<
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/society/2026/slums-bear-brunt-climate-crisis-solutions-are-emerging>
"Since moving into a public housing project in Mumbai nearly 20 years ago,
Parveen Shaikh has grown familiar with the ravages of extreme heat. She has
acquired a new vocabulary, adding terms like “low blood pressure” — which she
has learned is a consequence of blood vessels dilating to keep the body cool
and causes dizziness, vomiting and irritability. “Little kids,” she observes,
“get angry faster than they used to.”
Shaikh doesn’t remember low blood pressure being a problem when she was growing
up in poverty on the city’s sidewalks, though there were plenty of others. It
was a victory of sorts when she moved into her home as part of a government
relocation program. But as India’s seasons have become less predictable, and
its hot periods hotter, the flaws in the housing project’s construction have
become apparent.
There isn’t much space between the tenements here, and many apartments lack
natural light and ventilation. The heat, when it arrives, is inescapable, as
are its physiological consequences. On the day in late January when I met
Shaikh, summer was more than a month away, but a team of medics was already
testing people’s blood pressure in the shade of a residential block.
Heat is now a major and growing problem across the Global South. Under the
highest emissions trajectory, rising temperatures will cause an additional 6
million deaths per year by 2100, according to estimates from the University of
Chicago’s Climate Impact Lab. That’s comparable to today’s annual deaths from
infectious diseases. The vast majority of those deaths will happen in the
poorest countries, where the most vulnerable of all are those who live or work
informally — those who make their homes in slums or on the street, or who are
employed in the gig economy."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
