Is It Me or Is It Feeling Too Hot Hot Hot?

Just when everyone thought brat summer was over and pumpkin spice lattes were just around the corner, intense heat waves have persisted across the U.S., from the South to the North. Besides obvious direct impacts that major heat waves bring, like heat strokes, high temperatures have also impacted cities by exposing sensitive power grids and causing other infrastructure-related issues, like metro and Amtrak delays. And when temperatures go up, energy demand goes up. In order to beat the heat, people blast their air conditioners, which further strains power grids, something which was not foreseen when most of this infrastructure was built. Maybe it’s time to lay off the a/c and take a history lesson from the beautiful architecture around Southern Cities.

Another consequence of the high temperatures and climate change are wildfires. Wildfires have been in the news for months now - and asking for rain to calm down these fires isn’t even a viable option anymore—just ask Ruidoso, NM. Places known to be wetter than others have started to dry out as a consequence of climate change, which puts them at risk for uncharacteristic wildfires. In Brazil, the world’s largest wetland – The Pantanal – is on fire. The Pantanal spans over 68,000 miles, about 20 times the size of the Everglades, stretching across Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia. It’s home to more than 4,700 plant and animal species, making it one of the most biologically rich-environments on Earth. So, what happened? Lack of rain. A study by the World Weather Attribution argues that the hot, dry and windy weather conditions we’re seeing are a consequence of human-induced climate change, making this June the worst one on record. The fires in the Pantanal that started early in June have escalated to an area around the size of New Jersey and are expected to last until October, when the rainy season begins in the area. To make matters worse, the Brazilian government is planning a navigation project along nearly 500 miles of the Paraguay River into the Hidrovia Paraguay-Parana waterway. A paper published by forty scientists warn that the navigation development, the expansion of industrial farming, and climate change threaten the wetland ecosystem, expressing that the dredging that will be used for the project will reduce the floodplain and shrink the wetland area, which would result in severe degradation and increased fire risk.

The consequences of the fires in the Pantanal cannot be quantified until they stop. But just up north, a new study from Nature found that last year’s wildfires in Canada produced more carbon emissions than every country except for the United States, China, and India. Wildfires aren’t abnormal, but what is shocking is the fact that these forests aren’t regrowing at the pace they’re supposed to. This is especially unsettling because typically, Canada’s forests absorb more CO2 than they release. So, what does this mean? Well, it sure gives scientists and researchers a lot to study in the coming years.

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