India’s 49C heatwave - how extreme heat became the norm

This year has already seen heat records repeatedly broken.

Climate scientists say that by the end of this decade, almost all countries will experience "extreme hot" weather every other year.

In India, they have experienced the hottest March ever and temperatures there have exceeded a record breaking 49 degrees Celsius.

Staying alive in that heat without pumping more fossil fuels into the atmosphere is one of the biggest challenges facing our futures.
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[AnnaMorris]

I’ve experienced this kind of heat for several hours. You can literally feel your organs working in tandem with your heart. Pushing sweat from your pours and immediately the air cools it for a few seconds before it evaporates. This repeats in of seconds. You better have a large quantity of drinking water, because you won’t even be able to urinate. It’s going to be filtered right there near your sweat glands, which deposits waste materials onto the surface of your skin. (This is why we have body odor)
If high temperatures continue for longer periods of time, the body organs begin to fatigue and the workloads are reduced. At that point your risk for cardiac arrest, or other major organs failing escalate very quickly!

[asha]

I feel bad for the countless animals that are also suffering in this heat.

[TheEnhancedMan]

Makes you see the realism of climate refugees in 10-20 years

[momlife]

Global warning is real. This breaks my heart to see these people suffering. I’ll continue to keep them in my prayers.

[NeverRubARhubarb]

A country like India that has an abundance of sunshine should never suffer from power blackouts. The solar energy generation potential is immense.

[dp]

I have a sense that the amount of change required to keep us alive may not exist. Then we will not exist.

[joni]

As part of my
English A Level exam
I wrote an essay on this exact subject
30 years ago describing the world effects of Global Warming but in particular how it would affect India .
Believe me, I am sad to say it but things are only going to get much worst and even at the time of writing that essay the ignorance and negligence of commercially advanced nations hurt me knowing that they were blind to the suffering that their lifestyles would inflict upon nations like India already located in much warmer areas of the Globe . I have a special love for India and you will always be in my prayers 🙏

[mvricks]

anyone else feel completely exhausted by the heat? its like the body is using all energy to cool down

[marmara]

Do show how the animal world is suffering and coping in such extreme heat waves. Humans are responsible for rising temperatures.

[jayaramprabhu]

Overpopulation & disappearance of green cover is mainly responsible for this heat wave.

[devtank]

End of May 2013 I was in Dehli after having spent 6 months in the country, the week I left it was 54c, by Xmas I was in Michigan and it was -25c

[TheActionStack]

It was 51c in Canada last year! We are in big trouble world

[mobjectivems]

I live in Assam, India and I haven’t seen temps exceeding above 30 degree Celsius past 3 months . Heatwave has affected some regions in india but not the whole country.

[Dr.Gehrig]

Great video about such a serious and deadly part of the climate crisis. Also, that engineer fighting so hard to fight at 90! What a hero! Respect!

Also, crucial as the climate crisis is, we have solutions for all of the emissions sources. We just have to apply them swiftly, boldly, and consistently.

All of us, including India need to ensure a global build out of the Six carbon clean energy sources of solar, wind, hydro (including tidal), nuclear, bioenergy, and geothermal, with energy storage systems as we electrify everything while also phasing out first coal and then fossil gas power. That's a financially viable way to knock out over half of all greenhouse gas emissions.

[avi]

Heat waves in Europe and central USA too...I guess this is a global issue..

[Tianton]

The joys of Ireland.. Never need air con in the summer and rarely need to use the heat in the winter

[rahulmondal]

hate some western media, whose always used to show the poor and bad side of India

[fasx]

With a population over One Billion and a high percent of this population is in Poverty there is not enough money in that country for people to be able to live in decent homes. With Air Conditioning costing as much as it does there are no easy solution. This video shows millions of homes and commercial buildings stacked close together with metal roofs on a lot of them, this all generates heat. If homes were separated with Green belts between the clusters of homes it would help a lot to keep the heat tolerable. but that will not happen.

[carlos.deutschland]

Wow 90 years old and working in cooling systems !!!

[arvison]

There's a simple natural solution, just plant tree on the roof, on the side of the house, wherever possible, however small or large, it will make huge different on temperature. A mango tree and a jackfruit tree grew fast on the north east side of my house and covered my first floor bedroom, where it was to be exposed to sun even two years ago(trees were small). Summer time without AC bedroom was intolerable hot; but now, this year, even during very high temperature, I didn't have to use AC, more then one two hours, whereas previously before the tree grew, I had to use AC for five six hours. Even few medium plant on the south side of my first floor barandha made me feel cooler then previous years. This proofs trees and plants cools the temperature.