the highest recorded wet bulb temperatures in the world occur in india, jsyk. in odisha, they’ve hit 34.6 degrees celsius. the human survivability limit is 35 degrees celsius but the body faces significant risks, potentially fatal risks, even at 30 degrees as it starts failing to cool itself, like i’m talking organ failure levels of risk. climate change isn’t coming to peak, it’s been in the global south where you can’t see it or feel it.
imagine temperatures that high and humidity as high as 75%—you make more heat than you can ever cool. your sweat cannot evaporate fast enough. you literally boil alive. heat deaths in india are underreported and they already hit the thousands. there is no plan, for a nation of almost 2 billion people. no plan. nothing.
man, i’m sorry—this breaks my heart. i went to odisha during one of the trips home to india to visit my mom’s family and it is one of the most remarkable and deeply wondrous places that i have ever seen. i wish that was how i could speak about it all the time. it’s a place that eternalizes human creativity and devotion towards the sublime. i wish anybody cared about india as much as it deserves to be cared for, starting with care from our own government.
