Life at 50ºC

The hottest day ever recorded in the city basin. 49 degrees. The number of days above 50 degrees has doubled since the 1980s. Thank you for letting us pass. It’s hot outside and you’re sitting in the AC. I think it was around 56 this year, but it feels like 60. The last seven years have been the hottest ever recorded globally.

I was actually eight months pregnant the day of the fire. This year, BBC teams filmed around the world. We are digging 35 feet and we’re afraid. There’s an injustice around climate change. Poorer people will be affected more than the rich people. We wanted to show how extreme heat is changing people’s lives. And the irony is, it’s the rich people who are doing the most polluting.

We are being told to brace for catastrophic conditions. Temperatures will climb well into the forties in the coming days, making conditions even worse on our fire grounds. Although half the sky was full of smoke, it was quite interesting and exciting. Had I never seen that in my own eyes before, I reckon since I first went out, that’s just gotten redder. I just knew that this is where I want to be.

Over that period of time, the authorities are advising people to evacuate from an advancing bushfire. But India, aged 18, has decided to stay with her father Sean, an experienced firefighter. Have you looked at the front of it? Yeah. How bizarre is that? What is that? India wanted to stay and help me. She’s very much like me and very stubborn, and there’s no chance she was gonna miss out on any of that sort of action.

Most of my time was spent up on our roof, just watching everything, watching the sky change color, and then in the afternoon, I got the first glimpse of the fire coming over one of the mountains. Australia is experiencing six times more days, over 39 degrees than 60 years ago, increasing the risk of bushfires. I was just standing up there looking at everything on fire, thinking it was kind of cool, and then eventually thought, oh, need to get off the roof now and start fighting.

It was extremely hot and starting to get worried. Dad, it was on a very hot day to begin with, so that made the fire, I think, a lot more aggressive. When I realized that the fire hose had holes in it, I thought we were gonna lose the house. Fire was just too intense and outta my control. If India had been in earshot at the time, I was wanting her to get into that fire shelter and just give up. It’s over.

Climate change in Nigeria is turning fertile land into desert. Central Nigeria is getting hotter and drier. This makes the task of well digging more important and even harder. In the hot season, wells are the main source of clean water for villages. Some households have a long walk to clean water because the previous well has dried up.

He gets in 24 feet on the surface. The air temperature was around 43 degrees. Our team tried to measure the heat at the bottom of the well. It was so hot and humid. Our equipment failed.

Whoa. Kangaroo. It did get really intense. Oh, I just remember the smoke feeling like it was really hard to breathe. One of the trees near the tank caught fire. It took out a burn. Everything is burn, and then after five hours, it just calmed down for a second and it just kept going around us, off the mountain.

India and Sean saved their home, but in their local area of East Gippsland, over a million hectares were burned. Hundreds of houses were destroyed, and four people died. After the fire came through, I was thinking a lot about the future because I’ve lived here all my life. It has completely and utterly changed the landscape here for the rest of my life, if not forever. Scientists analyzed this bushfire season and found that hot and windy days, which are high risk for bushfires, were 30% more likely because of climate change. The amount of damage that we’ve done, not paying any attention to the balance of life. We just don’t seem to really give a s**t. I’m worried for my children. And, uh, yeah, I think what they have to face in the future is, is bloody horrifying.

The bushfires that we experienced during that summer were completely unprecedented. We’d never seen anything of that ferocity and that scale here previously. I’m a climate scientist, but I specialize in heat waves. So I study how heat waves have changed over time in the past and the future and what’s causing those changes. There’s irrefutable evidence that the climate of Australia has changed. Sydney’s heat peaked to dangerous levels today. Temperatures soaring. It was the hottest day ever recorded in the Sydney basin. All the heat in the world is concentrated in Australia, and Penrith was today the hottest place on the planet.

The way Sydney’s new suburbs have been built has created urban hotspots. Scientists have measured temperatures of 50 degrees. Gotcha. Some people think we’re boffins. We like to sit in our towers and just concentrate on our subject areas and we’re not actually real people. I have two young children and it really bothers me that the world that they’re experiencing now is a lot different to mine.

When we eventually came to buying our first house, we moved out to the northwestern part of Sydney’s. That’s, that’s what we could afford. There’s a lot of new developments and because they’re trying to pack more people into the city, all of the houses are much closer together. There’s less greener spaces. I’ve experienced days of 47 degrees Celsius and that was appalling. It was atrocious. The only way we could stay cool in Western Sydney was to have the air con running all day, and that was a really hard thing for me to do.

Australia is one of the highest CO2 emitters per capita in the world. As we head into the Christmas period, it’s really taking its toll. We’ve got 46 forecasts for Adelaide, 44 degrees for Melbourne. They would be new December records. You girls got a pretty good haul from Santa. It is certainly true that poorer nations and poorer communities will suffer more from the impacts of climate change. We at least have the resources to perhaps turn on an air conditioning during a heat wave or move somewhere away from bushfires. There’s an injustice around climate change, certainly that the poorer people will be affected more than the rich people. And then your own frozen jewelry. And you know the irony in that is it’s the rich people who are doing the most polluting.

We are digging with 35 feet and we’re afraid. Good sand to reach red water there. Sign of water. Yeah, you can see, yes, you can see. See we are already state of storm sand. See some sand near water? Yeah, you can smell water.

How deep is he where the deep is? 27 feet. 27 feet. 27 feet. Wow, that’s so deep. A generation ago this region looked very different with fertile fields, orchards, and forests. Today people have to find other ways to make a living from the land.

The Middle East is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. This land has been farmed by Sheikh Card’s family for hundreds of years now. Extreme heat and a historic drought are threatening its future. After years of bad harvests, the sheikh’s farm is losing money. He’s used his savings to plant wheat and barley for another year hoping the crop will succeed this time.

The sheikh is under pressure from his family to sell their farm. If this harvest fails, he may have to. Iraq’s wealthy neighbor has officially recorded 12 days of 50 degrees or more this year. I think there’s a common misconception that there is the ability to split your time between multiple countries. If you’re Kuwaiti, come on lema, let’s go. Come on. That has never been my reality. Good boy. He’s so humid today.

So the assumption that we’re able to just kind of leave when it’s too hot is really not possible. Come on. Nie. Sia Al Shari is a Kuwaiti social media influencer. She posts regular updates to her 2.5 million followers. Come on Levi. Let’s stay in the shade today. It’s too much. Normally I like to start my days off with a dog walk. Wow. It’s yours now. No, no. Gross. Gross. We need to make it super early so that my little fur baby can walk on the ground without burning himself. Are your paws okay? No, you’re fine. Come on.

I think it was around 56 this year as supposedly as it got, but it feels like 60. Oh, my glasses. This is sliding off my face. It sucks the life out of you. It goes like this and then that’s it. You’re just like this. That’s, that’s kind of what, that’s the closest that I can get to describing 56 degree dry heat. When it is hot and humid, it’s a little bit more, but then also just you just shrivel into like a little. Only actions can really show you what heat feels like. Wait, wait. We need to look both ways.

The heat impacts your life in ways that you don’t necessarily anticipate hot outside and you’re sitting in the on a day to day. It makes things that are supposed to be a minute long. An hour long. All right. Yeah. Let’s sit down my love. You want the AC. One of the things that I was not anticipating when I did finally have children was now I had this tiny little being that needed to be protected from the sun. All right, let’s get going. Because I had rear facing car seats, the AC actually never touched his seat, so we would have to prepare if I were going to pop out with him. It’s frozen yogurt time. I’m gonna get, I think strawberries on mine and we would turn the car on 30 minutes prior to an outing, put the ice packs into his car seat to cool it down before I could place him in it. And then we had a tube that would extend from the front AC in the front seat into the back just to make sure that we could get him enough air conditioning in a rear facing car seat. And that is the reality for all parents. Here.

Push the door. Push, push, push. Do you wanna try that? I wanna go. It’s like mango with strawberry. This is the hottest I’ve ever seen Kuwait. Yummy. Mom looks like a mountain. It is like a little mountain. It is getting to the point where it’s really unbearable and I feel like everything about living here is hostile sometimes. You said you like swimming inside or outside more. Hmm. Inside. Yeah. Yeah.

Concerns me that the only life that my children have known has been in scorching heat. They wanna be kids and go to the playgrounds and they’ll beg to go all day and then we’ll finally break and take them and it’ll be so unbearable that they’re begging to go back home. And so it’s tough.

Across the world. Dangerous urban heat is on the rise. It’s defined as three or more days, well above the summertime. Average incidents have tripled since the 1980s.

Julio Buenrostro is a paramedic in Mei on the US Mexican border. This summer, Mei experienced a heat wave of 40 days above 46 degrees. Extreme heat and water shortages affect the whole region. This used to be the fertile delta of the Colorado River, land of the tribe.

Now partly due to climate change. The river’s dried up and temperatures can reach 52 degrees. The Colorado River runs from the US to Mexico. Dams and canals in the US mean only 10% of the river makes it south of the border. Climate change has lowered levels in both countries, but only in Mexico does the river dry up completely.

The US government says it meets its water commitments to Mexico. The Kupa tribe disagree with another hot, dry summer ahead. Antonio fears her mother’s running out of time.

A remote mining town on the edge of the Sahara city, and the other miners start work before dawn and could only continue for a few hours before it becomes too hot. Other local livelihoods are threatened too. Recurring drought means there’s fewer plants for animals to graze.

The sheikh fears the worst for his crops. This year, Iraq summer has seen 26 days above 50 degrees. A third of the farmers in our sold up and moved to cities. The land here is in demand from oil companies. The sheikh’s eldest son has started working in the nearest city Diwaniya. His job is to sell farmland.

When I was growing up, my grandmother used to tell me that we lived here forever. There’s this collective conscious knowledge that is handed down from generation to generation. What you do to land, you do to yourselves. That’s how I was raised. But since I was a child, I’ve seen changes in ecosystems. I’ve seen less water. I’ve seen the trees struggling with drought and heat anxiety. And if you abuse the land, climate change is a logical consequence.

This year, the northwest of the US and Canada experienced an unprecedented heat event. A big dome of high pressure has built across this part of North America, trapping the air in place. Scientists later calculated the deadly heat dome would’ve been impossible without climate change. Today was the hottest day for much of BC and this weekend temperature records could be shattered across the province. The hottest place of all was a village called Litten in British Columbia. A new all-time record of 49.5 degrees Celsius. The 121 Fahrenheit.

The next day, Litten was engulfed by a wildfire. Holy these up. Those ones have just gone. Oh my God. Holy s**t. The whole village is going.

Within 24 hours, 90% of buildings in Litton were destroyed. This is Judith and Ross Erhart their house. They’re the former principal, lost their home. This is the Litton Hotel. Its fire escape stayed up, as did its chimney. The doctor’s office, the hospital, all to the right. Gone.

This is the first time Patrick has been back home since the fire. So this is 1 6 7 IR 17 road. 25 years we’ve been working on this property one board at a time. One of the greatest memories of every one of my six kids is this, and I don’t know if it’s gonna live. I thought I lost all my tools. Oh, a drill made it. It’s good to see you guys. I’m pretty sure the battery’s gone on this one.

Most of the people who lived in Litton are of first nation heritage. Now this close-knit indigenous community has been scattered in temporary accommodation. Patrick’s daughter, Serena, and family are in a hotel. There’s a list on the side of the door that says there’s supposed to be like three mixing bowls. Oh yeah. I was gonna tell you, you took too much stuff with you.

We had left the house with minutes before it was on fire. That’s clear. In this one, we basically left with the clothes on our backs. I was gonna cook, but I’m really pooped. I was actually eight months pregnant the day of the fire. So cute. Let’s go. Tell me all the time. You just happy, just content. I cried of relief when we found out we had, uh, a hotel that would accept our pets.

We have it secured until October 1st, but every time we renew, we still don’t know if we can get it again. Patrick and his wife Tina are staying in a nearby campsite with nine other Litton refugees. We’d hoped that the owner would allow us to stay after October 1st, but they said no because I think it’ll cost him a lot to keep the water and the septic and everything going.

Even after the fire, I didn’t feel homeless. But houseless, yes. I don’t have a house. I never felt homeless because we were always together. Patrick and I had babies, so, ‘cause we had had each other. And after yesterday and after the conversation about having to leave by October 1st, I’m like, okay, you know it hit, we are homeless.

What about my friends? What’s Jess? Can I do what’s smell parent can I do?

Making a living in the desert, salt mines as whereat has become too difficult for city ua, he’s leaving for the coastal town of BU today.

And Mohamed and his sheep are catching the same train. They can’t go far by foot, so they start their journey with a short ride in the car. Weat is the starting point for one of the longest trains in the world, up to 2.5 kilometers in length. The freight train takes iron ore from the mines to the ports of the coast.

If we don’t reduce emissions, the Middle East is heading for ultra extreme heat waves of over 56 degrees in the second half of this century. The absolute best invention in the world. I think that we’ve gotten a little fatigued with the idea of climate change. We’ve stopped looking at what it means to the individual person. Look, you can’t even feel it.

Now we’re looking at things that are quite micro, where it’s like you’ve gotta stop using straws to save the turtles and you’ve gotta turn off the lights in your bathroom as you leave the house to be able to save a little bit of energy. But all of those things are not the big picture. The big picture is what it actually means to live here. Ma? I put chairs and a table. Uh, two chairs and a table. Did you say Gulf countries use the majority of their electricity on air con? I, I would. There’s absolutely no way to survive here without AC.

And I think that what’s really disturbing about that is that you’re cooling your little section, but you’re heating up outside. Good job. And so we are in this awful, awful cycle of trying to cool ourselves down, but also heating up the country even more as we go on. Yes. Good job. And I sometimes worry, and it is one of my largest fears, is that my children are so young right now and these are probably the best days of their life. Oh wow. You are so proud in terms of weather.

This is probably the coolest it might ever be for them. Careful, because why are these rocks moves. If you don’t live here and you’re not affected by it every day, you forget that it’s happening, but it’s, and it’s terrifying. If we’re looking into the future, I don’t see how much longer we can consider quite habitable.

This summer after years of discussions, the US government released an extra 43 million cubic meters of water into the Colorado River from its reservoirs.

IIA Gonzales died six weeks after the river returned.

My name is India McDonald. I shared some of the footage I captured while defending my home from the bush fires on December 3rd. India is living at home and making films about her experience. The reason I shared that was purely to show others how bad being in a bushfire is. I’m worried that this house won’t be here in another five years. So many people all don’t think that climate change is real. So I’m worried for my future and I’m worried that no one really cares enough to anything and people are just greedy.

As a scientist, I know how bad the future looks. How many more heat waves we’re going to see and how much those heat waves will be. Oh my goodness me. Look at all of these boxes. I know what that means for our ecosystems. I know what that means for sea level rise. And I know what that means for the Great Barrier Reef.

Dr. Sarah Kirkpatrick and her family have left the western Sydney suburbs. We’re gonna live in this house while our brand new house is being built. They’re building a more eco-friendly home. No, we don’t have any books yet. There must be in a box somewhere. I really struggle with just how bad those impacts will be. I know they’re happening. I know they’re happening now and I know they’re going to get worse.

And our brand new house is going to be awesome. ‘Cause we are gonna make it energy efficient. I’m gonna have lots of solar panels and a white roof and lots of insulation and it’s gonna be oriented the right way. What plants do you think? Good food plant in our backyard. Blueberries. You want strawberries?

I know we have caused with problems, and I know we also hold the key to the solutions. Should we grow? Um, chocolate. Yes.

Okay. This is all the first time. Ed. I’ve never done this before. Just so you know, Patrick is preparing to move his family back to Litton in a mobile home. I’ve relied on humor and hard work all my life. Oops. This is the next step in the transition back to home. My bedroom flight’s in and out of the wall. I usually live paycheck to paycheck. This is a thousand dollars a month, so 15 years to pay this off. It’s not what we wanted, but we’ll be okay.

My sense of place wind up in a puff of smoke on June 30th. I am gonna rebuild that sense of place. So we’re building a home for not just my wife and I today, but for my great-grandchildren, who I’ve yet to see. My plan is to move from the campsite when they have the power and water hooked up. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to put my RV right here and spend the next couple of years rebuilding my home.

I can put in blood, sweat, and tears, but I’m gonna need help. Honestly, a lot of it, it’s surreal. It’s overwhelming, it’s daunting. But in my heart, there’s that optimism.

It’s really hard in my heart knowing that everything that we’re experiencing was a result of our action. We can elect people who have the courage to say, no, I’m not gonna continue the status quo. We need to leave the fossil fuels in the ground. We need to invest in homes that are designed to be cool in the summer. Stay warm in the winter.

I’m not scared of what’s coming. At the moment, the sun is setting on Litton, but tomorrow the sun will rise again.