Two elderly woman sharing an umbrella under the hot weather in Singapore. (Photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)
Temperatures are soaring and heat records are being broken across the globe. What can countries and people do to beat the heat, aside from switching to air-conditioning? Two chief heat officers for the Australian city of Melbourne give their take on The Climate Conversations podcast.
Two elderly woman sharing an umbrella under the hot weather in Singapore. (Photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)
SINGAPORE: In April, the mercury registered a scorching 45 degrees Celsius in Thailand, while Vietnam and Laos recorded their hottest temperatures in May.
Southeast Asia’s April-May heat wave this year has been called a “once in 200 years” event by climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution.
Worse still, the El Nino phenomenon – the warming of the Pacific Ocean surface – is expected to make a return to Singapore this year. The Meteorological Service Singapore forecast a 70 per cent to 80 per cent chance of an El Nino event occurring this year, setting the stage for an even hotter year ahead.
All of this could spell trouble for economies, as scientists warn that extreme heat can cause illness, and even death, especially in vulnerable communities.
To tackle the sweltering heat, governments and companies around the world are looking for new ways to mitigate the impact of extreme temperatures.
The Climate Conversations podcast has been covering stories on how people around the world cope with the rising temperatures. Here are some solutions that were discussed:
Melbourne’s two chief heat officers, Tiffany Crawford and Krista Milne, have a unique work goal: Find solutions to help the city’s over 5 million urban residents survive the brutal summers.
Temperatures during Melbourne’s summers can often rise to blistering levels of over 35 degrees Celsius, threatening the well-being of its residents.
“Cities by their nature can be much hotter than regional environments ... and the urban heat island effect in Melbourne can be up to four to eight degrees hotter than our surrounding regional areas,” said Ms Milne.
Urban heat islands occur when cities replace natural cover with concrete pavements, buildings and surfaces that absorb and retain heat.
Melbourne is also planning to build more water fountains, misters and other recreational water features to cool the city. Outdoor water play areas will be one of key features in city planning for children during the day.
By integrating water into the city’s landscape, Ms Crawford said she hopes it will turn the city into a place of cool respite.
“(We’re) bringing water to people’s attention as an opportunity to cool. So that doesn’t just mean going and jumping into the swimming pool because not everybody’s going to have access to places like that,” she said.
But when the sun sets and temperatures remain high, some residents without air-conditioning are forced out of their homes, either in the stairwells of their homes or even under trees, said Ms Milne.
To help them cope, community groups have opened air-conditioned rooms overnight. The chief heat officers and their team have also been hitting the streets, distributing cooling kits and conducting seminars to help the public understand how to better prepare for the heat.
Beyond green walls and shaded spots, air-conditioning remains a popular way of bring indoor temperatures down but powering all that cool air also requires burning burns more fossil fuels.
“It's a chicken-and-egg thing,” said Associate Professor Gregory Clancey, a researcher studying urban heat in Asia.
To solve this air-conditioning paradox, architects are turning to cooling solutions used in the past.
“More than 1,000 years ago in Cairo, they invented things called windcatchers, which are still now coming back in the Middle East,” said the National University of Singapore professor.
A windcatcher is a chimney-like structure made of clay, wood, or bricks, constructed on the rooftop of houses, mosques, or storage rooms to harness the cool breeze and direct it downwards towards the interior space.
“Architects are more and more looking at those historic non-mechanical ways … which we relied upon exclusively for centuries (to keep cool),” said the historian.
Beyond building design, Assoc Prof Clancey noted that another solution is to switch to furniture made from materials that can cool temperatures such as rattan.
In Southeast Asia, rattan is traditionally woven to make wicker weave furniture like chairs, tables and even baskets.
“Rattan furniture, (is) meant to cool bodies off because it has little air holes all over it,” said Assoc Prof Clancey.
Although plush-cushioned chairs are more comfortable and common these days, he believes rattan furniture should make a comeback.
“We can find little clues in the past about things that we've abandoned, which were very common before air conditioning, but the past isn't a perfect guide to the future, because what we're experiencing now is unprecedented.”
“We always used to say to ourselves, how did people endure heat in the past? Of course, it was hot in the past, and they didn't have air-conditioning. But it's hotter now,” said Assoc Prof Clancey.
The Climate Conversations is a podcast discussing sustainability and climate issues. It is available on all major podcast platforms.