As interlinked extreme heat and drought events grow in intensity and frequency amid the ruling class’ ongoing failure to adequately slash planet-heating fossil fuel pollution, over 90% of the global population is projected to suffer the consequences in the coming decades, according to peer-reviewed research published Thursday in Nature Sustainability.
Compound drought-heatwave (CDHW) events are “one of the worst climatic stressors for global sustainable development,” states the paper, but their “physical mechanisms” and “impacts on socio-ecosystem productivity remain poorly understood.”
“Using simulations from a large climate-hydrology model,” nine scholars—working at universities in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan—found that “the frequency of extreme CDHWs is projected to increase by tenfold globally under the highest emissions scenario, along with a disproportionate negative impact on vegetation and socio-economic productivity by the late 21st century.”
According to the study: “Terrestrial water storage and temperature are negatively coupled, probably driven by similar atmospheric conditions (for example, water vapor deficit and energy demand). Limits on water availability are likely to play a […]
If we would all become vegetarians, we would have a lot more water to go around. Raising beef costs 10 times as much water as people would need if the water was used to make vegetarian food, and it can be made to taste as good or better than beef.