Always Cruel Summer
Image: BBC
50 degrees Celsius is the new living temperature for many parts of the world including Kuwait, Mexico, India, and Australia. The BBC Life at 50 Degrees series tells the story of people living in places where their daily living temperatures have noticeably increased in their lifetimes. Deserts growing. Rivers drying. Inside home temperatures rising. BBC cameras malfunctioning while filming due to high heat. Although more about angsty emotional states, the 1984 song “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama describes this dire physical state: “too close for comfort, this heat has got right out of hand...too hot to handle, so I got to get up and go”. This sadly reflects the coined term ‘Climate Migrant’: someone forced to migrate due to climate change in their homeland. Debates about ‘Digital Natives’ and ‘Digital Immigrants’ seem trivial compared to the growing climate migrant population. Time to shift attention from silicon to carbon.
Source: BBC, Dry River in Mexico
Source: BBC, Trees in Kuwait
Source: BBC, White Painted Roof In India
It is inspiring to see practical solutions getting results in the BBC series, in particular the forest restoration efforts and application of white paint to rooftops to deflect heat. The former Reddit CEO shifted from silicon to carbon in starting Terraformation for forest restoration; check out an interview in this My Climate Journey podcast. Mahila Housing Trust and other non-profit organizations are pushing into neighborhoods in urgent need. Eliminating more cruel summers using the world’s whitest paint on more rooftops sounds bananatastic.