Heat truly is the silent killer. While I fully expect one large and very public event of wet-bulb temperature exceedance leading to mass casualties within this decade, lethal levels of heat quietly collect bodies in the meantime.

300 Muslim pilgrims just died in 49C/120F temperatures doing their lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj) which this year coincides with the hottest season. The story is barely registering in the news. See https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/19/middleeast/hajj-deaths-mecca-extreme-heat-intl-latam/index.html

Then, people are dying one by one in isolated incidents, and heatstrokes are being suspected as the common denominator. See https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/19/climate/extreme-heat-brain-greece-tourists/index.html

If this is happening to humans, despite their superior ability (in principle) to predict and shelter from the heat, imagine the silent consequences to the fauna and flora that can't escape.

I missed an opportunity to quote cast @greg

I like baking and building apps on web3 protocols. DevRel @ ENS Labs. gregskril.com

I missed an opportunity to quote cast @greg 

https://warpcast.com/greg/0xc3eb5d05

Update: the BBC now reports that the Hajj death toll count be in the four figures, not three figures.

We're well into the sixth mass extinction event, with global warming one of the causal factors (others include loss/fragmentation & degradation/pollution of natural habitat, overfishing/overhunting, & invasive species).

There are two facets to extinction: a reduction in the number of living organisms overall (loss of abundance & food chain breakdowns), and the complete disappearance of some species.

The abundance of monitored wildlife has already declined 69% from 1970 to 2018 (WWF, https://shorturl.at/GE71r), and up to 94% in LATAM. Anecdotally, people report virtually no insects anymore on their windshields compared to 40 years ago. That's the start of the food chain.

As for species, they are disappearing 10–1,000x faster than the normal background rate of extinction (https://doi.org/f86ckd). Globally, 1.2M fauna and flora species are under threat of extinction, many before the year 2100.

We already know that the 1.5C warming target from the Paris agreement won't hold. The rest is uncharted territory.

Take a seat, let’s be frens 🤝
I’m old.  This is me, uncensured. 
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How long do you think we have before life actually becomes unsustainable and we face mass extinction from overheat?

Where I live is actually making about 42 celsius and it's still fresh compared to other parts of the world. Rio sensation can reach over 50 celsius.

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I had that study somewhere (will need to dig it up) but we lose up to 10% of our cognitive capabilities under hot conditions.

The brain needs a lot of energy and the body is unable to deliver it when it’s hot — our hypothalamus is working overtime to regulate our internal temperature through sweating and vasodilation

Damn, that’s terrible.

I was listening to a podcast recently where they were talking about how heat makes people use shorter words. The implication being that our brain function is reduced when it’s hot. It also makes us more brash and irritable.

Wild to think about the downstream effects from that.

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Thanks. I'm always torn before posting these. Does FC want to see this at all? Or would people rather limit their feed to funny memes, feet pics, and light-hearted discussions about magic internet money.

Doomsday casts might be a net negative if they just ruin people's mood and mental health without triggering meaningful action

One of the worst stories I’ve ever heard but thank you for sharing

Founder /kiwi-news, a decentralized Hacker News

Unfortunate context aside, did you enjoy it? I have it sitting unread on my bookshelf (tsundoku hitting hard)

I read the Ministry of the Future while being stuck with no electricity in Sicily during an unprecedented heat wave. Not a good vibe

between this and the crowd crush events hajj must be up there for deadliest public event

not the leaderboard you want to place on

Unfortunately until it happens in western countries it won't bother most of the people. And even then there will be people saying "that's how the world has been for millenia, it's not our fault, look there was a heatwave once 40 years ago, it's normal, are cycles... Etc". Every imaginable excuse for not acting and just keep ignoring the issue.

This is wild. Dumbfounding that is this the first time I’m hearing about it.

This is so true, climate change is slightly killing the planet

Some flowers i used to see every year in the park in front of my house dont grow anymore..

Very likely cause of the heat..

Thank you for writing and posting here. I miss more meaningful content, such as this.