Climate Change, Excessive Carbon Emissions Could Threaten Human Life in Persian Gulf by 2100: Study

A study on the adverse effects of climate change in the Middle East revealed that the fuel producing region will eventually get hotter due to the emissions that will come from the same fossil fuel the land is producing. Unless humans start to consider and lessen its CO2 emissions, the projected result will happen faster than expected, according to the research.

The findings of the study, conducted by Jeremy Pal of Loyola Marymount University and Elfatih A. B. Eltahir of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were recently published in Nature journal. The researchers arrived at their conclusion after looking deeper into the effects of an ever increasing temperature in the Middle Eastern region.

The results of their study showed that the extreme heat condition in the said region will not be the same as it has been in the past 200 years. In fact, the progression of the negative effects can happen in a shorter period of time if conditions do not change at the soonest possible time, The New York Times reported.

The research used a standard model of carbon emissions for the next eight decades at a level that the human body can only tolerate. There are currently a number of standard models under spotlight that mainly involve the Representative Concentration Pathways or RCPs, which has the ability to operate in a span of 85 years. Eltahir and Pal used the versions referred to as RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5.

RCP 4.5 shows CO2 emissions by 2100 if humans start to consider its CO2 emissions and start reducing it. On the other hand, RCP 8.5 is when humans ignore initial findings and continue on what they are currently doing with nature.

Another important aspect of the study is knowing the exact level of heat and humidity that a human person could endure to survive.  A wet bulb thermometer was used to measure mugginess or the combined measurement of the temperature and the humidity.

The study wants to show that if people do not take action, it could lead to extreme circumstances. A human being can normally survive at a maximum temperature of 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit for six full hours. If the temperature rises above the threshold, which is more likely to happen in many folds in the Middle East, it will not be bearable for any human--even the fittest-- to survive outdoors.