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In 2100, 75% of people on Earth could be affected by deadly heatwaves

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An alarming study has estimated that if we don’t manage to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, no less than 75% of humanity could be exposed to life threatening heat waves by the end of the century. 

“Lethal heat waves are a very frequent phenomenon. The fact that our society is not more worried about the dangers that this involves is beyond me”, said Camilo Mora, a professor in the University of Hawaii in Manoa (US) and the main author of the study, which was published in Nature Climate Change on 17th June 2017.

Since the publication of this study a year ago, the media put strong emphasis on the fact that currently, 30% of the global population is facing potentially life-threatening heat waves during 20 or more days per year. However, the same research also indicated – and this part was less well reported in the mainstream media – that at the beginning of 2100, this could rise to 75% of all humans!

“The heatwave that hit Europe in 2003 caused the deaths of around 70,000 people, meaning 20 times the number of people killed in the September 11th attacks”, said Camilo Mora.

Credits: Pixabay

This kind of heatwave is much more frequent than we may realise. For example, take the heatwave in Chicago in 1995 (with 700 deaths) or in Moscow in 2010 (with more than 10,000 deaths). Much more recently, in Summer 2017, an incredible heatwave took hold in India and Pakistan with a new temperature record set at 53.5°C and thousands of people dying. Also remember that the number of heatwaves that caused more than 100 deaths in the same area has multiplied by two in a half a century.

Furthermore, as well as a recent study which estimated sea levels being due to rise by 6 meters, scientists in another study have predicted an increase of 5°C in the average temperature on the surface of the Earth if greenhouse gas emissions are not quickly and dramatically reduced.

More recently, a heatwave hit Quebec, and according to media reports on the 7th July 2018, 54 people had already lost their lives.

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