3 ms·

Have lived in several hot places (and some cold ones). You can acclimatise. 40C+ heat is harsh at first, but it's very survivable and you do get used to it. Wo

Have lived in several hot places (and some cold ones). You can acclimatise. 40C+ heat is harsh at first, but it's very survivable and you do get used to it. Worst I had was working in a furniture factory which was just a big tin shed with no A/C in a 45c+ heatwave in Australia. It was pretty brutal, I've never sweated so much in my life, but no harm done. The cold, however, is worse. Living in cold countries with no (or bad) heating is horrible, and much more dangerous. People sleep outdoors in SE Asia with no problem. People die in their homes by the thousands every winter in Europe.

defrost 3y ago
Dry bulb over 40C tempretures in dry desert parts of Australia are very very different to over 40C tempretures in pre monsoon north Queensland. When the humidty is high your sweat has no cooling effect and your body heats up to the point of collapse.
- marcus_holmes 3y ago
  I've lived in SE Asia, with hot wet 40+ temperatures. Yes, it's very uncomfortable, and AC is necessary to actually live there. But it doesn't kill like the cold does.
  - refurb 3y ago
    The very fact that large swaths of SE Asia doesn’t even have AC would suggest it’s not necessary for survival.
guraf 3y ago
> People die in their homes by the thousands every winter in Europe. I find that hard to believe. Do you have a source? Preferably one that doesn't include zone of wars.
- fy20 3y ago
  I'd imagine it's not that they literally freeze to death, but in cold humid places if you want to save money on heating you will turn down the thermostat and keep windows closed. Poor ventilation in those conditions leads to poor indoor air quality and causes mold, which causes illness.
- marcus_holmes 3y ago
  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00023-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5... tldr: 200,000+ annual excess deaths in Europe due to cold. 20,000+ due to heat. Literally 10 times as many people die from cold as from heat. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/excesswintermortalityinenglandandwales/2021to2022provisionaland2020to2021final https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde... tldr; "An estimated 13,400 more deaths occurred in the winter period (December 2021 to March 2022) compared with the average of the non-winter periods; this was the second-lowest figure since 1950 to 1951 and was affected by the larger number of deaths in the non-winter months (August 2021 to November 2021 and April 2022 to July 2022)." Is that enough sources?
msie 3y ago
Senior citizens can’t acclimatize to 40c heat. Hundreds died during the Heat Dome event in BC in 2021.
- refurb 3y ago
  You should tell that to all the senior citizens living without A/C in tropical climates where temperatures routinely hit 40C. You clearly can acclimatize.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- marcus_holmes 3y ago
  The data on the US is a lot less clean than for Europe, so this is the best I could find: https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-heat-related-deaths https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica... "Between 1979 and 2018, the death rate as a direct result of exposure to heat (underlying cause of death) generally hovered between 0.5 and 2 deaths per million people, with spikes in certain years (see Figure 1). Overall, a total of more than 11,000 Americans have died from heat-related causes since 1979, according to death certificates." (same site, different page) https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-cold-related-deaths https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica... "Between 1979 and 2016, the death rate as a direct result of exposure to cold (underlying cause of death) generally ranged from 1 to 2.5 deaths per million people, with year-to-year fluctuations (see Figure 1). Overall, a total of more than 19,000 Americans have died from cold-related causes since 1979, according to death certificates." A lot smaller difference than Europe, and there's the 1995 heatwave thing in Chicago which throws it all out of whack, but there's still more people dying from cold than heat, even in the USA.

defrost 3y ago

Dry bulb over 40C tempretures in dry desert parts of Australia are very very different to over 40C tempretures in pre monsoon north Queensland. When the humidty is high your sweat has no cooling effect and your body heats up to the point of collapse.

marcus_holmes 3y ago
I've lived in SE Asia, with hot wet 40+ temperatures. Yes, it's very uncomfortable, and AC is necessary to actually live there. But it doesn't kill like the cold does.
- refurb 3y ago
  The very fact that large swaths of SE Asia doesn’t even have AC would suggest it’s not necessary for survival.

guraf 3y ago

> People die in their homes by the thousands every winter in Europe. I find that hard to believe. Do you have a source? Preferably one that doesn't include zone of wars.

fy20 3y ago
I'd imagine it's not that they literally freeze to death, but in cold humid places if you want to save money on heating you will turn down the thermostat and keep windows closed. Poor ventilation in those conditions leads to poor indoor air quality and causes mold, which causes illness.
marcus_holmes 3y ago
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00023-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5... tldr: 200,000+ annual excess deaths in Europe due to cold. 20,000+ due to heat. Literally 10 times as many people die from cold as from heat. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/excesswintermortalityinenglandandwales/2021to2022provisionaland2020to2021final https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde... tldr; "An estimated 13,400 more deaths occurred in the winter period (December 2021 to March 2022) compared with the average of the non-winter periods; this was the second-lowest figure since 1950 to 1951 and was affected by the larger number of deaths in the non-winter months (August 2021 to November 2021 and April 2022 to July 2022)." Is that enough sources?

msie 3y ago

Senior citizens can’t acclimatize to 40c heat. Hundreds died during the Heat Dome event in BC in 2021.

refurb 3y ago
You should tell that to all the senior citizens living without A/C in tropical climates where temperatures routinely hit 40C. You clearly can acclimatize.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
marcus_holmes 3y ago
The data on the US is a lot less clean than for Europe, so this is the best I could find: https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-heat-related-deaths https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica... "Between 1979 and 2018, the death rate as a direct result of exposure to heat (underlying cause of death) generally hovered between 0.5 and 2 deaths per million people, with spikes in certain years (see Figure 1). Overall, a total of more than 11,000 Americans have died from heat-related causes since 1979, according to death certificates." (same site, different page) https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-cold-related-deaths https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica... "Between 1979 and 2016, the death rate as a direct result of exposure to cold (underlying cause of death) generally ranged from 1 to 2.5 deaths per million people, with year-to-year fluctuations (see Figure 1). Overall, a total of more than 19,000 Americans have died from cold-related causes since 1979, according to death certificates." A lot smaller difference than Europe, and there's the 1995 heatwave thing in Chicago which throws it all out of whack, but there's still more people dying from cold than heat, even in the USA.