About Hotter Times
Hotter Times is the public-facing part of the open source Climate Adaptation Data Platform (CADP). It started out as a way to explore extreme weather across the planet and how it is impacting people (via linked news articles).
Through this site I learned about the Mediterranean cyclone (medicane) in September 2023 that struck Libya. Due to the heavy rain, a dam failed and killed 11,000 people. They had no advance warning because they have no functioning weather agency.
Avoiding tragedies like this is why the UN has the lofty goal of having every human on the planet protected by an early warning system (EWS). Unfortunately, many EWSes are outdated and in disrepair. They also tend to be siloed to a single hazard type. This siloing prevents data sharing and rapid development of additional EWSes.
The CADP aims to improve this situation by empowering you to get the early warnings that matter to you. Our focus is on food security and public health.
Food security and public health for all
We started off building low-cost sensor devices to provide weather forecasts for African farmers. While worthy, this solution was incomplete as the forecasts were useless without irrigation. We have established pilots in Kenya to build irrigation control into the CADP.
Irrigation control offers more than watering plants. In Kenya thr rainy season has shrunk from 3-4 months to about one month. In that time people need to collect the water they need for the remainder of the year. If they run out of water, they need to carry water from far distances or buy water.
Precise irrigation control optimizes water usage. This conserves water that would otherwise be used for drinking in many cases.
Regarding public health, climate change is impacting many ecosystems. While some insects are in mass decline, others are moving to new areas that are now hospitable to them. In particular the range of mosquitos is increasing. And with them they bring the diseases that they often carry, such as malaria and dengue fever.
Why you need personalized climate risk assessments
The CADP brings together low-cost sensor devices, weather forecasts, and an early warning system. Getting covered is a matter of turning on a device and enabling the early warnings that matter to you.
In addition to infectious disease, we are incorporating heat risk warnings into the CADP. Many national weather services provide heat risk alerts. Why build our own? In the US, NOAA and their National Weather Service provide guidance that spans the whole United States. But there are two glaring issues with their product:
- it’s limited to the United States
- it provides general guidance for a country with 330 million inhabitants
The CADP addresses both of these issues, but customization is the key here. Imagine being able to specify some basic health parameters and activities you enjoy and get custom heat risk alerts. Instead of “if you are elderly or have health complications, be cautious” you get “limit outdoor exposure to 2 hours at a time. Avoid golf, long hikes, and bring at least a quart of water.”
Early warning systems are only effective if they are accessible. Both the technology and the messaging need to be accessible, which is what we are striving for with the CADP.