Category: Veterans – Patriotism

U.S. West faces little-known effect of raging wildfires: contaminated water

Reuters

U.S. West faces little-known effect of raging wildfires: contaminated water

Donna Bryson                          

 

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Reuters) – Early this spring, water bills arrived with notes urging Fort Collins Utilities customers to conserve. The Colorado customers may have thought the issue was persistent drought in the U.S. West.

But the problem was not the quantity of water available. It was the quality.

Utilities are increasingly paying attention to a little-known impact of large-scale fires: water contamination.

Huge forest fires last year denuded vast areas of Colorado’s mountains and left them covered in ash – ash that with sediment has since been washed by rains into the Cache la Poudre River. The river is one of two sources for household water in this college town of 165,000. With more and fiercer storms expected this year, officials worry about water quality worsening beyond what treatment systems can handle.

The problem could apply to watersheds across the U.S. West, which has faced ever-increasing extremes in heat, drought and wildfire amid climate change in recent years. The United States relies on water originating on forested land for about 80% of its freshwater supply, according to a government report https://on.doi.gov/3qvw4hf.

“If a wildfire is not in my watershed, it will be in someone else’s watershed,” said Sean Chambers, director of water and sewer in the nearby northern Colorado town of Greeley.

So far, Chambers and other northern Colorado utilities managers have avoided clogged pipes simply by skipping the Cache la Poudre water and using other supplies. But they worry that’s not a long-term solution, and so they sent out those notes pleading with customers to voluntarily conserve: Water lawns sparingly. Don’t let the hose run on the sidewalk when washing your car.

THE COST OF WATER

Corporate headhunter Jim Croxton moved to Fort Collins so he could take in the mountain scenery while fishing.

“I really don’t care about how big the fish are,” Croxton said after buying a half dozen flies at a Fort Collins fishing and guide shop. “I just like to be out in” nature.

He had considered drought to be the West’s water concern. But the utility’s letter urging conservation struck a chord; he had read about polluting fires affecting recreational fishing, too.

“Water in the West is a central issue,” Croxton said.

Fort Collins water rates rose 2% from January. That works out to less than $1 per month for the typical home, and generates about $600,000 toward covering an estimated $45 million in potential fire-related measures, according to calculations prepared for Fort Collins City Council.

Those measures include laying mulch on burn scars to hold down soil, and funding further fire impact research. To make up the balance, officials in Fort Collins, Greeley and other communities are pooling resources and seeking state and federal help.

Katrina Jessoe is an economist at UC Davis who has advised utilities on seeking funding to decontaminate water supplies from pollutants such as fertilizers.

“You can’t get around the fact that the cost of water is getting higher,” which could be a concern for low- and middle-income earners, Jessoe said.

Water managers say they need also to explore new ways of raising funds and making capital improvements to deal with fire-related contamination, for example, removing tastes and odors left by algae fed by nutrients in the sediments washed into reservoirs. The tastes and odors don’t mean the water is unsafe, but customers don’t like it.

Water managers are “making decisions right now that will affect whether or not this is a liveable place in 50 years, 100 years,” said John Matthews, who heads the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, a nonprofit that advises on adapting water systems for climate change.

UNPRECEDENTED FIRES

The two fires that have marred the watersheds relied on by Fort Collins, Greeley, Thornton and other towns were notable not just for the devastation they caused, but for having burned at such high elevation.

“We really don’t understand these high-elevation fires very well, because they haven’t happened very often,” said Matt Ross, an ecosystem scientist at Colorado State University who is studying how last year’s fires are impacting algae blooms now.

The Cameron Peak Fire broke out in August and was the first in Colorado history to consume more than 200,000 acres, including swathes of the Arapahoe and Roosevelt national forests and Rocky Mountain National Park. The East Troublesome came close, burning 193,812 acres across the Continental Divide.

In both cases, flames tore through forests where rivers originate and where snowpack – that frozen reservoir – builds up over winter.

Given the large region burned, researchers need to understand how long it will take for vegetation to grow back, so it can keep sediment from washing into water sources, said biogeochemist Chuck Rhoades at the U.S. Forest Service.

“The implications are that people need to think a little bit more about how to manage and sustain reservoirs,” Rhoades said.

(Reporting by Donna Bryson; Editing by Katy Daigle and Lisa Shumaker)

The affordable 3D-printed home that could transform African urbanization

World Economic Forum

The affordable 3D-printed home that could transform African urbanization

Sean Fleming, Senior Writer              June 30, 2021
14Trees are 3D printing homes and building walls in less than 12 hours.
A lack of safe, affordable housing can trap people in poverty. Building homes can end that while creating jobs and income.
Image: CDC Group
  • Every day around 40,000 people move to one of Africa’s cities.
  • There is currently not enough housing stock to go round.
  • This company can 3D-print homes following an affordable, low-carbon process.
  • In Malawi, it has recently 3D-printed a home and a school.

There is a housing crisis taking place across many parts of Africa. Nigeria alone has an estimated shortfall of 17 million housing units. Part of the problem is that every day around 40,000 people relocate to one of Africa’s many vibrant, growing cities. But those cities are struggling to keep up with the demand for new homes, leaving many people with nowhere to live.

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) says the shortage is caused in part by a lack of development in the continent’s house-building industry. But that might be about to change with the availability of new technology and techniques that could speed up and streamline the building of homes.

No place like a 3D-printed home

The first 3D printed affordable house in Africa, with the walls printed in less than 12 hours.
The first 3D printed affordable house in Africa, with the walls printed in less than 12 hours.
Image: LinkedIn/14Trees

 

A joint venture involving CDC Group – the UK government’s development finance institution – and the European building materials multinational LafargeHolcim, is 3D-printing houses and schools in a fraction of the time it would normally take.

Have you read?

Called 14Trees, it has operations in Malawi and Kenya, and is able to build a 3D-printed house in just 12 hours at a cost of under $10,000. Its building process reduces CO2 emissions by as much as 70% when compared with a typical house-building project. It has also developed an online platform for the African diaspora, encouraging people to invest in a “home back home.”

The company’s first-ever affordable, 3D-printed home was built in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. 14Trees has also recently completed its first 3D-printed school, also in Malawi. Built in a fraction of the time a traditionally built school would take, it opened its doors to students on 21 June.

Tenbite Ermias, managing director of CDC Africa, said: “The rollout of 14Trees’ world-class, cutting-edge technology is going to have a tremendous developmental impact on Malawi and the wider region. It is a wonderful example of how we are investing in businesses that can support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.”

Meeting a global need

Much of Africa has been experiencing rapid urbanization in recent decades. “As of 2015, 50% of Africa’s population lived in one of 7,617 urban agglomerations,” says a report from the US-based Brookings Institute.

Growth of urban populations across six African regions
Growth of urban populations across six African regions
Image: Brookings Institute

 

But it’s not only in Africa where 3D house printing is promising to revolutionize the homes people live in. In the Mexican state of Tabasco, a collaboration between Mexican and US businesses has helped create the world’s first 3D-printed neighborhood. Built to withstand floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters, the 50 homes have two bedrooms, a living room, plus a kitchen and bathroom.

The technique is also being used in the United States and Europe to create unique homes for private buyers and to help alleviate the problem of homelessness. Meanehile in India, the country’s first 3D-printed home was completed in five days in the city of Chennai.

The 14Trees building projects are one example of public-private cooperation helping to create jobs as well as housing across Africa. The IFC is working with a Chinese multinational construction and engineering company, CITIC Construction, and plans to build 30,000 homes over a five-year period by partnering with local businesses across Africa, and estimates that each housing unit will create five full-time positions, equating to 150,000 new jobs in all.

What is the World Economic Forum doing to promote sustainable urban development?

“As sub-Saharan Africa becomes more urbanized, the private sector can help governments meet the critical need for housing”, Oumar Seydi, IFC Director for Eastern and Southern Africa writes on the IFC website. “The platform will help transform Africa’s housing markets by providing high quality, affordable homes, creating jobs, and demonstrating the viability of the sector to local developers.”

Smoke from California wildfires could be headed to heat-choked Boise, forecasts show

Smoke from California wildfires could be headed to heat-choked Boise, forecasts show

Nicole Blanchard           

 

 

Smoke from wildfires burning in Northern California could be headed to Boise on Thursday evening, potentially affecting air quality in a valley that’s experiencing a heatwave, according to the National Weather Service.

Bill Wojcik, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Boise office, said in a phone interview that the smoke is coming from fires north of Redding, including the 17,000-acre Lava Fire and the 8,000-acre Tennant Fire.

“Both (of the fires) are in timber, that’s why they’re putting out a lot of smoke,” Wojcik said.

By Wednesday afternoon, the Lava Fire was 19% contained, while the Tennant Fire was only 5% contained, according to InciWeb, an interagency wildfire tracking website.

Satellite smoke modeling images show smoky air swirling up from the Redding area into Central Oregon before heading east to the Idaho Panhandle and south to the Treasure Valley. The worst of it appears to bypass the Boise area, but Wojcik said it’s too early to know exactly where the smoke will end up.

If the fires continue to burn at their current rate, Wojcik said, smoke could roll into the Treasure Valley by Thursday evening or Friday morning. He said the smoke could be trapped in the valley, but some of the air pollution could stay in upper levels of the atmosphere, affecting the appearance of the sky without significant impact on air quality in the lower levels of the atmosphere.

According to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality’s air quality index, the current air quality in the Treasure Valley is “moderate,” the second-lowest level of air pollution. DEQ forecasts show the area remaining in the moderate category through Friday.

Temperatures in the Boise area continue to exceed 100 degrees as a heatwave remains in place across the Northwest. The high is expected to be 102 on Thursday and 103 on Friday.

‘Outlandish’ forecasts in Northwest suggest a feared climate reality is here decades early

‘Outlandish’ forecasts in Northwest suggest a feared climate reality is here decades early

Denise Chow                         

 

Larry O’Neill knew a heat wave was coming, but he still couldn’t believe what the climate models were telling him.

The projected temperatures for this week were so unusually high — between 115 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit across parts of the Pacific Northwest — that O’Neill, Oregon’s state climatologist, felt something must be off.

“The predictions seemed completely outlandish,” said O’Neill, an associate professor at Oregon State University. “They were so crazy insane that professional forecasters and people like myself thought something must be wrong with the models.”

As it turned out, the forecasts were right.

With global warming making heat waves and other extreme weather events both more likely and more severe, this week’s sizzling temperatures may herald a climate reality that scientists thought was still decades in the future.

“We see evidence of climate change in the data already, but in the Pacific Northwest, we thought maybe by the middle of the century is when we would start to see really substantial and impactful events,” O’Neill said. “But we’re seeing those now.”

Across the western United States, more than 35 cities tied or set temperature records Monday, with several places shattering their all-time highs. Seattle posted a new record of 108 degrees, 5 degrees hotter than the city’s previous all-time record, and Portland, Oregon, reached a scorching 116 degrees, surpassing the city’s previous milestone by 8 degrees.

The intensity of the heat, particularly in a region of the country known for its mild conditions, has been shocking, said Nicholas Bond, a research scientist at the University of Washington and Washington’s state climatologist.

“The magnitude by which records are being broken — not by a degree or so but by 5 degrees and in some cases more — is really stunning,” Bond said. “I didn’t really expect anything like this until further into the future.”

Harrison Valetski cools off in Salmon Street Springs in downtown Portland, Ore., on Monday, where temperatures reached an all-time high of 116 degrees Fahrenheit. (Alex Milan Tracy / Sipa USA via AP)
Harrison Valetski cools off in Salmon Street Springs in downtown Portland, Ore., on Monday, where temperatures reached an all-time high of 116 degrees Fahrenheit. (Alex Milan Tracy / Sipa USA via AP)

 

What’s driving the oppressive heat is a ridge of high pressure parked over the Pacific Northwest that Bond said was “exquisitely poised to deliver hot temperatures.”

These giant domes of heat have been associated with tropical cyclone activity in the western Pacific Ocean, which can alter the circulation of air over the Northern Hemisphere and generate unusual weather patterns.

“The tropical cyclones tend to disrupt the jet stream all across the Pacific Ocean,” O’Neill said, adding that they can affect both high- and low-pressure systems. “If we get a tropical cyclone, we’re three times more likely to get a high-pressure ridge set up close to where we see this one.”

It’s not yet clear how climate change is affecting the jet stream and resulting weather systems, but the consequences of these complex atmospheric perturbations taking place against the backdrop of global warming is well understood.

Average temperatures in the Pacific Northwest have warmed by roughly 1.3 degrees since 1895, according to the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, and most cities in the region feel more than 2 degrees warmer in the summer than they did in 1970.

“Along with that warming, we’ve seen an increase in extreme heat events, and these events are becoming more frequent, more intense and longer in duration,” said Meade Krosby, a senior scientist with the Climate Impacts Group.

It’s a trend that is playing out across the country. A national climate assessment conducted in 2018 found that heat waves in the U.S. occurred an average of six times per year in the 2010s, up from an average of two times a year five decades earlier.

The effects of extreme heat are similarly being felt around the world. Parts of eastern Europe and Russia are currently baking under record highs, with some Bulgarian cities predicted to reach 104 degrees and temperatures in Siberia soaring to nearly 90 degrees.

Though attributing any specific event to climate change is tricky, scientists say the overall effect of global warming is undeniable, creating conditions that are ripe for heat waves and other extreme weather events.

“The question is no longer if climate change caused a specific heat event, but by how much,” Krosby said.

Temperatures in parts of Oregon and Washington have likely peaked, but hotter-than-usual conditions are expected to linger through the weekend.

Experts said it’s disconcerting to see such a crippling heat wave this early in the summer, adding that the implications could be dire for this year’s wildfire season.

For O’Neill, he hopes the recent events act as a wake-up call about the immediate impacts of global warming.

“All of this adds to the danger and risk that we face,” he said. “Climate change absolutely loads the dice towards more extreme events.”

Portland, Ore., soared to 116 degrees — hotter than Dallas, Miami and L.A. have ever been

Portland, Ore., soared to 116 degrees — hotter than Dallas, Miami and L.A. have ever been

Jeremy Lewan and Kathryn Prociv                        

 

Portland, Oregon, soared to a searing 116 degrees Monday, hotter than it has ever been in cities such as Dallas, Los Angeles and New Orleans. In fact, when it comes to major U.S. cities, only Phoenix and Las Vegas have been hotter.

Meanwhile, a parallel heat wave was in full swing on the other side of the country, where Boston was forecast to touch 100 degrees Tuesday, with a forecast high of 98 degrees.

The culprit? A buckling in the jet stream causing amplified ridges to surge far north on both sides of the country, resulting in dangerous heat surging into areas unaccustomed to it. On Tuesday, 12 million Americans across much of the West were under heat watches and warnings, and 44 million were under heat alerts across the Northeast, stretching from Delaware up through Maine.

Monday was the textbook example of a summer scorcher, pumping heat into the entirety of the Pacific Northwest. More than 35 cities tied or set records, with many areas soaring an unprecedented 30 to 40 degrees above average. The record in Seattle was smashed by 5 degrees, establishing a new record of 108, and the record high in Portland was shattered, where the high temperature soared to a sizzling 116 degrees, 8 degrees higher than the old record.

The heat was so excessive that Portland streetcar power cables melted and the pavement buckled. And the heat has been so persistent that Seattle achieved a new record: three consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures for the first time.

The historic heat even jeopardized several state and national records. The record high of 119 for Oregon and the record of 118 in Washington came nearly within reach when Salem, Oregon, hit 117 and Dallesport, Washington, hit 118 Monday.

Most impressive, Lytton, British Columbia, recorded a high temperature of 118 degrees, establishing a new national record for Canada, and crushing the old record by 5 degrees. This temperature surpassed Las Vegas’ all-time high of 117.

To put this extreme heat into perspective, the hottest temperatures in traditionally hot cities are still cooler than these new records for Portland and Seattle. Miami’s record high is a mere 100 and Atlanta’s is only 106.

On Tuesday, the Northwest cities of Seattle, Portland, Boise, Idaho, Billings, Montana, and Reno, Nevada, are expected to continue to experience temperatures in the triple digits and the Pacific Northwest humidity will drive these temperatures to feel like the 110s.

A man cools off in Salmon Street Springs downtown Portland, Ore., on Monday. (Alex Milan Tracy / Sipa USA via AP)
A man cools off in Salmon Street Springs downtown Portland, Ore., on Monday. (Alex Milan Tracy / Sipa USA via AP)

 

In the Pacific Northwest, temperatures start to cool off Tuesday and Wednesday near the coast, but it will remain scorching hot in the interior, as the cooling breeze off the Pacific Ocean doesn’t reach sufficiently far inland. Tuesday will be the first day in three days that the forecast high is below 100 for Portland and Seattle, but temperatures will still remain in the 90s, 10 to 15 degrees above average. Glasgow and Helena, Montana, Boise and Spokane, Washington, can expect triple digits through the Fourth of July.

Daily records could even be broken across New England as temperatures are expected to feel well over 100.

Heat warnings cover much of New Jersey, and extend over Philadelphia. New York City will likely see its hottest temperatures so far this year, and Philadelphia and Boston have already declared heat emergencies. This is truly rare heat; New York City averages just a few days a year with temperatures above 95 degrees.

Temperatures moderate slightly through the end of the workweek, returning to about average by the weekend.

Summers are getting hotter in the Pacific Northwest as a result of climate change, with most cities feeling 2.5 to 3 degrees hotter than they did in 1970. As carbon dioxide levels continue to rise and climate change progresses, more extreme and more frequent heat waves can be expected for unprepared cities across the country.

Maine suffers a second day of insufferable heat and humidity

Maine suffers a second day of insufferable heat and humidity

Dennis Hoey, Portland Press Herald, Maine        

 

A third straight day of oppressive heat and humidity is on tap for Maine on Wednesday, but relief from the scorching temperatures should arrive overnight, the National Weather Service said.

Portland on Tuesday tied its record high of 96 degrees, a mark set in 1944, at the Portland Jetport at 2:55 p.m., according to weather service meteorologist Chris Kimble.

With just one day left to sweat through, this is shaping up to be Maine’s hottest June on record, Kimble said. The June record was set in 2001 with an average temperature of 67.1. But this year, the average temperature stands at 67.8 and that is not likely to change by the end of the day Wednesday.

Kimble said the National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 94 Wednesday in Portland. If that happens, Portland and most of Maine will have experienced an official heat wave — defined as three consecutive days of highs of 90 or higher. Sunday’s high was 87, but highs of 97 and 96 were recorded Monday and Tuesday in Portland.

Things should start to cool down late Wednesday, accompanied by scattered, severe thunderstorms packing heavy rain and damaging winds starting in the afternoon. Forecasts call for a high of about 81 forecast for Thursday and 68 for Friday, Kimble said. In the meantime, the weather service is urging people to stay hydrated and seek shade or air conditioning whenever possible. A heat advisory will be in effect from 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Wednesday’s heat index will be dangerously high, the combination of heat and humidity making it feel like 100 degrees, Kimble said. That happened Tuesday around 4 p.m. in Portland with the temperature reaching 96 and the heat index making it feel like 101 degrees.

More records could be tied or broken Wednesday. Portland’s high of 96 degrees for June 30 was recorded in 1971.

“It’s not out of the question, we could tie or set a new record on Wednesday,” Kimble said, adding that it has not been this hot in Maine since 2016, when a high of 99 was recorded in Portland on Aug. 12.

The combination of extreme heat and lack of precipitation prompted the South Berwick Water District to issue a mandatory water conservation notice Tuesday. The outdoor water conservation measures will remain in place until further notice.

Water customers are being asked to refrain from all outdoor uses of water including the use of sprinklers and irrigation systems, washing vehicles and filling swimming pools.

Cities and towns across Maine opened cooling centers Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the Maine Emergency Management Center.

Among the cooling centers open Wednesday are the Augusta Civic Center 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Falmouth Ice Center on Hat Trick Drive from 4 a.m. to midnight; the South Portland Community Center from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and the Troubh Ice Arena, 225 Park Ave. in Portland, from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m.

Beaches were a popular destination Tuesday. Popham Beach State in Phippsburg reached capacity at 11 a.m. and was forced to turn away visitors.

Power outages plagued some communities Tuesday, but Central Maine Power Company said it has been closely monitoring the power distribution system.

“Persistently hot days create a huge demand for energy,” CMP tweeted Tuesday night. “CMP is closely monitoring the system through the heat and proactively managing the demand to provide reliable power.”

Nearly 1,500 CMP customers in nine counties were without power as of 8 p.m. Tuesday. The number of outages dropped to 854 at 9 p.m. Only 329 Versant Power customers were without power Tuesday evening. Versant serves customers in northern and Down East Maine.

Maine is not alone in its suffering. A record breaking heat wave has been scorching the Pacific Northwest with temperatures regularly exceeding 100 degrees. Portland, Oregon, hit 108 Saturday, 112 Sunday and 116 on Monday.

Hotter than the human body can handle: Pakistan city broils in world’s highest temperatures

The Telegraph

Hotter than the human body can handle: Pakistan city broils in world’s highest temperatures

Experts fear Jacobabad’s extreme heat and humidity may worsen with climate change – and that other cities may join the club

 Ben Farmer, Jacobabad                          June 

When the full midsummer heat hits Jacobabad, the city retreats inside as if sheltering from attack.

The streets are deserted and residents hunker down as best they can to weather temperatures that can top 52C (126F).

Few have any air conditioning, and blackouts mean often there is no mains electricity. The hospital fills with heatstroke cases from those whose livelihoods mean they must venture out.

“When it gets that hot, you can’t even stay on your feet,” explains one resident, Zamir Alam.

“It’s a very, very difficult time when it goes beyond 50C. People do not come out of their houses and the streets are deserted,” Abdul Baqi, a shopkeeper, adds.

Nawab Khan, who sells battery-powered fans from his market stall

Nawab Khan, who sells battery-powered fans from his market stall. CREDIT: Saiyna Bashir

This city of some 200,000 in Pakistan’s Sindh province has long been renowned for its fierce heat, but recent research has conferred an unwelcome scientific distinction.

Its mixture of heat and humidity has made it one of only two places on earth to have now officially passed, albeit briefly, a threshold hotter than the human body can withstand.

With this region of Pakistan along the Indus Valley considered one of the places most vulnerable to climate change in the world, there are fears that Jacobabad’s temperatures may increase further, or other cities may join the club.

“The Indus Valley is arguably close to being the number one spot worldwide,” says Tom Matthews, a lecturer in climate science at Loughborough University. “When you look at some of the things to worry about, from water security to extreme heat, it’s really the epicentre.”

Shama Ajay resides in an informal settlement without water and electricity in Jacobabad's unrelenting heat
Shama Ajay resides in an informal settlement without water and electricity in Jacobabad’s unrelenting heat CREDIT: Saiyna Bashir

 

Mr Matthews and colleagues last year analysed global weather station data and found that Jacobabad and Ras al Khaimah, north east of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, have both temporarily crossed the deadly threshold. The milestone had been surpassed decades ahead of predictions from climate change models.

The researchers examined what are called wet bulb temperatures. These are taken from a thermometer covered in a water-soaked cloth so they take into account both heat and humidity.

Wet bulb thermometer readings are significantly lower than the more familiar dry bulb readings, which do not take humidity into account. Researchers say that at a wet bulb reading of 35C, the body can no longer cool itself by sweating and such a temperature can be fatal in a few hours, even to the fittest people.

Mehboob Ali showers under a hose at a water filling point, where he fills canisters to sell in Jacobabad, one of the world's two hottest places
Mehboob Ali showers under a hose at a water filling point, where he fills canisters to sell in Jacobabad, one of the world’s two hottest places CREDIT: Saiyna Bashir

 

“It approximates how warm it feels to humans because we cool via sweating,” Mr Matthews says. “We rely on that exclusively. When you use that measure, the wet bulb temperature, the two regions that stand out on earth are the shores of the Gulf and the Indus Valley in Pakistan. They are truly exceptional.”

Jacobabad crossed the 35C wet bulb threshold in July 1987, then again in June 2005, June 2010 and July 2012. Each time the boundary may have been breached for only a few hours, but a three-day average maximum temperature has been recorded hovering around 34C in June 2010, June 2001 and July 2012. The dry bulb temperature is often over 50C in the summer.

Patchy death records mean it is not clear whether the crossing of the threshold resulted in a wave of fatalities. The effects of entering the danger zone are likely to be blurred, for example with cooler interiors of buildings temporarily sheltering residents from the worst. It also depends on how long the threshold is crossed.

Mr Matthews said: “Even though it’s theoretically been crossed according to the weather station measurements in that part of the world, whether or not it’s been crossed in the hyper local environment where people are living, and for long enough to really translate into widespread deadly conditions, is another question.”

Muhammad Hanif carries and sells ice on the roadside which is quite common in the summer months in Jacobabad
Muhammad Hanif carries and sells ice on the roadside – a common sight in the summer months CREDIT: Saiyna Bashir

 

Jacobabad and Ras al Khaimah may share fierce temperatures, but they are otherwise very different and illustrate the different challenges that places will face under climate change.

In the wealthy UAE, where electricity and air conditioning are plentiful, the threshold may have little effect on residents. In Jacobabad, where many subsist on wages of only a couple of pounds a day, residents must find other ways to adapt.

Jacobabad’s crown for unsurvivable temperatures may conjure pictures of Death Valley-like deserts, but it is an agricultural hub fed by irrigation canals. The city in Sindh’s rice belt is named after John Jacob, a long forgotten British general and colonial administrator. The region sits on the Tropic of Cancer, meaning the sun is close to overhead during the summer. The winds blow already warm and humid air off the Arabian Sea and it gets more muggy as it travels up the valley.

Stretches of the town’s bazaar are dedicated to keeping cool. Shops sell electric fans and low-tech washing machine-sized coolers that emit a refreshing mist.

Electric solutions are undermined by frequent power cuts however. In the city centre, residents often lose power for three or four hours, while in more distant areas the gaps are longer.

Nadir Ali and Ali Murad get some from respite from the heat outside the rice mill they work at in Jacobabad
Nadir Ali and Ali Murad get some from respite from the heat outside the rice mill they work at in Jacobabad CREDIT: Saiyna Bashir

 

The solution for some is a solar panel, though at £36 each they are expensive for many. Cheap Chinese batteries are also available. “Everyone needs electricity here. It’s not for television, it’s for keeping cool,” says one electrical goods trader called  Mohammad Iqbal.

Ice is also popular, with factories making huge blocks which are then hacked into 10p chunks at roadside stalls. When all else fails, there are hand fans and people also simply dunk buckets of water over their heads.

For those who can afford it, there is the chance to spend the summer in Quetta or Karachi, which are still fiercely hot, but offer some relief. Most stay.

“The people are used to it, they have developed a resistance,” shrugs one administration official. People also said the heat was only one of many problems they faced. Price hikes have caused economic devastation, while there is a lack of fresh drinking water and the city’s supplies are brackish.

Workers fill cannisters at a water point, ready to sell to the sweltering citizens of Jacobabad
Workers fill cannisters at a water point, ready to sell to the sweltering citizens of Jacobabad CREDIT: Saiyna Bashir

 

High temperatures have also recently made headlines in the US, where Portland, Oregon, hit an all-time local high of 42C (108F) on a dry bulb scale.

World Bank research in 2018 warned weather changes risk badly denting the living standards of hundreds of millions in South Asia. Scorching weather comes with increasingly short, warm and early spring seasons which have left Pakistan’s farmers struggling to deal with new weather patterns. The heat has dried out farmland and hit profits by causing fruit and vegetables to ripen earlier, meaning they are smaller.

As temperatures rise and rainfall patterns shift, difficulties with farming, irrigation, disease and labour are predicted by 2050 to badly hit people’s quality of living in parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Jacobabad’s residents said they felt the temperature in the town was getting higher, but they had few options.

“People are aware that the heat is getting up and up, but they are poor people. They can’t go anywhere, they can’t leave their places,” said Zahid Hussain, a market trader. “I myself have been thinking about shifting, but have never got around to it.”

Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security

Record-setting heat wave shows that climate change is creating hell on Earth

Los Angeles Times

Editorial: Record-setting heat wave shows that climate change is creating hell on Earth

By The Times Editorial Board                         June 28, 2021 

 

A man hands out a bottle of water.
Carlos Ramos hands out bottles of water and sack lunches Monday as he works at a hydration station in front of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. Seattle and other cities broke heat records over the weekend, with temperatures soaring well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
(Associated Press)

 

The record-breaking heat wave baking the West Coast is another painful sign that climate change is here, and we have to adapt.

The Pacific Northwest has been sizzling, with conditions forecasters have described as unprecedented and life-threatening. Portland, Ore., hit 113 degrees Monday, breaking the previous all-time high of 112 degrees, set Sunday. About 100 miles to the south, in Eugene, the U.S. track and field Olympic trials were halted Sunday afternoon, and spectators were asked to evacuate the stadium, due to the extreme heat.

Seattle hit 107 degrees, also a record high. It was so hot in recent days that the city closed at least one public pool amid concerns that visitors would burn their feet on the deck. And further north, the town of Lytton in British Columbia hit 116 degrees Sunday, the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada.

All of this is happening in June — the very beginning of summer. If it wasn’t already clear that climate change is fueling more extreme weather patterns, this unprecedented heat wave is another blistering example. There is surely more to come, as the heat dome responsible for the record-breaking temperatures is expected to linger in the Northwest, moving slowly toward Idaho and Montana.

Yet in a sense, the furnace-like conditions are just a replay of last year, which tied 2016 for the hottest year on record. Not coincidentally, 2020 was also the worst year on record for wildfires, with more than 10 million acres burned. And this trend is bound to continue as temperatures are driven upward by the warming effects of human activities that spew carbon and other heat-trapping compounds into the atmosphere.

The current heat wave is another visceral reminder that the world is not moving fast enough to curtail the use of fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions. To prevent the worst effects of climate change will take dramatic change on the part of the world’s industrialized nations, most especially the United States.

But, alas, it’s not enough to focus on weaning ourselves from carbon fuels. As this heat wave demonstrates, we are already feeling the effects of climate change, and we are woefully unprepared.

Just think about how higher-than-normal temperatures in the Pacific Northwest have crippled basic infrastructure. In Washington, the state patrol closed a portion of a highway after the asphalt started to crack and buckle under the heat. In some areas — unaccustomed to such weather — school buses had no air conditioning and couldn’t safely transport students to summer school.

In Portland, the city’s light rail and streetcars were taken out of service. The transit system was designed for mild weather, with temperatures typically between 40 and 70 degrees. While the transit agency has made adjustments to the system in recent years to withstand more intense heat, it cannot safely operate when the mercury goes above 110 degrees, as it did on Sunday and Monday.

Many of the country’s roads, transit systems, dams, levees and energy grids were built decades ago, designed for different temperatures and less-extreme weather fluctuations. A record-breaking heat wave in California last summer triggered rolling blackouts; heat-driven outages will be a risk this year, too. A record-breaking cold snap in Texas earlier this year also led to mass power outages. The nation’s infrastructure is not prepared to withstand the onslaught of climate change, which can push temperatures to extremes in both directions.

U.S. lawmakers are beginning to act on the seriousness of the threat. The $1.2-trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill includes funding to modernize energy, transportation and water systems. The bill also includes $47 billion specifically for projects aimed at making our infrastructure more resilient to climate change. But the compromise package has, so far, shortchanged investments in clean energy, clean transportation and large-scale climate-proofing.

The need is great, and the funding is still too little. The reality is that climate change will cost the United States, no matter how quickly it responds. We can pay now to avoid greater damage or pay later, when the nation is forced to manage more deadly heat waves, wildfires, floods and other disasters.

Op-Ed: Will Biden choose fossil fuel or Minnesota’s rivers, and a cooler planet, in the fight against Line 3?

Op-Ed: Will Biden choose fossil fuel or Minnesota’s rivers, and a cooler planet, in the fight against Line 3?

Alan Weisman                               
TOPSHOT - Climate activist and Indigenous community members gather on top of the bridge after taking part in a traditional water ceremony during a rally and march to protest the construction of Enbridge Line 3 pipeline in Solvay, Minnesota on June 7, 2021. - Line 3 is an oil sands pipeline which runs from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin in the United States. In 2014, a new route for the Line 3 pipeline was proposed to allow an increased volume of oil to be transported daily. While that project has been approved in Canada, Wisconsin, and North Dakota, it has sparked continued resistance from climate justice groups and Native American communities in Minnesota. While many people are concerned about potential oil spills along Line 3, some Native American communities in Minnesota have opposed the project on the basis of treaty rights and calling President Biden to revoke the permits and halt construction. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP) (Photo by KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images)
Climate activists and Indigenous community members demonstrate against the Line 3 tar sands pipeline on June 7. (Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images)

 

It was mid-afternoon on June 7 when nearly three dozen sheriffs, deputies and police arrived at the Two Inlets pump station site on Enbridge Inc.’s Line 3 oil pipeline, now under construction in northern Minnesota. In riot helmets, wielding long truncheons, they formed two lines and stood in unusual 90-degree heat, awaiting orders to move in against nearly 200 nonviolent protesters.

Earlier, I’d watched a Homeland Security helicopter repeatedly buzz the demonstrators, apparently attempting to dislodge them with clouds of choking dust. “Stay! Don’t let them weaponize our Mother Earth against us!” someone yelled, although many had already chained and padlocked themselves to earth-moving equipment, pipeline infrastructure and an old blue speedboat that now blocked the way into the site.

Once completed, the pump station the protesters had seized would push heavy crude bitumen — tar sands oil, up to three times dirtier than conventional oil — from western Canada through Minnesota and Wisconsin to a terminal on Lake Superior. Burning the pipeline’s daily potential capacity of 915,000 barrels would more than double Minnesota’s annual output of greenhouse gases.

That was one reason protesters were here. “They knew about climate change in the ’80s,” said one 27-year-old woman. “We should’ve been getting off fossil fuels before I was born.”

With the Dakota Access pipeline’s permit under reconsideration and the Keystone XL pipeline canceled, Line 3 is a last gasp at keeping the filthy tar sands industry alive. The science isn’t debatable: To counter mounting climate catastrophes, and to hold global warming to the Paris accords’ limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) tar sands must stay in the ground. Anything else risks incinerating our species’ future.

About 20 miles from where the pump station protesters would ultimately be unchained and arrested, nearly 2,000 more demonstrators had another reason to stop Line 3: What the local Ojibwe, Anishinaabe and Chippewa call Misi-Ziibi.

If Enbridge has its way, Line 3, which partly reroutes and replaces a decaying older pipeline, will bore under the Mississippi River twice as it flows north and then loops south from its source, Lake Itasca. Any leaks and spills — by one count of company records, Enbridge is responsible for more than 1,000 between 1996 and 2014 — could poison the Mississippi and more: Line 3 will cross 211 other rivers and streams, and threaten scores of lakes and wetlands in Minnesota’s choicest wild rice harvesting region, granted to Indian tribes by 19th century treaties.

The first Mississippi crossing site lies just miles from a state park where countless tourists have hopped across the trickle that soon widens and deepens into America’s most famous river. Even non-Natives consider the headwaters sacrosanct. “We’re going to protect the sacred,” vowed Leech Lake band Ojibwe Nancy Beaulieu to the protesters gathered on the river’s reedy banks, “for all those not born yet.”

In Ojibwe culture, women are the water protectors; Beaulieu is one of several leading a seven-year fight against Line 3. Recently, they’ve been dealt two setbacks. First, Minnesota’s Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to Enbridge’s state permit to run Line 3 through tribal land, despite its threat to water quality and sovereign treaty rights.

Then last week, despite President Biden’s climate agenda, the Army Corps of Engineers went to court to defend its permits for Line 3, which had been rushed through in the last days of the Trump administration. With Enbridge racing to complete the pipeline before further appeals can stop them, sheriffs have begun raiding the remaining “resistance camps” where water protectors are blocking construction with their bodies.

Biden could still act. He could cancel the pipeline by executive action, as he did when he blocked the Keystone XL permits on his first day in office.

“It’s a total betrayal by the administration,” said White Earth Ojibwe leader Winona LaDuke about last week’s court filing. “The Army Corps of Engineers under Trump should not be the Army Corps under Biden.”

A few days after the June 7 protests, LaDuke took me canoeing on the meandering Shell River, which Line 3 will cross five times. We dragged the boat more than paddled, because like the far west, Minnesota is in deepening drought.

In water still clear enough to drink, I saw big freshwater mollusks that give the Shell its name, and long, flowing wild rice stalks LaDuke will harvest this fall — unless the river keeps dropping. It enrages her that Minnesota is allowing Enbridge to pump almost 5 billion gallons of groundwater as it tunnels through the state.

Her tribe now manufactures solar furnaces; they know the time to stop fossil fuels is running out. LaDuke believes the stand she and her Ojibwe water protector sisters are taking against Enbridge is among humanity’s last chances to confront an existential threat.

“We’re going to fight to the end,” she said. “But we’re the poorest damn people. It’s devastating how callous these politicians and corporations are to life.”

Whether Line 3’s CO2 ends up in our atmosphere depends on the president — “Our only hope now,” in LaDuke’s words.

Not long ago, a white neighbor told LaDuke , “We’re thinking the Indians are going to stop this pipeline.”

“The Indians could use a little help, ma’am,” she replied.

Journalist Alan Weisman is the author of the bestseller “The World Without Us” and “Countdown,” winner of the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for science and technology. His next book explores our best hopes for surviving the coming decades

Eating This Type of Diet Can Reduce Chronic Pain and Inflammation—and You Don’t Have to Give Up Pasta or Wine

Eating This Type of Diet Can Reduce Chronic Pain and Inflammation—and You Don’t Have to Give Up Pasta or Wine

Karla Walsh; Reviewed by Lisa Valente, M.S., RD           

Getty Images / Anut21ng

Chronic inflammation has been linked to a whole host of health issues, including many of the leading causes of death in the U.S. (heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, to name a few). So it’s no wonder scientists are constantly searching for the best anti-inflammatory foods and lifestyle habits—and anything related to the topic that might help us keep this internal inflammation at bay.

(By the way, not all inflammation is bad; short-term, site-specific inflammation is how we heal from cuts, bruises, burns and beyond. It’s the longer-lasting inflammation that happens near our organs that can do a number on our longevity and overall well-being.)

One of the most recent discoveries related to inflammation—and pain-related conditions: A traditional Western high-fat diet can increase the chances that an individual might suffer from chronic pain and inflammation.

Unlike our genes, this is something each of us can control. And changes in diet (start here with our anti-inflammatory meal plan!) “may significantly reduce or even reverse pain from conditions causing either inflammatory pain—such as arthritis, trauma or surgery—or neuropathic pain, such as diabetes,” the team of study authors from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio explain to UT Health San Antonio Newsroom.

Chronic pain is a major cause of disability. Lower-fat and lower-sugar diets are often recommended to manage diabetes, autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular diseases, but the role of dietary fats in relation to chronic pain has yet to be researched extensively.

Related: The #1 Food to Eat to Lower Inflammation

For this study, the team tracked mice and humans to examine the role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in pain conditions. In both cases, a typical Western diet—one that’s high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats in particular—was a significant risk factor for both inflammation and chronic pain. (ICYMI, we do need some omega-6s, but most Americans’ ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s is skewed too 6-strong.)

“Omega-6 fats, mainly found in foods with vegetable oils, have their benefits. But Western diets associated with obesity are characterized by much-higher levels of those acids in foods from corn chips to onion rings, than healthy omega-3 fats, which are found in fish and sources like flaxseed and walnuts,” the research team says in the UT Health San Antonio Newsroom recap.

In the standard American diet, many of the omega-6 fats consumed are by way of fast food, processed snacks and processed meats. Leaning into more omega-3 fats can drastically reduce chronic pain symptoms and chronic inflammation, the authors say. This should move the needle much more than cutting out carbs or alcohol; experts we speak to give both the thumbs up, in moderation, as part of an overall anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

Taking your omega-3 index is a great place to start so you know where your current levels stand. If you fall into this common Western diet pattern, stock up on these omega-3-rich foods and sample your way through our 38 best anti-inflammatory recipes. An easy way to make sure you’re getting plenty of omega-3s and other anti-inflammatory foods is to follow a Mediterranean-style diet. (On this healthy delicious eating plan, you don’t even have to give up pasta or wine. In fact, they’re encouraged in moderation!). Check out our Mediterranean diet meal plan for beginners to get started.