1 In recent days heatwaves have turned swathes of
America and Europe into furnaces. Despite the
accompanying blast of headlines, the implications of such
4 extreme heat are often overlooked or underplayed.
Spectacular images of hurricanes or floods grab attention
more readily, yet heatwaves can cause more deaths. Heat is
7 one of climate change’s deadliest manifestations.
Sometimes its impact is unmistakable — a heatwave in
Europe in 2003 is estimated to have claimed 70,000 lives.
10 More often, though, heatwaves are treated like the two in the
Netherlands in 2018. In just over three weeks, around 300
more people died than would normally be expected at that
13 time of year. This was dismissed as a “minor rise” by
officials. But had those people died in a flood, it would have
been front-page news.
16 The havoc caused by extreme heat does not get the
attention it merits for several reasons. The deaths tend to be
more widely dispersed and do not involve the devastation of
19 property as do the ravages of wind and water. Moreover,
deaths are not usually directly attributable to heatstroke.
Soaring temperatures just turn pre-existing conditions such
22 as heart problems or lung disease lethal.
Heatwaves will inevitably attract more attention as they
become more frequent. As greenhouse gases continue to
25 accumulate in the atmosphere, not only will temperatures
rise overall but extremes of heat will occur more frequently.
Britain’s Met Office calculates that by the 2040s European
28 summers as hot as that of 2003 could be commonplace,
regardless of how fast emissions are reduced. Urbanisation
intensifies the risk to health: cities are hotter places than the
31 surrounding countryside, and more people are moving into
them.
The good news is that most fatalities are avoidable, if
34 three sets of measures are put in place. First, people must be
made aware that extreme heat can kill and warning systems
established. Heatwaves can be predicted with reasonable
37 accuracy, which means warnings can be given in advance
advising people to stay indoors, seek cool areas and drink
plenty of water. Smart use of social media can help. In 2017
40 a campaign on Facebook warning of the dangers of a
heatwave in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, reached 3.9m
people, nearly half the city’s population.
43 Second, cool shaded areas and fresh water should be
made available. In poor places, air-conditioned community
centres and schools can be kept open permanently. In Cape
46 Town, spray parks have been installed to help people cool
down. Third, new buildings must be designed to be resilient
to the threat of extreme heat and existing ones adapted.
49 White walls, roofs or tarpaulins, and extra vegetation in
cities, all of which help prevent heat from building up, can
be provided fairly cheaply. A programme to install “cool
52 roofs” and insulation in Philadelphia reduced maximum
indoor temperatures by 1.3 ?C.
It is a cruel irony that, as with other effects of climate
55 change, the places that are hardest hit by heatwaves can
least afford to adapt. In poor countries, where climates are
often hotter and more humid, public-health systems are
58 weaker and preoccupied with other threats. Often,
adaptation to extreme heat is done by charities if it is done at
all. Particular attention should be paid to reaching both
61 remote areas and densely populated urban ones, including
slums where small dwellings with tin roofs packed together
worsen the danger that uncomfortably high temperatures
64 will become lethal.
Adaptation is not an alternative to cutting emissions;
both are necessary. But even if net emissions are reduced to
67 zero this century, the persistence of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere means that heatwaves will continue to get worse
for decades to come. As the mercury rises, governments in
70 rich and poor countries alike must do more to protect their
populations from this very real and quietly deadly aspect of
72 climate change.