This summer, China’s heat waves highlighted urban inequality
This summer’s heatwaves highlighted urban inequality by displaying the contrasting ways of tackling the treacherous temperatures in cities across the world. In Shanghai, a city of 24 million, residents with no air-conditioning escaped the heat in malls, subway stations and supermarkets, and some slept outdoors on the pavements. A recent research shows that towards the end of the century, the Northern Plain of China will witness one of the direst effects of climate change in the form of humid heatwaves, having the potential to kill even healthy individuals just within a couple of hours—unless we drastically curb our emissions today. With respect to China’s urban environment and its growing concern especially about air pollution, a recent study has shown that air pollution can adversely affect thinking skills, particularly math and language skills.
