DR C JAMES HOSPEDALES
'AH FIND it making real hot these days, boy/girl,' and 'Even de nights hot, oui, de children cyah sleep good' are common refrains in recent weeks as TT and the rest of the world experiences record high temperatures.
Whether you call it global warming, global heating, or global boiling, there is no doubt that human-caused climate change is advancing with multiple impacts on people and the planet. Some call it "global weirding" because the weather patterns are so strange and unpredictable.
Climate change is caused by the excessive build-up of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. Ninety per cent of that excess heat is stored in the oceans, so we not only have heatwaves on land, but ocean heatwaves which bleach coral reefs and kill marine life on a huge scale.
As a petro-state, this means that TT is part of the problem, as Prime Minister Rowley said when he returned from Glasgow in November 2021, having attended the Conference of the Parties on climate change; but that is another story.
God is not a Trini. The record heat we are experiencing, the devastating floods in many parts of the country earlier in the year, our eroding coastlines are all signs and symptoms that TT is being affected by climate change as part of a sick planet. More of this can be expected so people need to adapt.
The floods and droughts are not only occurring here but in the bread baskets of the world. The risk of global food shortages and markedly increased prices is very high if North America, Europe, China are simultaneously affected by drought/floods, for example. So, one of my first messages is to plant much food locally, plant #trees4food wherever you can. More on that another time.
With respect to the heat, recently I helped my brother and niece do some work for a few hours outdoors in the sun at their house in Diego Martin. I felt like I was going to die, despite drinking lots of water! The sweat was streaming off my body, and I started to feel bad. I had to stop and take a break and get into the shade.
I checked and saw the temperature was 33 Celsius - in the shade. In addition, the humidity was 85 per cent. When I looked up this combination of heat and humidity, that makes for a heat index of 510 C or 1240 Fahrenheit. I noted that various authorities listed a heat index of 510 C as a dangerous level for prolonged exposure.
A hot day can feel more uncomfortable when the humidity is high. It's that sticky, suffocating feeling when there is excess moisture in the air. This makes you feel hotter because your body is unable to cool itself properly by sweating, which is why I had been sweating profusely in the situation mentioned above.
Heat index is a measurement of how hot it really feels outside. The heat index formula includes the air temperature and relative humidity. I remember once visiting a desert in California and the temperature was 430 C or 1100 F by mid-morning, but it did not feel unbearable as t
