Dangerous heat wave sweepts Brazil

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November 2023

Sources. AP, DW, BBC

The National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) has issued red alerts for a large part of the country. These indicate that temperatures may be 5C above average for longer than five days and could pose a severe danger to health.
It’s still spring in Brazil, but a dangerous heat wave is sweeping the country. According to the National Institute of Meteorology, most Brazilian states face great danger from the heat. The institution issued a red alert for the center-west, southeast, and parts of the north, warning of “a high probability of major damage and accidents, with risks to physical integrity or even human life.” Rio de Janeiro recorded 42.5C on Sunday – a record for November – and high humidity on Tuesday meant that it felt like 58.5C, municipal authorities said. The city of São Paulo saw average temperatures of 37.3C on Tuesday afternoon, the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) reported. Amid the high heat, wildfires are burning widely in the Pantanal biome, the world’s biggest tropical wetlands spanning parts of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul states. Brazilians turned to fans, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers to cool down, and power outages were reported in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Officials have attributed it to the El Niño phenomenon and climate change. Inmet research released last week showed that the average temperature in the country had been above the historical average from July to October. According to the report, the extreme heat in a large part of the country reflects the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon (above-average warming of the waters of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean), which tends to favor an increase in temperature in several regions of the planet. The study also warns that other factors have contributed to extreme events, such as the increase in the global temperature of the Earth’s surface and oceans. We gathered articles, stories, and blog posts about environmental history and climate change already published in HCS-Manguinhos to shed some light on this matter. Topics include the production of climate knowledge, the importance of reforestation, the concept of “planetary health,” and digital archives of environmental history.   Climate Change in HCS-Manguinhos:
Miguel JCH. The technopolitics of climate change: climate models, geopolitics, and governmentality. Hist cienc saude-Manguinhos [Internet]. 2017Oct;24(4):969–87. Fonseca, S. de M., & Drummond, J. A.. (2003). The reforestation of mangrove swamps and its value in atmospheric carbon sequestration. História, Ciências, Saúde-manguinhos, 10(3), 1071–1081. The politics of climate change It examines the political dimension of processes of climate knowledge production.

Planetary Health Histories Climate change, pollution, global warming and Anthropocene are terms that can also be used by historians. This interview with Warwick Anderson and James Dunk, researchers of the history department at the University of Sydney, explains what is Planetary Health.

How science is solving today’s development problems Ebola, climate change and food security are just some of the challenges that research and science can help us face, and bring knowledge that we can act on.

Oceans and seas: history, science, policy In 2014, HCS-Manguinhos published the dossier Oceans and seas: history science, policy (v.21, n.3, jul.-set. 2014) about the history of our oceans and policies about them. It features eleven articles ranging from reports written by Captain Robert FitzRoy, from HMS Beagle, during his trip to Brazil, to the myth of the Kraken, a “monster” that haunted sailors between Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. La historia ambiental en HCS-Manguinhos Los artículos analizan temas como los archivos digitales de historia ambiental y la historiografía de los animales en América Latina. Una sola tierra HCS-Manguinhos ha publicado varios artículos sobre medio ambiente desde una perspectiva histórica. Los artículos analizan temas como los archivos digitales de historia ambiental y la historiografía de los animales en América Latina. La naturaleza como problema de las ciencias VIII Congreso de Historiadores de las Ciencias y las Humanidades: “La naturaleza como problema de las ciencias y las humanidades. Deterioro ambiental y desastres.” Registro de trabajos: del 2 de noviembre de 2021 al 03 de enero de 2022. A review of environmental historiography on Brazil This overview of books on Brazilian environmental history includes topics such as forests, agriculture, biodiversity, urban dynamics and environmentalism.

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