, though would have dropped later at night.

I find over 35 gets tough to do ongoing outdoor work. An hour or 2 then you need an hour or 2 to cool down. Hitting, 40c this is getting too hot.

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#223
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a far larger area of the world which is too cold & dry for human tolerance, yet people survive & thrive there. Probably the same for places which are hot & humid. There are some interesting documentaries on Yakutsk, the "coldest city in the world".

I think it's good to note that Yakutia is burning at a rapid rate. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/everything-is-...

There's historical evidence of global fires & mass extinctions due to Geomagnetic excursions, which we are currently going through right now, leaving Earth vulnerable to space weather.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305971138_Evidence_...

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2018RG00...

We are in for a bumpy ride of wild temperature swings & extreme terrestrial weather driven by space weather & Earth being relatively under-protected. We need to adapt to these changes & focus on surviving & thriving with new conditions. Guilt trips about human emissions will not help our survivability when there are significantly bigger forces at play. Only preparedness & focus on the cyclical changes that have occurred on Earth throughout history, some of which is recorded in human history in books, myths, & prehistoric art, will help humanity.

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#224
Can we start considering high tech solutions to actively cool the planet? We're going to slowly work on carbon, but it won't be fast enough. In the meantime, We need to prevent heat getting to Earth, either via more cloud cover or space mirrors in the LaGrange point.

I'm not a fan of either, but what's the alternative? Bake to death while the powerful decision makers delay changing anything?

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is actually going to happen is displacement. The hundreds of millions of people most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change don't have much choice but to start walking. The 2015 refugee crisis in Europe was nothing compared to that, never mind the tiny trivial inconvenience that is current illegal immigration across the Mexico–US border.

Agreed. Europe struggled to relocate 2.5M of refugees over several years. What happens when people from India, the middle east, ... are forced to relocate? I expect some kind of conflict/war of expansion and probably famine since a lot of the land will be abandoned and hence become unproductive.

I'd expect the land to become unproductive first. A huge amount of agricultural land is threatened by the climate change, accelerated by other anthoropogenic effects such as soil erosion due to deforestation. Besides drought, heat, wind, and excess rainfall, there's flash floods caused by melting glaciers in the Alps, Himalayas, …

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#226

The gloom and doom posts on HN seem to be increasing lately. I can go to CNN if I want this kind of content. That being said I would be ok with posts talking about fixing climate change especially if it preserves human rights and dignity.

Don't worry about it. All this "doom and gloom" stuff will only affect the poor in far away countries. It'll be decades before it seriously impacts your way of life.

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#227

I see a lot of uninformed people on this thread thinking 35C wet bulb temperature isn't such a big deal and proposing various ineffective tips to cool down. Let me explain what the issue is, in simple words: WET BULB TEMPERATURE IS NOT TEMPERATURE YOU SEE ON A THERMOMETER. (please, don't nitpick, I am aware of wet bulb thermometers) Wet bulb temperature is combination of temperature and humidity. The simple layman wa…

> going into cellar. The air will get cooler but the humidity will rise.

If we are already counting on a wet bulb temperature of 35C, the humidity is likely already very close to 100%.

Reducing the temperature is likely to be a net good.

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#229
post #206

I wonder if people confuse wet bulb and dry bulb here. Wet bulb is related to how well your air conditioner or sweating will cool you. Dry bulb is what we usually say when taking a temperature reading, or listening to the local news' meteorologist.

Ya, for messaging, "wet bulb" doesn't work well. We need a more intuitive phrase, like a "wind chill factor" for heat + humidity = danger.

Edit: chewing on "wet heat factor". What do you think? Cliches like "but it's a 'dry heat' harhar" are already common. So "wet heat" might click.

Re: The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance (2020)

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I sometimes feel like I'm at death's door when jogging outdoors. Myself and some Westerners I know haven't "adapted", even after years being here. The strategy is just always have ice water in hand if outdoors for prolonged time. I sometimes get laughed at for not adjusting to the heat, but I think it's just too much for some genetic lineages from outside tropics. Unfortunately a large percentage of folks in HDB…

I've been thinking about this, and it's seeming like childhood exposure to prolonged heat and humidity may be what gives you the ability to handle it as an adult. It's just an anecdote, of course, but there are notable examples of people i think should be from genetic backgrounds that could handle the heat that can't, and vice versa.

Without a reference handy to back this statement up I think there may indeed be epigenetic changes. Perhaps even more pronounced would be the experience of the mother in hotter environments during pregnancy.
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