Yesterday’s news reported that at least one man was killed in a conflict over water in India this week.
Above, glacier experts Lonnie Thompson and Konrad Steffen note that a huge human population in Asia is dependent on major river runoff from the Himalayan Glaciers, which are declining due to climate warming.
Worth remembering that these societies have historically been at war with each other, are developing rapidly, and are nuclear armed.
A man has died during a fight over water in southern India as the country continues to be gripped by a 50C heatwave.
The 33 year old was allegedly beaten to death after confronting a man and his sons as they were reportedly drawing large amounts of water from a public tap in the city of Thanjavur, in Tamil Nadu, police said on Friday.
Police named the victim as D Anand Babu, from the village of Vilar, near Thanjavur, The Times of India reports.
According to police, a 48-year-old man and his three sons were filling plastic barrels with water from a tap connected to a nearby tank on Wednesday when Mr Babu spotted them.
The victim is said to have got into an altercation with the group after asking whether they should be collecting such a high volume given the lack of water in the area.
He was taken to hospital but died the following day, The Times of India reported.
–Scorching temperatures and water shortages have caused “heavy casualties, including dozens of deaths by sunstroke and other heat-related causes”, according to The Weather Channel.
Indian media said last Friday that 17 people had died in three weeks.
These temperatures are difficult to endure, without air conditioning, especially for older people. .
“Shortly after we left Agra, the heat became unbearable and some people started complaining of breathing problems and uneasiness.”
https://news.yahoo.com/four-passengers-die-unbearable-heat-indian-train-111832449.html
India has a history of suffering during heatwaves – but in the last few years it is intensifying, especially in the pre-monsoon period. To many scientific papers of yesterday becoming reality today.
“The country is witnessing its worst-ever heat wave, with four cities in north India on a record high. Starting with national capital Delhi, Churu in Rajasthan and Banda and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh have witnessed temperatures of 48 degrees Celsius and above.
Churu has crossed 50 degrees twice in the last week — a whopping 8 degrees above its normal temperature at this time of the year.”
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/with-record-temperature-in-4-cities-this-is-the-worst-heatwave-ever-2051565
Welcome to our “Climate Emergency.
From the “Global Citizen” July 28th 2018.
“Climate Change May Soon Make Parts of India Uninhabitable
Extreme heat and humidity impacts the health and well-being of millions in South Asia.”
From BBC – 10th June 2019
‘”There is no water. Why should people stay here?'”
The cruel summer has sucked the life out of Hatkarwadi. The earth is brown and cracked. Cotton and millet farms have withered away. Only two of the 35 wells have some water left. There are a dozen borewells, but the fast receding water table is forcing farmers to drill deep – up to 650ft – to extract water.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48552199
From Washington Post – June 11 at 3:14 PM
Planet is entering ‘new climate regime’ with ‘extraordinary’ heat waves intensified by global warming, study says
A study published this week in the journal Earth’s Future concludes that this heat wave epidemic “would not have occurred without human-induced climate change.”
The alarming part? There are signs record-setting heat waves are beginning anew this summer — signaling, perhaps, that these exceptional and widespread heat spells are now the norm.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/06/11/climate-change-intensified-last-summers-northern-hemisphere-heat-wave-it-may-be-starting-all-over-again/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.507115da943f
How do you hug a climate scientist? Follow these simple rules and don’t make it weird
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/12/how-do-you-hug-a-climate-scientist-follow-these-simple-rules-and-dont-make-it-weird