Global Warming Will Annually Affect 1.2 Billion People By 2100

Global warming is now resulting in heat stress, as extreme heat and humidity are on the rise. As a result of greenhouse gas emissions, many people like 1.2 billion will lose their shelter by 2100. A recent study by Rutgers suggests.  

The number of people who will be affected is four times higher than that of the affected people of the present time. If we consider the people got harmed without industrial-era global warming, the number would be 12 times higher.

The Environmental Research Letters journal publishes this report.

Heat stress is the ultimate result of global warming, and it is threatening human health, the economy, agriculture, and the environment. Although heat extreme is a source of measuring heat stress that many scientists focus on, they do otherwise to humidity, which is also an important fact. 

Robert E. Kopp is a senior author of the research paper and also the director of the Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. This Rutgers University-New Brunswick professor is from the Earth and Planetary Sciences department in the School of Arts and Sciences. He says, "When we look at the risks of a warmer planet, we need to pay particular attention to combined extremes of heat and humidity, which are especially dangerous to human health."

On this issue, Dawei Li, a lead author, and a former Rutgers post-doctoral associate, says, "Every bit of global warming makes hot, humid days more frequent and intense. In New York City, for example, the hottest, most humid day in a typical year already occurs about 11 times more frequently than it would have in the 19th century." He is currently working at the University of Massachusetts.

Our bodies do not cool down properly by sweating, and it is increasing heat stress. Now often, we see body temperature rising very rapidly, and this can cause to damage our brains and vital organs within our body. The consequences of heat stress in our bodies are heat rash, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and the most serious one is heatstroke. Heatstroke is notorious for causing disability permanently if emergency treatment is not on time and even can be deadly. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms this.

How heat and humidity extremes increase global warming combinedly? To find this answer, the experts used 40 climate simulations and enlisted them to complete statistics. They focused on humidity, temperature, environmental factors so that they can measure heat stress. Besides, they emphasized solar and infrared radiation, wind speed, and sun angle. 

The current trend of global warming due to excessive heat and humidity extreme will affect nearly 500 million people worldwide if the Earth's temperature rises 1.5 degrees Celsius, and it will affect 800 million people if the temperature increases 2 degrees Celcius. In comparison to the heat of the 19th century, the Earth has warmed by 1.2 degrees. 

This current global warming seems to continue the same way as it is going on right now, and by the end of this century, there will be a rise of 3 degrees Celcius. This temperature will affect 1.2 billion people.

If we consider the worst day of a typical year occurring in New York City with current global warming because of extreme heat and humidity, then the worst day will occur four days each year if global warming is 1.5 degrees, eight days per year if global warming is 2 degrees, and 24 days every year if global warming is 3 degrees Celcius.

Jiacan Yuan is the co-author of the study who is currently working at Fudan University in China. He was an assistant research professor of Rutger's Earth and Planetary Sciences department.