The two-day shutdown comes at a time of record-breaking extreme heat across the globe, with July poised to be the hottest month in history.
Precedented
What do they mean “poised to be?” Its august 2nd.
While that is hot, it ain’t newsworthy hot. In Texas it’s considered normal summer weather. Helps to have A/C.
Many Iranian cities and towns have suffered from temperatures above 40°C /104°F in recent days, while the oil-rich southwestern city of Ahvaz hit 50°C/122°F on Tuesday.
- OP article
Here in Texas, the month saw several cities shatter heat records, with some parts of the state seeing sustained temperatures over 37°C/98.6°F for days on end.
- Thirsty and exhausted, Texans feel the heat - BBC posted 1 day ago
It is newsworthy hot in both places. The difference is, Iranians are getting some relief from their government instead of having their water breaks rescinded.
Texas is especially atrocious.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/us/texas-prisons-heat.html
The department operates 98 facilities, of which 31 are fully air-conditioned and 14 have no cooling at all. The rest have air-conditioning only in certain areas. The department has been adding air-conditioning each year and now has more than 43,000 “cool beds” — about a third of those in the system — according to Ms. Hernandez. The department has discussed plans to eventually air-condition all prisons at a projected cost of more than $1 billion, but still needs the funding.
OK, so most Texas prisons are only partially air conditioned. It’s so hot that inmates feel like they’re getting cooked. Even showers don’t provide relief because the water which comes out is already warm to hot. It can’t be worse than that, right? Oh wait…
The current cost of bottled water is now $7.20 a case. Before, it was $4.80 a case. An individual bottle now costs $0.30 as opposed to $0.20.
As triple-digital heat continues, Dr. Amite Dominick with Texas Prisons Community Advocates pointed out that the price increase could not come at a worse time.
“Oftentimes, the primary breadwinner is the person who is incarcerated. So that’s an additional financial strain, and then they are forced to purchase things like water,” Dominick said.
The TDCJ pointed out that inmates still have access to non-bottled water at their units for free, but Dominick said many Texas prisons are old with outdated pipes.
“The tap water is filthy. It’s simply filthy,” Watson said.
I considered touching on that, but the user’s post history led me to conclude prisoners are not people they would choose to empathise with.
The situation for humans of all kinds is dire in the States, and prisoners are definitely exposed to some of the worst of it. How convenient for the rich that they are unlikely to experience the same consequences of crime as the poor.
Oh no doubt there, fuck Texas. I thought Texas would be hotter, actually. I’m in CA and we’re looking at 107 this weekend with some low 100s before and after, which isn’t bad compared to the 4-5 days in July when it was north of 110. But we mandate water breaks and so forth, like the big government lovers we are. Again, I’d imagine the availability of AC plays a role, 100+ where I am is mostly fine, but 90 in the bay area where a lot of home don’t have AC is a rougher.
Gross. What’s the night time temps for you like? And is it humid 100s or dry 100s usually in CA?
I sleep with a giant fan pointed at me in summer in Australia, but the A/C I have is way too power hungry to leave on overnight. My last apartment had no A/C, terrible insulation and would regularly get no cooler than 27°C/80°F at night in peak summer, it was awful.
Texas is definitely hotter than that. I’m in Central texas, terrible drought right now and we’ve been seeing consistent 104f days for weeks. I think we had a few days that were 98f but it’s been hotter than normal, even if just by a few degrees. My car always registers as 110f or above while driving. It’s crazy.
High humidity will keep air temperatures low. If you want to compare cities in different biomes, it would be better to look at heat index values. I’m showing Ahvaz at 10% relative humidity right now, so the air temperature will be close to the heat index. In Houston, the air temperature can be 100, but with 50-60% humidity factored in, the heat index could top 122.
I struggle to find much difference between 42°C dry vs 35°C wet in terms of personal coping ability, for sure. Dry heat would always be my preference.
I think it’s worth noting as well that in the article it lists 42°C as the temperature humans start to have things go wrong with their bodies. Both Texas and Iran are dangerously close to semi-regular 42°C, no matter the humidity. We’re going to see lots of blue-collar workers forced into retirement, or worse, around the world pretty soon.
You think that’s hot, you should see the center of the sun! Now that’s hot!
I was kind of surprised, where I am those are pretty normal temperatures, not for weeks on end but it can hit like that for a few days in a row. We’re expecting higher temperatures this weekend.
Many Iranian cities and towns have suffered from temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days, while the oil-rich southwestern city of Ahvaz hit 50 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. [122F]
The capital city of Tehran experienced temperatures of 39 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
I just checked and their nightly lows are in the high 80sF so that sucks for sure. That 122F high is bonkers though, that’s pushing death valley territory. But overall it’s not worse than Arizona has been going through for like more than a month, highs above 110 and lows in the 90s. Greece’s heatwave seems like it is about on par to what Iran is going through, and I don’t remember hearing about them shutting down the country, just limiting outdoor work and deliveries during peak heat hours.
But like you said, A/C might be a difference maker. I don’t know what Iran’s climate control availability is like, and this article didn’t say.
This is a climate catastrophe! If you still drive a petrol car, you are the problem! Those poor Iranians…
Stop putting the blame on the individual when corporations easily account for over 70% of global emissions and pollution. My gas powered car isn’t gonna change shit.
Your gas guzzler was manufactured by a big corporation. You chose to buy it and keep polluting with it.
I shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for living my life in this hellscape that were forced to live in. I’m not going to inconvenience myself and make own life harder while the elite fly around in private jets and are more wasteful in a day than I could ever be in my entire life. I care about the environment and want things to change, but I’m not the problem. And if you are trying to make the common person bare the guilt for climate change, you’re part of the problem. I do what I can when I can. But to inconvenience myself or spend more of what little money I have to make a negligible difference compared to what a corporation or a single billionaire could do is not gonna happen. Simple as that.
Okay are you going to buy me an electric car then?
The thing about being a radical is that you actually have to do something, not just spout bullshit online.
This isn’t a matter of individual, personal responsibility. The change necessary needs to happen at the government level.
Unbelievable. The data is right in front of you. Not hard to analyze. You don’t need to process high temperatures!
Those poor Iranians
I suggest you try to analyse the data. Iranians have a very high energy usage per capita - at least as high as any EU country and probably higher. The country is a major oil and gas producer, and the population is accustomed to cheap petrol prices due to heavy subsidisation by the government. You won’t find many Iranians opting to use public transport for the good of the environment. Like Americans, they would rather sit in their own air-conditioned vehicles in interminable traffic jams.
Big yikes. As long as the grid that you plug your EVs into is based off of fossil fuels, you’re not solving anything.
My grid is based off of wind. Yours could be too. Demand it, importantly demand the laws that allow it be built . Many areas have outlawed them, or may as well because of all the red tape. They are standard these days and so permits should be shall issue in request for a standard design.
Good point, I’ll just commute 2 hours both ways by bike then. Thanks for your contribution. /s
Yes, thank you for doing your part. Stick to bike paths when available. As another user pointed out, cars also contribute to local air pollution with brake dust and microplastics from the four big tires.
/s means sarcasm. I’m not going to abandon my life by commuting 4 hours a day. And I don’t have any money to buy a new car
I’m not going to have kids so I feel like I can drive whatever because my carbon footprint ends with me. I’m also fairly fatalistic about climate change. Humans are too stupid to stop it and when enough of us die the problem will solve itself.
The main culprits are the big oil companies. They made the carbon footprint term to make us feel guilty and shift the blame from the biggest polluters.
Yep! And I bet it’ll turn out in a few decades that it will come out they were also behind the Doomerism we’re seeing a lot of on social media these days. “Well it’s too late so why try?” Is much more comfortable than “We have to sacrifice a lot of comfort, but if we all try really hard we can do it.”
Weird thought, you ever think oil executives have nightmares about a global collective wanting to bring them to the guillotine?
The main culprit is likely the US military, except that they don’t allow themselves to be monitored.
Indeed they corrupted the narrative to avoid blame, to maintain profits.
But who are they selling the oil to? Us.
We are all sinners in this
I don’t get the fatalist viewpoint. Yeah, a lot of people are actively resisting change for one reason or another. But at the same time, there has been progress towards the necessary goals. Civilization will end up worse off than without climate change, but we’re not going to be thrown back into the Stone Age or anything.
Most pollution from cars comes from the tires, not the gas burning. If you drive any car at all, you’re the problem
Citation needed… tires are a problem, but gasoline is farm worse pollution overall. Unless you cherry pick pollutant.
I believe most of the microplastics that are in everything we consume come from car tires. So probably less a climate change problem, but still an issue.
