The First Street Foundation has produced a model which predicts that the emerging “Extreme Heat Belt” will impact over 107 million Americans by 2053. They have released a peer-reviewed extreme heat research which found that in 50 counties in America, home to 8.1 million residents, those residents are expected to experience temperatures above 125°F next year.
Perhaps it might come as a shock to some people that they predict that by 2053, 1,023 counties are expected to exceed this temperature, an area that is home to 107.6 million Americans and which covers a quarter of America’s land area. This emerging area is concentrated in a region that the Foundation calls the “Extreme Heat Belt”. It stretches from the northern Texas and Louisiana borders to Illinois, Indiana and even to Wisconsin.
They say that it will be inevitable that this happens and America needs to be prepared for it. I also say that “the results will be dire”.
They also state that most of the country will see more days with a heat index above 100°F by 2053. And in the states of Texas, Florida and Louisiana they can expect well over 100 days each year with temperatures at or above 100°F.
In the south they will see longer periods of consecutive days at these temperatures. Some places might have two consecutive straight months of this kind of weather.
In Dallas, Fort Worth temperatures at or above 100°F persisted for 21 straight days between mid-July and early August according to the National Weather Service.
Climate Action Tracker, an Independent Analysis of Global Policy, state that the world is on track to reach 2.7°C of warming by the end of the century.
In the UK we had a record high temperature of 40.3°C last month. That’s an all-time record and the previous record was 38.7°C. In the south of England there has been the drought for about two months and it was officially declared on Monday. Rivers are running dry. The Loire in France has dried up along certain parts of its route. In Germany the Rhine has dried up to a depth of 40 cm preventing ships carrying cargo. This negatively impacts their economy at a time when they are struggling with no gas from Russia.
In the UK the source of the Thames River has dried up and it has moved forward.
I don’t need to spell out what this means in terms of the relationship between human and domestic cat. Or the relationship between human and all animals including wild animals. It’s going to be devastating to wildlife including the wild cats of America such as the puma.
It means more air-conditioning in America to make homes viable which in turn is going to create more carbon dioxide and the carbon dioxide footprint will be higher which in turn will worsen global warming. The US already has by far the highest carbon footprint per capita. The point is that if people are severely affected by climate change as described above then so are their cat companions. Cats live the human world. If the human world is messed up, the life of domestic cat is also messed up. You can start forgetting about the finer points of cat behavior and the human-to-cat relationship as we’ll be up a creek without a paddle.
I am one of those people who believes in global warming. It is remarkable that many people still don’t believe in it despite widespread scientific agreement that it exists (nearly 100%).
Racehorse develops nosebleed (epistaxis) on scorching day at Ascot
The number of Americans who believe global warming isn’t happening is still quite substantial. Three quarters of Americans say that human activity contributes to climate change. This means that 25% don’t believe in climate change caused by human activity. The concept of climate change is entirely linked to human activity.
On this page there is a link to a video of a horse that collapsed in New York City from exhaustion in the middle of the road. The police tried to cool the horse down with water. After an hour they were able to get the horse onto its feet. It occurred during a heat wave that has gripped the city.
Similar instances of horses pulling carriages in Europe have occurred when they’ve simply collapsed and super high temperatures.
Horse collapses while pulling tourist carriage in Majorca in 40°C heat
Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.
Obviously, things are getting warmer. A couple of years ago we even had the first wildfire in memory in Olympic National Park, where rainfall is usually over 80 inches a year, our temperate “rainforest”. I think we’re making a mistake to solely depend on lowering carbon. If China fails to do their part, all is for nought. We should also be deepening the reservoirs, raising the seawalls, and trying to adapt. There are big environmental costs to trying to generate all the electric power that will be required. Producing enough rare earths will cause pollution disaster areas. It won’t be as easy as the “mainstream” media are telling us.
Yes, it is hard to be motivated if China and India do almost nothing. But what was that saying of Gandhi?
“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
And I agree that a more holistic approach is required.
In looking at the extreme heat belt map of the U.S., one might think the Rocky Mountain West is a refuge from the impacts of climate change. It isn’t. Climate change has resulted in warmer temperatures and drought throughout the western regions of the U.S., contributing to devastating fires. Here, the impact to wildlife and pets is very real. On December 30th of last year (which is SUPPOSED to be the dead of winter with practically no fire risk), the Marshall fire rapidly tore through Boulder County, Colorado, devouring over 6000 acres. Because of high winds and dry conditions, the fire’s spread was extremely rapid, so many residents did not have the chance to return home to rescue their pets. The fire claimed an estimated 1084 structures, 2 human lives, and the lives of multiple animals and pets, including cats.
I wonder if climate change will result in people reconsidering having pets and farm animals. If I wasn’t able to be at or close to home most of the time, I would start having serious reservations about having pets.
Agree with all you say. In the very long term, it will be harder to have pets and there will be less one day. Humankind will be too busy trying to survive in a world made impossibly hostile by human folly. I will be dead by then thank God.