It’s already getting too hot and humid in some places for humans to survive

[Andrew]

A combination of heat and humidity so extreme that it’s unendurable isn’t just a problem for the future — those conditions are already here, a new study finds. Off-the-chart readings that were previously thought to be nearly nonexistent on the planet today have popped up around the globe, and unyielding temperatures are becoming more common.

 

Extreme conditions reaching roughly 115 degrees Fahrenheit on the heat-index scale — a measurement of both heat and humidity that’s often referred to as what the temperature “feels like” — doubled between 1979 and 2017, the study found. Humidity and heat are a particularly deadly combination, since humidity messes with the body’s ability to cool itself off by sweating. The findings imply that harsh conditions that scientists foresaw as an impending result of climate change are becoming reality sooner than expected.

 

Source

[ENTERPRISE]

Scary really, as the article says, heat is one thing and humidity another but when you combine them...not much fun. I cannot stand overly humid weather, feels like your breathing in something thicker than air that is for sure. Unsure if this could be reversed however by reduction of human factors. While we have most certainly pushed things along, I do think that the planet is also going through natural changes and I think we could see us needing to alter environments by the way of technology to make certain areas tolerable. Sounds futuristic but maybe weather control (or some variant of that) is part of the future.

[J7SC_Orion]

I used to live in places with high humidity, but I can now confirm that ocean breezes are nice re. humidity, apart from keeping the mosquitoes at bay...

 

As to the overall theme of global warming, 'human activities' clearly play a very big role, and '''we''' have to think about how we can contribute in helping to solve this via looking at our daily behavior, especially with 7.8 billion people now on our earth. All that said, there are also 'natural cycles' which drive climate change...even trickier when they combine with human-made climate impacts. BUT...but at the end of the day, there needs to be a discussion about how technology can be best employed (and its potential risks mitigated) to check the rise (if not lower) temps, humidity and greenhouse gasses. IMO, things already have progressed so much and moved us so much closer to tipping points that we need technical solutions, not just 'behavior modification'.

 

At the end of the day, the hick-hack between 'man-made climate impacts vs natural climate cycles' is somewhat irrelevant anyway - because it needs to be dealt with one way or the other. Consider the billions of people that live in cities and areas near oceans and river deltas (where much of the early civilizations were established). Rising temps will lead to, among other things, higher water levels and flooding - and it makes little difference what caused it. It is happening and we have to deal with it, instead of suggesting, rightfully or wrongfully, that 'it wasn't man made, so ignore it'...

 

One day, we'll manage to get to the hydrogen economy...since the rest of the universe seems to run on hydrogen as an energy source, clearly 'not a bad' idea. The overriding challenge seems to be how to SAFELY store and transport it...now back to my overpowered 1000+ watt computer

[ENTERPRISE]

I used to live in places with high humidity, but I can now confirm that ocean breezes are nice re. humidity, apart from keeping the mosquitoes at bay...

 

As to the overall theme of global warming, 'human activities' clearly play a very big role, and '''we''' have to think about how we can contribute in helping to solve this via looking at our daily behavior, especially with 7.8 billion people now on our earth. All that said, there are also 'natural cycles' which drive climate change...even trickier when they combine with human-made climate impacts. BUT...but at the end of the day, there needs to be a discussion about how technology can be best employed (and its potential risks mitigated) to check the rise (if not lower) temps, humidity and greenhouse gasses. IMO, things already have progressed so much and moved us so much closer to tipping points that we need technical solutions, not just 'behavior modification'.

 

At the end of the day, the hick-hack between 'man-made climate impacts vs natural climate cycles' is somewhat irrelevant anyway - because it needs to be dealt with one way or the other. Consider the billions of people that live in cities and areas near oceans and river deltas (where much of the early civilizations were established). Rising temps will lead to, among other things, higher water levels and flooding - and it makes little difference what caused it. It is happening and we have to deal with it, instead of suggesting, rightfully or wrongfully, that 'it wasn't man made, so ignore it'...

 

One day, we'll manage to get to the hydrogen economy...since the rest of the universe seems to run on hydrogen as an energy source, clearly 'not a bad' idea. The overriding challenge seems to be how to SAFELY store and transport it...now back to my overpowered 1000+ watt computer

 

Well said, does not matter now how it came about but the fact it HAS come about and it is time to act. I am all up for behavioral changes as I think that plays a large part (and we should be better) but you are right that now need to also focus on effort to mitigate the changes that have already taken place. What I will say this whole Covid situation has however put a large spotlight on just how much better the earth has gotten over this short period with the reduction of human activity, it is amazing, that is why I think behavioral changes are also important. However for those changes that cannot be so easily rolled back, we definitely need to bring in technology to help. As for Hydrogen, most definitely the way to go and hopefully we can keep striving toward that without too much delay.

[Andrew]

Behavioural changes are definitely needed. The amount of climate change that happens naturally over the course of a few hundred thousand years has happened over the last 90-100 years. I don't think hydrogen is really going to become a thing, solar and wind have come a long way. Nuclear power can also be good if done properly. Obviously nuclear won't be as clean as solar, wind, hydro and thermo but it's a hell of a lot cleaner than oil, coal and gas.

[ENTERPRISE]

Behavioural changes are definitely needed. The amount of climate change that happens naturally over the course of a few hundred thousand years has happened over the last 90-100 years. I don't think hydrogen is really going to become a thing, solar and wind have come a long way. Nuclear power can also be good if done properly. Obviously nuclear won't be as clean as solar, wind, hydro and thermo but it's a hell of a lot cleaner than oil, coal and gas.

 

Nuclear is a "Clean" method, the only unfortunate thing is the disposal of the waste and the decommissioning of nuclear plants. I am half in, half out when it comes to nuclear energy just due to the waste disposal being what it is.

[J7SC_Orion]

IMO, nuclear power technology has matured with newer and very different systems that either use waste from the prior (current) nuclear plants, and/or do not produce the same type and level of byproducts and waste. They are also much safer, with emergency shutdowns based on natural physical laws, rather than relying on a (possible submerged or damaged) diesel generator...

 

One problem seems to be that a lot of public and private sector utilities placed humongous financial bets (50 year bonds etc) on the original 'dirty' tech which stemmed from earlier applications (such as nuclear subs) where space was at a premium - and in the process generated a horrible environmental reputation in the public, not to mention Fukushima Daiichi, Chernobyl, Three Mile island...

 

If they can solve the hydrogen storage and transportation issues, I do believe hydrogen could be a game changer, not least as a lot of the 'globally installed tech base' could easily be converted (ie most types of internal combustion engines). This is akin to the battery technology race with electric mobility.

 

Time will tell, though with the current 'cov-virus' leading to massive public-sector debt and reduced economic activity, energy-related R+D and implementation budgets could get quite dented