It has been many years since heat waves have been common in our latitudes. In 2003 we had a first warning with a heat wave that basically affected all of southern Europe, causing, it is estimated, some 72,000 deaths indirectly or directly attributable to this phenomenon. But the new isas of the date on which this year it was presented the first wave, before the start of summer on the calendar.
What happened?
The answer, there is no other, is called climate change. The greenhouse effect caused mainly by the massive use of fossil fuels implies an overheating of the earth by preventing much of the solar radiation from being returned to space. This greenhouse effect translates into an increase in average temperatures, hot days becoming more and more abundant, and the lengthening of the summer weather seasons, among many other meteorological disorders with a strong impact on our ecosystem.
If the earth heats up and, especially, in summer, the entire ecosystem heats up. And so are we.
Human beings need a core temperature in our body around 36.5º-37ºC. To maintain this temperature we have a set of thermoregulation mechanisms. Responding to heat we can bring blood from inside the body under the skin, through vasodilation, to cool it, and we can sweat to cause its evaporation and thus lower our body temperature. But in certain circumstances, when the ambient heat is very extreme and due to factors in our body, such as certain chronic diseases or age, thermoregulation can fail and stress the functioning of our body.
For each degree that the ambient temperature increases, mortality increases by 3.3%. In Catalonia there are, on average, about 300 deaths attributable to heat. More than the cold. And projections tell us that by 2050 this mortality will be multiplied by eight, that is, about 2,500 annual deaths due to high temperatures.
heat stroke, the most dangerous manifestation of exposure to extreme environmental heat, is relatively rare, but most heat-related health effects are related to dehydration or exacerbations and complications of chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular, respiratory, central nervous system and psychic. For the elderly and infants and children under 4 years of age, this is an especially important risk. Inequalities are a very important risk factor. Less purchasing power is usually related to worse housing conditions such as poor thermal insulation or the lack of cooling elements. Energy prices also don’t help to run temperature conditioners, fans and the like. Let’s add the urban factor of the heat island. It is the hot face of energy poverty.
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We have two strategies to address the climate crisis: mitigation It consists of the action and effect of moderating, appeasing, reducing or softening greenhouse gas emissions. It is a more global approach and more difficult to achieve. The adaptation tries to limit impacts, reduce vulnerabilities and increase the resilience of our ecosystem, including humans. In addition to giving hygienic-sanitary advice, achieving a good thermal isolation of the dwellings, guarantee some adequate energy prices, favor a good air conditioning in homes, especially those where people at risk live, establish thermal shelters in public spaces such as libraries and other facilities, provide schools with good air conditioning either improve urban design of our cities by increasing the green dough These are actions that can be carried out locally, achieving immediate and palpable results. And this can be done and must be done.
Sometimes we have compared the dangers of climate change with that frog that, placed in a bowl of boiling water, jumps immediately, but if it is placed in warm water and, little by little, the temperature rises, it ends up boiling without realizing it. The water is heating up fast. And never better said.