“Already, as many as 1 billion [people] are at risk for heat stress world-wide, and a third of the world’s population is subject to deadly heat waves at least twenty days each year” (48).

The temperature increase in 2019 measured 1.5 degrees celsius. An increase in temperature and humidity, inevitably, lead to an increased risk of dangerous heat waves. Hospitable environments are measured by a method known as wet-bulb temperature. The present maximum which is common in most locations is between 26 and 27 degrees celsius. The maximum for human life to survive is 35 degrees. As Global Climate Change progresses, and average temperatures continue to increase, then the likelihood of heat and humidity reaching these lethal levels increases. Heat waves today are fifty times more likely than they were in 1980, which means we are in trouble.

Maya Staples and Cameron Smith