Current:Home > StocksAlgosensey Quantitative Think Tank Center-Climate scientists say South Asia's heat wave (120F!) is a sign of what's to come -Ascend Finance Compass
Algosensey Quantitative Think Tank Center-Climate scientists say South Asia's heat wave (120F!) is a sign of what's to come
Fastexy Exchange View
Date:2025-04-07 11:30:05
MUMBAI,Algosensey Quantitative Think Tank Center India — Summer has arrived in South Asia WAY too early.
A punishing heat wave has pushed temperatures past 120F (50C) in some areas. Some schools have closed early for the summer. Dozens of people have died of heatstroke.
The region is already hard-hit by climate change. Extreme heat is common in May. But not in April and March, both of which were the hottest across much of India for more than a century.
"It's smoldering hot! It's also humid, which is making it very difficult," Chrisell Rebello, 37, told NPR in line outside a Mumbai ice cream parlor at 11 p.m. "We need a lot of cold drinks, air conditioning – and multiple baths a day."
Only a fraction of Indians — mostly, the wealthy — have air conditioning. Instead people soak rags in water and hang them in doors and windows.
Still, electric fans and AC have pushed India's electricity demand to a record high.
The problem is that 70% of India's electricity comes from coal. So the government is converting passenger trains to cargo service, to rush coal supplies to beleaguered power plants, and also importing more coal from abroad.
And rolling blackouts are hurting industrial output.
In the short term, experts say India has no choice but to burn coal to keep fans and ACs on. But in the long term, it must transition to renewables, to avoid a vicious circle of warming, says Ulka Kelkar, a Bengaluru-based economist and climate change expert with the World Resources Institute.
"[With] heat plus humidity, at some stage [it] becomes almost impossible for the human body's organs to function normally," Kelkar explains. "Basically the body just cannot cool itself, and a large fraction of our population in India still works outside in the fields, on building construction, in factories which are not cooled."
More than a billion people are at risk of heat-related illness across South Asia. Hospitals are preparing special wards.
This heat wave has also hit at a critical time for the region's wheat harvest. In the Indian state of Punjab — the country's breadbasket — farmers complain of reduced crop yields, and lower profits.
"Due to intense heat, the grain we're harvesting is shriveled," a Punjabi farmer named Major Singh told local TV.
This is exactly when India was hoping to boost wheat exports to help make up for a shortfall in global grain supplies, from the war in Ukraine.
Suruchi Bhadwal, director of earth science and climate change at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), says the disappointing wheat harvest may be an omen of what's to come, if countries don't do everything within their power to cut carbon emissions and limit warming to below 2-degrees Celsius, in line with United Nations recommendations.
"India is already giving us a warning bell," Bhadwal says. "And each country needs to realize that the warning signs will not be given to us forever."
veryGood! (4)
Related
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
Ranking
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
Recommendation
Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people