In this episode of Getting Warmer, Kal Penn explores both old and new technologies being employed to help people endure rising temperatures.
(Bloomberg) — The world is getting hotter as every year passes. Rising incomes across the Global South and elsewhere mean more people can afford—and are understandably demanding—air conditioning. One problem with that though is A/C sends large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, perpetuating the cycle of warming.
Making the situation even worse is that in the coming decades temperatures will rise so high that some regions will become unlivable—including a few states in the middle of the US. Faced with this future, how then will humans stay cool?
In the sixth episode of Getting Warmer With Kal Penn, Penn explains how extreme heat affects our bodies, what “wet bulb temperature” means and how both new and old technology is being leveraged to keep humans cool without exacerbating the climate crisis. In Spain and India, Penn explores two innovative takes on a simple hypothesis: that we can mimic how our planet cools itself. In Madrid, the century-old practice of painting roofs to cool buildings is applied with surprising results at the world’s second-biggest fish market. In Kolar, the method receives a modern twist when radiative cooling panels are applied to the carts of vendors who sell fresh produce in blistering heat.
In a guest segment, climate storyteller Jack Harries explores a Rwandan initiative to reinvent “cold chains,” the chain that keeps food unspoiled in transit. A lack of refrigeration leads to huge amounts of food waste every year, yet the ecological cost of refrigerants accounts for more than 7% of global emissions–just 1% less than food waste. Can we solve this double-bind with one solution?
See previous episodes of Getting Warmer With Kal Penn here.
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