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India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

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Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#151
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fatal even to fit and healthy people, unclothed in the shade next to a fan; This is scary, what's a good way to survive for someone that doesn't have access to a bunker or AC? Immersing oneself in water in a bathtub?

A tub will work, sure, as long as it's pulled from a large body of water that hasn't warmed up with the air. Hopping in the local lake is an obvious choice. But in a detached demographic sense: effectively everyone lives in a city in the modern world, and while their housing might not be air conditioned most of the major buildings are. In an emergency like this everyone would just crowd into office buildings and shop…

Every human is effectively a 100W space heater just from being alive. That means you need at least 30W of air conditioning capacity per human to keep the temperature constant (on top of what you need to counter heat from outside).

Unless these buildings are designed as emergency shelters for heat waves their air conditioning systems won't be able to cope with all the people.

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#152
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for posting this. It's something that's really hard to communicate about climate change to people. It's also super depressing. I went down with heat stroke once and I get know what this is like. I was in hospital for 4 days after a close brush with kidney failure. So many people just think it'll be just a bit hotter in the future.

Tell me again how buying a Tesla will save this village

Tell me again what you are doing to slow climate change.

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#153
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We might as well be deer" - and what tells you that in the grand, global, universe-scale sense, we are not? In my eyes, we very much are .

>what tells you that in the grand, global, universe-scale sense, we are not? If we were deer, then Malthus would have been right by now. We are fairly uniquely placed as a species to be able to avoid being this dumb.

I'm sorry, but I just have to do this.

Even with Trump as president?

He takes "dumb" to a whole new level!

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fatal even to fit and healthy people, unclothed in the shade next to a fan; This is scary, what's a good way to survive for someone that doesn't have access to a bunker or AC? Immersing oneself in water in a bathtub?

The water is only cooler because it's evaporating, meaning the wet-bulb temperature also describes the water's own limit. 35°C is slightly cooler than body temperature, so it would work just a little bit as a heatsink, but another degree or two and even that becomes ineffective.

The water is cooler because the specific heat of water is very high, meaning it takes more heat energy to increase the temperature of water.

So a large body of water stays cool for a long time, and then stabilizes around the daily average temperature, not the high.

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#155
Well before you guys start doomsday predictions, let me tell you that Churu is in Rajasthan which is in Thar desert. Temperatures like this, even though very high and uncomfortable, are not unheard of.

We are in midst of a very hot summer but it is not something out of ordinary and yearly cycle (we don't love our summers). We are eagerly awaiting monsoon to arrive in India (early june is when it hits our shores). After rains arrive, we expect our dams to fill and possible water scarcity to end

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#156
post #19

These temperatures in high humidity can be deadly even to healthy and fit humans as our bodies are left without a way to cool down. Currently, they have humidity around 10-20% so it affects the most vulnerable, but global warming may lead to making parts of the world literally deadly to every human being... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature The wet-bulb temperature (WBT) is the temperature read by a…

> fatal even to fit and healthy people, unclothed in the shade next to a fan; This is scary, what's a good way to survive for someone that doesn't have access to a bunker or AC? Immersing oneself in water in a bathtub?

Large bodies of water, mine shafts or just holes in the ground. Just a few meters below the ground temperatures are effectively constant, barely effected by weather. Ocean temperatures are similiarly stable.

Of course you can't start digging while dying of heat stroke and you can't crowd people into any places (people are great space heaters). With education about proper measures a few days should be survivable for rural populations. In cities you just need air conditioning, there's no other viable way to cool large amounts of people.

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming they can afford the air conditioners and electricity and electric grid.

Affording air conditioner probably the same like affording warm house in cold climate.

A median Indian makes barely over $50/month[1]. Electricity is only slightly cheaper than the US[2]. Much of the country couldn't afford AC even if it were their only living expense.

[1] https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/ind...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_pricing#Price_Comp...

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#158
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Affording air conditioner probably the same like affording warm house in cold climate.

Affording that would likely equate several years of income to the average poor Indian. If even obtainable in a lifetime.

Air conditioner is like few hundred dollars. Are homes in India that cheap? Even cheapest homes in my countries will cost thousands of dollars. If someone can buy it, he can buy air conditioner.

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#159
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the record; I've travelled in India and parts of Africa. That's not the point. The point is simply biology. If we reduce our population sufficiently (by whatever means), then the effects we have on the global climate may start to wear off. This is just one example of how we are reaching a limit and our species is starting to die off as a result. Given enough such situations our species may eventually reach a sust…

The problem is that those who emit the most are best equipped against any ill effects. The US (and Europe) are in quite temperate climate. There will be some internal migration to the cooler regions, somewhat higher taxes to pay for sea walls, storm drains and some permamently running pumps, higher insurance premiums for many types of insurance, etc. But all those are minor inconviniences compared to what those that…

I'm living in EU, and have exactly same bad feeling about pollution generated in EU or US having much more worse effect in some other part of the world. I'm trying to advocate for wanting less (stuff, travelling, ...), but it's seems only very few here care.

Re: India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

#160
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree with you, but thought that the words "out of Syria" are not really reflecting reality. According to Wikipedia[1], only about a third of the migrants originated in Syria. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_migrant_crisis#Statis...

That's true but it is referred to colloquially as "The Syrian Crisis" here, in any case I don't what the solution is, I deeply admire the Germans for what they did though. Taking 1.5 million migrants with a population of 82 million, if the UK (my country) had done the same ratio that would have been 1.2 million, best figure I can find for UK is One thing I do wonder is what western culture will look like in a hundred…

Culture evolves/changes over time.

So it's a valid question as long as it's not a veiled "will there be too many brown people".

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