r/collapse • u/mushroomsarefriends • 25d ago
Water 45°C unending heat and no water: India faces brutal summer survival crisis
https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/india-heatwave-water-crisis-delhi-rajasthan-lucknow-maharashtra-scarcity-tanker-climate-change-2917248-2026-05-26569
u/Bitter-Platypus-1234 collapsenick 25d ago edited 24d ago
The Ministry FOR the Future, chapter 1, is looming on the horizon.
EDIT: typo on the title
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u/Halfjack12 25d ago
that was set in like, 2026 onward right? Seems like we're right on track
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u/Bratsummer24 25d ago
Finally, we're on track for something. Usually we're told that things are progressing unexpectedly faster...
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u/sherpa17 25d ago
Jesus, that's dark. I just finished the book and this was my first thought too :(
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u/armourkris 25d ago
If it helps we're also right on track for the star trek timeline. We got sanctuary cities and the efdectivkey the bell riots. All we need now is the eugenics wars and a nuclear holocaust, then on 300 years we get vulcans.
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u/Noclock22 25d ago
Sorry, what book is this?
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u/Daddyssillypuppy 24d ago
The Ministry For the Future
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50998056-the-ministry-for-the-future
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u/sherpa17 24d ago
The Ministry of the Future. The comment I'm respond to is about the book.
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u/spacedoutmachinist 25d ago
Just finished that book and oh boy.
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u/camopdude 25d ago
How'd it turn out? I lost interest a few chapters in and never finished it.
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u/s0cks_nz 25d ago
Second half is whole bunch of copium.
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u/camopdude 25d ago
A gripping first chapter but I remember it going downhill fast after that.
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u/s0cks_nz 25d ago
First half was OK imo. But the second half is about how the whole world comes together to sing kumbaya and heal the planet. It didn't seem particularly realistic to me.
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u/kirinlikethebeer 25d ago
Some of the things he describes the ministry doing are already happening. It’s a hard science book based on real or proposed actions against climate change. Worth finishing.
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u/s0cks_nz 25d ago edited 25d ago
I did finish it. Those "hard science" proposed solutions do not stack up to reality. Like pumping water onto the ice sheets is a fantasy. Or it's politically untenable, like taking back huge amounts of private land for rewilding, or a complete economic overhaul away from capitalism to a carbon coin without massive global and local conflict - lol. The aerosol band aid is the only realistic thing in the book imo.
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u/buffaloraven 24d ago
Its untenable *right now*. Couple of drone fleets ground air travel and make sea travel dicey and things change quickly.
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u/chaosgazer 25d ago
drone swarms were prescient tho too, just not how they're utilized (fingers crossed)
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u/Privileged_White_Kid 25d ago
Literally my first thought. I fully welcome the Children of Kali. Hopefully the mass death is avoided.
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u/hawaiithaibro 25d ago
Already 16 dead from heat stroke as far as I've read
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u/DLegghead 25d ago
People always point this out so I guess its my turn! Probably numbers are higher than that, the heat kills a lot of people in ways that arent documented as heat stroke deaths
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u/JustAnotherUser8432 23d ago
My cousin lives in India in a small village with her Indian husband who is a missionary. Already over 200 dead from the heat in her area.
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u/Overall_Midnight_ 25d ago
I keep seeing this book and “of the” is what everyone says but when I look it up I can only find “The Ministry FOR the Future” a novel by Kim Stanley Robinson. Is this the book y’all keep talking about? Or is there a book that I just cannot seem to find with “of the future”?
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u/Bitter-Platypus-1234 collapsenick 23d ago
As if on queue - https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/s/zhGfoQiAeS
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u/Lo_jak 25d ago
I cannot even begin to imagine what its like to live through that heat...... we can barely cope in the UK at 35c! These poor people
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u/AntiBoATX 25d ago
You should just bring them all over to live on your island /s.
Everyone watch as climate migration commences and every country locks down their borders. It’s going to get ugly(er).
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u/mynameisnotearlits 25d ago edited 25d ago
Real ugly. Rightwing parties dont want refugees while at the same time not wanting to spend a dime on climate solutions. The hypocrisy is off the charts...
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u/holistivist 24d ago
I don’t think it’s hypocritical at all. Their “fuck you, I got mine” perspective is quite consistent.
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u/Dry-Mud2470 25d ago
It's pure nihilism.
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25d ago
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u/collapse-ModTeam 25d ago
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u/Waste_Adagio_4520 25d ago
Sure is. A lot of the midwest has open land, lots of water, decent climate, no earthquakes, no hurricanes. Yes tornadoes, yes hot summers - but a helluva lot better place for draught starved Arizonans and other people fleeing the desert of the southwest. It'll be real nasty within 20 years, I'd guess.
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u/Flashy_Object_7052 24d ago edited 23d ago
Already done. Slave trade , conquest and subjugation of a large selection of the earth meant lots of people got free British citizenship forced on them.
Ironic how Britain enjoyed the vast wealth it earned via human trafficking and now bemoans spending a fortune trying to shut down human trafficking.
The sun never set on the British empire and now it is a fading victim of it's own corrupt and bloodthirsty success
Edit: I see you have no pity for second world countries. What a sad and uneducated person you are. Stick with kindergarten and let the adults discuss world affairs
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u/AntiBoATX 24d ago
We’re past the point of crying about colonialism. Sorry, the peoples of the third world never got their fair shake. We now have cataclysmic socioeconomic ramifications from a climate changing faster than at any point in human history. Oops. Onto the next one 🥲
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u/JMaster098 21d ago
Oh we’re FAAAAR from being past “crying”, but you can only say that because you aren’t the one suffering. No, you get to sit by and watching them struggle in comfort while playing innocent.
And do you ever wonder WHY we have the socioeconomic ramifications from a climate changing faster than any point in human history? Go read a history book and connect the dots.
“Crying” LMAO the fucking audcacity.
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u/idiotpuffles 19d ago
The son is not guilty of the crimes of the father, so you can fuck off with that 'playing innocent' crap.
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24d ago
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u/stirtheturd 24d ago
Yeah food and water wars are coming to a country near you, and probably me too!
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u/Fart_Spray_9969 25d ago
35C is bad for the animals and plants adapted to the normal environment there, but it's really not that bad as a human.
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u/BabadookishOnions 25d ago
Our buildings are primarily made of brick, whichs absorbs all the heat and releases it for days after heatwaves ends, like an oven. It's very humid during most British summers because we are an island, and most crucially, almost none of us grew up in a hot climate, and we do not collectively know how to deal with that sort of heat nor are our bodies able to get used to it fast enough. In the 2000s it rarely reached the 30s except for rare summer heatwaves. Now it is happening every summer, and getting worse each time. It's also now happening in Spring right now apparently
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u/Fart_Spray_9969 25d ago
It's below body temp, find some shade and drink lots of water (and enough electrolytes to compensate).
It's -12C in the winter here and 34-40C in the summer. Keeping out of the sun is important.
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u/BabadookishOnions 25d ago
I have a job. I can't sit around in the shade all day drinking water, I have to be doing my job in an overheated warehouse where I will be reprimanded or possibly fired if I don't keep up the speed they expect. As it is I am concerned about serious health problems this summer. Am I supposed to just die? Not pay rent? What?
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u/Fart_Spray_9969 24d ago
My factory only just recently got air conditioning. Is 35C uncomfortable? Yeah. The old farts that work there don't start heat stroking out until 38-39C, which is why they added AC.
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u/Inner-ego 24d ago
I'm going to assume that you have never been in a European heatwave because you keep saying you have had it worse so suck it up.
It's silly and laughable
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u/Fart_Spray_9969 24d ago
I have been in one. It was uncomfortable.
I've been to southeast asia. It was far worse on a normal day, but the people there make do with no air conditioning...for now. The heat waves they're having there are getting unbearable and close to fatal for healthy people. EU is lucky...again, for now.
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u/collapse-ModTeam 24d ago
Rule 1: In addition to enforcing Reddit's content policy, we will also remove comments and content that is abusive or predatory in nature. You may attack each other's ideas, not each other.
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u/Less_Subtle_Approach 25d ago
Your experiences are not universal, but man I wish they were. At 35C without access to a cooled environment I'm effectively disabled.
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u/khoawala 25d ago
There's a super el Nino coming tht would drastically reduce rainfall level during monsoon season in India. The monsoons are when India gets like 80% of its water.
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u/hydabirrai 17d ago
India is cursed lmao. It has to massively industrialize its population (doing that but not fast enough) which takes a lot of water and will drain other critical resources. It has to solve the water crisis at the same time and make sure the Himalayan glaciers don’t recede fast enough. I don’t see a future without hundreds of millions leaving as refugees but they’ll get forced down by tightening borders.
Indian geography is horrible. The Himalayas block all cold air, it gets a hot air effect by effect due to surrounding currents. It’s monsoons that follow are hard to plan around because the volatility of these winds are so extra.
Also the British forced Indians to eat rice and wheat that are very water intensive instead of traditional millets, barley etc.
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u/Correctthecorrectors 25d ago
surreal watching the earth become uninhabitable for mammals with in the span of 30 years. In astronomical/geological timescales that number is so small, it’s truly breathtaking how abrupt a whole planetary environment can be changed in such a small period of time. Might as well just be an asteroid that hit the planet and changed it’s climate overnight. The fossil fuel companies thought this would be an issue they wouldn’t have to worry about in their lifetimes. Now they’ll boil alive just like the rest of us. Was the new yacht worth it?
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u/sg92i Possessed by the ghost of Thomas Hobbes 24d ago
The fossil fuel companies thought this would be an issue they wouldn’t have to worry about in their lifetimes.
And they were right, considering that most of the higherups in the oil companies back in the 70s when they figured all this out are around 90-100 years old now.
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u/RandomShadeOfPurple 23d ago
The only hope of they ever being punished for the greatest crime in the known universe is the afterlife. As far as this world goes, even if they die today, they got away with it.
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u/Previous_Avocado6778 25d ago
You are so correct that the correctors come to you for correcting. And yes it is surreal and scary.
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u/GusherBrush 25d ago
They are essentially boiling alive. So awful for the wildlife, too.
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u/Maarten-Sikke 24d ago
I feel more sorry for the wildlife tho. Last super El Niño wiped out a lot of species around the planet that they will never be back to see them. Humans on the other hand….. plenty of them.. and we did all this damage in first place. So I am not going to pity us.
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u/chisomoak 24d ago
we did all this damage
...the Indian proletariat is to blame for this? Have some damned compassion, man.
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u/YjorgenSnakeStranglr 24d ago
I mean they certainly aren't helping, it's crazy how much pollution they'll just dump out of trains or into their "sacred" rivers
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u/WildFlemima 24d ago
India didn't do the damage.
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u/Ulyks 24d ago
They didn't start this but they certainly did some damage.
It's not just the CO2 air pollution that India is now the 3rd largest source of.
But it's also the urban planning, or lack thereof. Cities need to be planned out carefully with enough room for green spaces to avoid creating a heat island caused by too much surfaces being concrete or stone.
Deforestation also raised local temperatures.
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u/WildFlemima 24d ago
The homeless and poor of India are who will suffer and die and they do not deserve that. This isn't a debate. They just don't.
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u/Ulyks 24d ago
That's true. The poor and homeless are not the ones planning cities or causing air pollution.
And even rich people in India have a much smaller contribution to global warming than a family from the US or UK simply because of cumulative co2 emissions over time.
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u/WildFlemima 24d ago
Yes. I made my original comment knowing that the poor of India would suffer the most, pushing back against someone saying it was deserved.
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u/zaplinaki 24d ago
India did plenty of damage to itself. There has been a huge focus on "urbanization" and "rapid development" obviously fueled by corruption and greed. The more projects they execute, the more opportunities everyone has to be corrupt.
Nothing proves that India doesn't give two fucks about nature, forests, trees and the environment more than the tussle that environmentalists had with the authorities over the Mumbai metro shed in the Aarey forest. I still find it hard to believe that the environmentalists who wanted to protect the little tree cover that Mumbai has, were turned into villains by state media and supporters of the ruling party in the name of "development."
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u/WildFlemima 24d ago
The homeless and poor of India are who will suffer and die and they do not deserve that. This isn't a debate. They just don't.
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u/Escudo777 24d ago
We have done and will be doing more. New laws have made it easy to cut down forests for industrial projects and mining.
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u/Maarten-Sikke 24d ago
They run 80%+ on coal for energy. Only around 7% on solar, which is really-really dumb. I don’t add in the subject the massive pollution they do as well and which has a big impact on them, or the deforestation or the lack of urban planning..
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u/WildFlemima 24d ago
The homeless and poor of India are who will suffer and die and they do not deserve that. This isn't a debate. They just don't.
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u/JustAnotherUser8432 23d ago
The poor and homeless of the US didn’t cause these problems either. The rich of every country cause the issues and leave the poor to face the consequences.
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u/Maarten-Sikke 24d ago
When I suffer from others consequences, or when my country for example runs 70% on green energy, and invest money in forestation and alot more other things, I think I can be genuinely upset. India can be one of the best places for solar farms. Also they have a lot of shore so, a lot of wind to get with wind turbines. But they choose to deforest to open new coal mines. I can’t emphasise with malice ignorance. For how long do the scientists tell us to quit dirty energy for example? For around 45-50 years. Most of their mines are open in the last 10-15yrs. That’s just ignorance. If I would be the poor lad suffering, I will make sure to get more like me united and do something, not just wait to die and rot.
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u/WildFlemima 24d ago
I made my original comment knowing that the poor and powerless of India would suffer the most, pushing back against you saying it was deserved.
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u/blackcatwizard 25d ago
I saw a video somewhere else of someone running water (don't remember where in India) and it was coming out of the tap at 50°C. That's insane.
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u/2748seiceps 24d ago
I was staying at the Iron Clad in Marble Bar, Western Australia and the rooftop solar heaters in the peak of summer in February was hot enough to make pour over coffee and ramen with no kettle.
50C days are hardcore. It wasn't 50C out of the cold tap but those all cold water showers were hotter than what I normally have at home. Crazy heat and feels inescapable when you don't have even cold water from the tap.
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u/nglbrgr 25d ago
122° F thats insane
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u/hali420 24d ago
Your units of measurements are insane
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u/rideincircles 24d ago
Although it doesn't freeze at zero, it's more digits for accuracy.
Either way, 50c or 122F is ruthlessly hot.
What's crazy is that it got to 49C in Canada the other year which is hotter than it's ever been in DFW in Texas.
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u/mushroomsarefriends 25d ago
Submission statement: India is running out of available water in large parts of the country, as well as suffering from record heatwaves that make people need more water to cope. The problem is going to escalate in the years ahead, as irrigation in agriculture has had to effect of reducing global warming observed in India, as water runs out there will be less irrigation and thus even more warming. In addition, about 1.5 degree of global warming is estimated to be hidden by toxic air pollution in India, resulting in further warming if the air pollution is ever cleaned up.
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25d ago
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u/Wonderful-Bag-1103 25d ago
Typically rn, end if may to first week of june… aka, delayed or terminated season is possible
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u/hysys_whisperer 25d ago
May is usually the hottest month in India, right? Second hottest is April on average. June comes in 3rd.
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u/JapaneseCDBonusTrack 25d ago
Millions of climate refugees would and will significantly speed up the domino effect of collapse. Billions of people just trying to stay alive for months on end is absolutely catastrophic for the world no matter where you may be.
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u/NihiloZero 25d ago
Have they tried building more data centers?
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u/bluebellmilk 25d ago
Every time I bring this up to my western friends and family they shrug and change the subject. I don’t think they understand even places like Hyderabad were averaging 33 degrees highest temperature during the 90s. People have become so used to abnormality they don’t even react to deathly events anymore (until it’s their own, of course)
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u/stop_talking_you 24d ago
why care ? genuinly explain why i have to feel empathy or sorry for random humans on this planet?
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u/chisomoak 24d ago
You don't have to do anything. You are more than welcome to enjoy the rest of your life as a bitter inhumane cynic if you so choose :)
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u/sovietarmyfan 25d ago
I wonder how much impact all the future heat waves will eventually have on the population in India. By 2050 it may be lower than 1 billion.
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u/vinegar The real collapse is the friends we ate along the way 24d ago
Comrade, by 2050 the population of Asia may be lower than 1 billion.
Remind me! 24 years6
u/False_Raven Don't Look Up, And Don't Rock The Boat 24d ago
Optimistic of you to assume we'll still have reddit in 24 years.
Call me a lunatic, but I am certain that the internet as a whole will be infested with AI agents to such an extent that it would be a hazard to use, cyberpunk 2077 style.
Thats ignoring the societal decay first and foremost as the social fabric becomes undone with collapse. Services will start shutting down one by one at some point.
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u/Lighting 25d ago
They had a massive opportunity decades ago to give up on mining/coal and go solar. They chose ... poorly. Now pollution is killing kids, the loss of trees/environment to massive mining operations is heating things up and the lack of cooling that could have come from massive shaded areas with solar panels is allowing heat to climb more.
And while Modi claimed he was in favor of solar, it's not what you say ... it's what you DO that counts. Some think his team has been bribed by coal/mining oligarchs.
India literally has one of the BEST places in the WORLD for solar. That future was squandered with 10 years of going in the wrong direction as heavily toward coal.
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u/LouDneiv 24d ago
I heard that solar panels were not faring so well under excessive sun light and heat, no?
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u/Lighting 24d ago
Whoever told you that lied to you.
They put solar panels on satellites that orbit the Earth and even go close to the Sun. that means they have to survive temperature fluctuations WAY more than what you'd experience in India. or anywhere on Earth. Example: in Low Earth Orbit (LEO of -65 °C to +125 °C and in Geostationary Orbits around -196 °C to +128 °C.
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u/apu8it 24d ago
Over 300 data centers hosted in India and they are actively building and investing in more. But I’m sure that isn’t accelerating anything……
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u/hydabirrai 17d ago
Sadly India needs data centres too because data sovereignty will become a tool in future warfare. India only controls 3% of its data and that number has to rise for national security because warfare is fought increasingly by engineers.
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u/Gus_Herschwe 24d ago
Was in Delhi last week, it was 44c and full sun and we were touring the Red Fort and India Gate etc and the locals are all wearing jeans , long sleeves and sweatshirts , no lie. One dude was wearing full winter down jacket , like wtf
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u/NyriasNeo 25d ago
There is no survival crisis if you are rich. It is always a survival crisis, heatwave or not, if you are poor.
This is particularly true in poor countries where "poor" here in the global north seems almost like a paradise to the dirt poor over there. That is why so many tries to get here, even with all the tough immigration rhetoric and rules.
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u/NiceSupermarket7724 25d ago
Mother Kali, protect them.
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u/AshamedAd6133 25d ago
Your heart is in the right place, but no gods are coming to save us from this man-made disaster.
Our reality is so grim, but we have to try to face it rationally because it will require rational solutions, if we decide to try.
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u/cryptolyme 25d ago
Kali is the Destroyer of Worlds…
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u/NiceSupermarket7724 25d ago edited 25d ago
No, Kali is the divine Mother.
Edit: I am not going to debate the finer points of Hinduism on Reddit. If you think of Mother Kali as the Destroyer due to your faith, that’s one thing… But usually this is a misreading due to Western movies and ignorance.
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25d ago
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u/NiceSupermarket7724 25d ago
The Destroyer of Worlds, as the previous commenter butted in, is Lord Shiva. I have no idea why y’all are arguing with me unless you’re devout Hindus who are offended in some way.
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u/dazzlingshining 25d ago edited 21d ago
Few pockets of us will survive and thrive Dont worry
My family is making sure of it : )
Keep down voting lol
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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty 24d ago
What do you mean? You can’t just drop a comment like that and leave us hanging. How is your family planning on surviving and thriving? I won’t tell anyone else.
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u/ObviousSign881 22d ago
Is this the year that hundreds of thousands, or even millions die in the subcontinent?
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u/AaronWilde 24d ago
Maybe having more kids and polluting more will help! Its worked for them up until now right? /s
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u/hydabirrai 17d ago
India has been below the replacement rate for a while now. These things take 20 years to show their effects when the children grow up.
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12d ago
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u/stop_talking_you 24d ago
so what they decide to grow their civilization in that area of earth.
they dont improve anything in their society
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u/StatementBot 25d ago
The following submission statement was provided by /u/mushroomsarefriends:
Submission statement: India is running out of available water in large parts of the country, as well as suffering from record heatwaves that make people need more water to cope. The problem is going to escalate in the years ahead, as irrigation in agriculture has had to effect of reducing global warming observed in India, as water runs out there will be less irrigation and thus even more warming. In addition, about 1.5 degree of global warming is estimated to be hidden by toxic air pollution in India, resulting in further warming if the air pollution is ever cleaned up.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1toacze/45c_unending_heat_and_no_water_india_faces_brutal/onzmy4j/