Surviving a future of extreme heat

Unprecedentedly higher temperatures are survivable, but not unless we prepare for them.

Although nearly all heat-related deaths are preventable, heatwaves kill thousands of people worldwide every year. At this very moment, an extreme heatwave in India and Pakistan, affecting about one billion people, is “testing the limits of human survivability,” warns Chandni Singh, a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report . In April, the average maximum temperature for northwest and central India was the highest in 122 years.