Earth Could Become Too Hot for Humans

[FourScore]

Earth Could Become Too Hot for Humans
livescience.com – Tue May 4, 5:40 pm ET

Earth's current warming trend could bring deadly heat for humans.

A new study that looked at reasonable worst-case scenarios for global warming found that if greenhouse gases continue to be emitted at their current rate, temperatures could become deadly in coming centuries.

Researchers calculated the highest tolerable "wet-bulb" temperature - equivalent to what is felt when wet skin is exposed to moving air - and found that this temperature could be exceeded for the first time in human history if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate and future climate models are correct. Temperatures this unbearable for humans haven't been seen during the existence of hominids - the primate family that includes ancient humans - but they did occur about 50 million years ago.

Exposure to wet-bulb temperatures above 95 degrees for six hours or more will create lethal stress levels in humans and other mammals, said study team member Matthew Huber of Purdue University's earth and atmospheric sciences.

Huber said that while areas of the world regularly see temperatures above 100 degrees, really high wet-bulb temperatures are rare because the hottest areas of the planet normally have low humidity - think Arizona's dry heat. Areas of the world such as Saudi Arabia have the highest wet-bulb temperatures near the coast where winds occasionally bring extremely hot, humid ocean air over hot land leading to unbearably stifling conditions.

"The wet-bulb limit is basically the point at which one would overheat even if they were naked in the shade, soaking wet and standing in front of a large fan," said Steven Sherwood of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Australia and the study's lead author. "Although we are very unlikely to reach such temperatures this century, they could happen in the next..."

MORE AT: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100504/sc_livescience/earthcouldbecometoohotforhumans

[dana_b]

1. so only 2-3 generations away

and what do we do? We say our cars will get 35 mpg within 6-8 years. Whoopee!

[glinda]

2. Yuppers. Totally agree with you.

[FourScore]

3. Party like it's 2099. n/t

[dana_b]

4. Great! I'll crank the heat to 105 degrees farenheit and you

turn on the shower full strength! Then we'll stand around and see who passes out first. Woo hoo!!

[Javaman]

6. Hollow earth people will become a reality.

Morlocks and the Eloy. Which will be which?

[alfredo]

8. We won't be able to count on republicans or conservatives

to help if this study is correct: http://tinyurl.com/2akj6f8
Or: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18860-republicans-wont-be-nudged-into-cutting-home-energy.html

[dana_b]

16. stubborn jackasses!!

This was interesting though:
"It is not clear what that nudge would be, however. It could be a focus on the financial savings that come with reduced electricity use, suggests Costa. Or it could be a pitch that equated less energy use with increased self-sufficiency, says Robert Gifford at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada."

So with them it's not the environmental impact, it's the amount of $$ they can save or their sense of increased self reliance. Fine. Push it to them that way then. Sigh...

[alfredo]

17. Whatever works, but look for Beck and the others to side

with the energy companies.

[JCMach1]

5. humans are resilient though- it is regularly 45-60Cent. here in the UAE Summer

plus high humidity...

And damn if you don't after a few years get used to it and also adopt odd little behaviors of dress... i.e. hanging clothes create shade and finding even the slightest sliver of shade.

[democrat_patriot]

7. Solar power. Living inside I guess.

Everyone will have a food room, where they hydroponically grow there own food.

[1955doubledie]

9. Well, we could always move to Venus

After all, there's no global warming there.

Oh, wait...

[RedCloud]

15. Cue the Under Pressure lyrics,

I am not too sure the heat will get us before the pressure gets to us first.

[KittyWampus]

10. Good. We can colonize space and screw that up too.

[defendandprotect]

11. No one has any idea how all of Global Warming may compound . . .

Polar shift being the most extreme --

NJ is already experiencing temperatures 25 degrees above normal --

It's 80 degrees here today -- and we've had 80 degrees even in April!

Let's rethink atomic weapons - Nagasaki and Hiroshima --

Nature seems to have fixed things so that you can't do physical harm to

another human being without harming yourself. I'd include any other kind

of harm, as well.

[KittyWampus]

12. That's my consolation- Nature does achieve balance somehow even if it hurts

individual level.

[pintobean]

13. "reasonable worst-case scenarios"

If they included "reasonable best-case scenarios" we could put this into context. As it is, it's pretty much meaningless.

[jxnmsdemguy65]

14. Didn't we see that during the 2003 European heat wave?

Over 37,000 Europeans died as a result of the heat wave...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave