[HN Gopher] What Happens to an Economy When It's Too Hot to Work?
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What Happens to an Economy When It's Too Hot to Work?
Author : littlexsparkee
Score : 69 points
Date : 2026-06-13 18:35 UTC (4 hours ago)
HTML web link (www.bloomberg.com)
TEXT w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
| ksymph wrote:
| https://archive.ph/9I5e1
| inigyou wrote:
| Simple question, simple answer: just like _every other time_ , no
| help is coming. Individuals either survive and reproduce or they
| don't.
| sbmthakur wrote:
| Wonder how much of a temperature difference is due to El Nino? As
| a kid I used to spend some time in central India during
| summers(temp: 40-43C). It helped that schools used to be shut
| around that time and expectedly, people would spend as little
| time outside as possible. Also, it's the hot winds that get
| you(usually more prevalent in the countryside).
| tartoran wrote:
| What are the hot winds and how bad are they? I can only imagine
| but but it's the first time im hearing of hot winds.
| rdedev wrote:
| It's hard to imagine if you have not experienced it. The air
| would still be hot even after the sun sets in some parts of
| India. Usually when wind blows over you you feel cool. With
| hot air it's like a blow dryer in your face. Just thermal
| energy being dumped on you making you feel even worse
| altern8 wrote:
| That sounds absolutely awful
| s0rce wrote:
| If you are in the US then you can go to a hot place in the
| south west, even Eastern WA/OR or the California central
| valley when its >105F outside the wind blows and it feels
| like a hair drier or opening the oven, its not a cool breeze.
| NegativeK wrote:
| I live in the desert SW after living in far more humid
| climates. Two weird experiences:
|
| Standing outside talking to friends after the sun set,
| where it's still over 100F outside: I could feel brief
| (minor) chills pass over me as I'd sweat in bursts and it'd
| instantly evaporate.
|
| And back when I was cycling, I'd start summer rides about
| an hour before dawn, when it'd be at its coldest (sometimes
| 90F for the low). I learned to not rub my face because I'd
| have salt crystals from dried sweat, and they would abrade
| skin near the corners of my eyes.
| imoverclocked wrote:
| > it's the hot winds that get you
|
| The difference between sun and shade is pretty big too.
| imoverclocked wrote:
| For anyone that hasn't had heat sickness, it's not a one-and-done
| ordeal. You become more sensitive to heat after getting sick from
| it. It can easily take a month of careful exposure to regain
| tolerance but working in the same conditions is not the same
| thing. In addition, heat sickness is awful.
| sixtyj wrote:
| > Almost half of the global population will be living with
| extreme heat by 2050 if the world reaches 2C of global warming
| above preindustrial levels, according to a University of Oxford
| study published in January.
| imoverclocked wrote:
| Good thing we are working so hard to automate the kind of work
| where you sit in the shade at a desk. (/sarcasm)
|
| I think the disconnect between many people hearing "2C of
| warming" and the overall effects that will have is grossly
| underestimated. I kinda wish we could talk about how much raw
| energy that is ... even if we use American units of barrels of
| oil, or something.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| We tried talking about sea level rise and land area
| inundation, and more severe storms, and amongst many the
| collective response was to stick their fingers in their ears.
|
| The real conversation we should have is about money talking;
| a huge amount of assets are facing being stranded by
| insurers. Insurance doesn't really care about ideology, they
| care about making money, and so the fact they are losing
| money to climate change is pretty irrefutable evidence.
| Though right now politicians are just reframing this as
| "greedy insurance", which isn't exactly untrue.
| derf_ wrote:
| _> ...the fact they are losing money to climate change is
| pretty irrefutable evidence._
|
| Insurance prices risk. If risk goes up, so do prices. They
| will not lose (much) money (or not for long) [1], your
| insurance will just get a lot more expensive, maybe to the
| point you can no longer afford it. If the government tries
| to control prices, then insurers will just exit the market,
| or the only entrants will be severely under-capitalized,
| merely providing the veneer of insurance (e.g., because
| your mortgage lender requires it). This is already
| happening in Florida and Louisiana [2]. These insurers will
| simply go bankrupt in the event of a catastrophe, and you
| will be stuck with the loss.
|
| [1] Technically, in a competitive environment, many
| insurance companies will operate with a (small)
| underwriting loss, but they make up the difference by
| investing the float during the time between when they
| collect the premiums and when they pay out on claims. They
| will not operate with an unbounded loss.
|
| [2] https://www.wsj.com/finance/small-insurance-company-
| hurrican...
| calvinmorrison wrote:
| Probably cause we bailed out south Jersey and instead of
| packing up and heading inland Margate boasts homes over 1.5
| million dollars
| zzgo wrote:
| Number of tanks of gas for a Ford F-150 Supercab is the
| American standard unit.
| rootusrootus wrote:
| well shit, my F150 uses 0 tanks of gas, does that
| complicate things?
| mschuster91 wrote:
| > I think the disconnect between many people hearing "2C of
| warming" and the overall effects that will have is grossly
| underestimated.
|
| The problem is that the loudest voices in the global
| discussion are people living in relatively cold-ish Western
| climates because, well, we are the rich and powerful people.
| And for many of us (maybe bar the Southern-most part of the
| US), even 10 degC increase of yearly average temperatures or
| even peak temperatures would still be perfectly fine.
|
| The fact that 2 degC is probably enough to render the space
| of potentially billions of people uninhabitable is completely
| outside of the experienced reality in Western countries, we
| cannot relate from our lived reality to theirs.
|
| And that kind of disconnect is prevalent among _any_ kind of
| discourse in humanity. The fact that we can even do so, that
| right here on this website we have people worth billions of
| dollars (e.g. sama is Sam Altman!) debating with people that
| barely scrape by on their national poverty level, is a wonder
| that would have been unimaginable 200 years ago. Human
| biology, human society hasn 't evolved mechanisms to keep up
| with our technological progress, and it breaks apart
| everywhere.
| Asmod4n wrote:
| 10 degrees increase would collapse any industry, it would
| turn Norway into Italy.
|
| Do you drive to Norway for your beach holiday?
| asdff wrote:
| >And for many of us (maybe bar the Southern-most part of
| the US)
|
| Actually look at median temperatures in the US. Summers in
| Atlanta and Chicago are remarkably similar as it is.
| ares623 wrote:
| siesta for you, siesta for you, siesta for everybody!
| boelboel wrote:
| I've read before that a large portion of the warmest parts (Uttar
| Pradesh/Bihar) of India actually haven't had its temperature rise
| much because of coal power, farm burning and dust in general (a
| lot from construction) the particles block basically protect them
| against the sun.
|
| Putting India in a spot where if it would cease relying on coal
| power in 30-40+ years it would cause the temperature to rise.
| OutOfHere wrote:
| There is nothing stopping them from releasing sulfur dioxide
| into the air to have the same effect in an engineered and
| superior manner. Also, various surfaces can be painted white to
| reflect sunlight back into space. Trees also can be planted,
| and forests restored.
|
| The good thing about green energy is that one there is a
| sufficient amount of it, it can also be used for extensive air
| conditioning.
| mschuster91 wrote:
| > The good thing about green energy is that one there is a
| sufficient amount of it, it can also be used for extensive
| air conditioning.
|
| The heat doesn't vanish with AC, at least not unless you use
| a very expensive deep-underground well as a heatsink instead
| of the open air.
|
| Even if everyone has AC indoor - the air outdoor will still
| be too hot and, most likely, humid, with all the expelled
| heat from the ACs added on top of that. Animals won't stand a
| chance, especially wild ones, and humans that absolutely have
| to work outside (e.g. policemen, firefighters, EMS) will be
| just as impacted.
|
| We have to face the reality: large parts of the globe,
| impacting _billions_ of people, will be unable to support
| human and a lot of animal and plant life during the summer
| months if climate change continues at the current pace in a
| short enough time that most people reading this text will
| eventually witness this.
| nxobject wrote:
| What a choice: heatstroke, or chronic respiratory disease?
| FrustratedMonky wrote:
| If you don't have air conditioning, your laptop is going to have
| problems.
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(page generated 2026-06-13 23:01 UTC)