Posted on October 11, 2023 at 11:00 am
Haider Quamrul
The summer of 2023 was marked by unprecedented heat waves with widespread local extremes that made the daily lives of the vast majority miserable beyond measure. July temperatures across much of southern Europe were so high (over 40 degrees Celsius) that the Italian Meteorological Society dubbed the heat wave the “Cerberus Heat Wave,” after the fearsome three-headed dog of Cerberus. Greek mythology. The nickname may seem peculiar, but it shouldn’t distract us from the danger posed by scorching heat waves.
Thanks to climate change, in the middle of winter in the southern hemisphere, the towns of the Andes Mountains reached 38 degrees during some days in August, while in Buenos Aires temperatures above 30 degrees were recorded. Wildfires are spreading everywhere, killing hundreds of people and forcing thousands to flee their homes. People on Maui, Hawaii, jumped into the ocean to escape “apocalyptic” wildfires. And ocean waves near California have grown another foot.
These and other extreme weather events scream that the Earth is racing toward feared climate “tipping points”: conditions beyond which changes become self-perpetuating and irreversible. Accordingly, to underline the existential threat we face today, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “the era of global warming is over” and “the era of global boiling has arrived.” By contrast, conservatives in the U.S. House of Representatives are laying the groundwork for a Republican administration in 2024 that would dismantle efforts to curb global warming.
Despite the nonchalance of far-right lawmakers in the United States and elsewhere, how can ordinary people survive in the new era in which heat waves are predicted to be longer, more frequent and brutally hot? Among the many cooling possibilities, one option is to live in houses built with adobe blocks, similar to the traditional mud houses of Bangladesh. Another option, although far-fetched but practiced in several countries, is to become a cave dweller, also known as a troglodyte.
Summer temperatures in high desert regions of the United States, such as Mojave, Barstow, Phoenix and Las Vegas, consistently exceed 40 degrees. To cope with such high temperatures, the building material for most homes in the American Southwest are adobe blocks, which are a mixture of clay, sand, straw and water dried in the summer sun.
Before entering the cave, we expected to see a Stone Age house: dirty, damp, poorly lit rooms with primitive bathrooms and kitchens. After the proud owner of the cave beckoned us to follow him to his house, we were taken aback by what we saw: electric lights, ducts for air circulation, modern bathrooms with showers, toilets, hot and cold running water, and a state-of-the-art kitchen.
Due to their earthen composition, adobe walls absorb heat during the day and radiate it during the night. During the winter, walls retain heat and keep the cold out. As unique as they are, adobe houses are more resistant to fire and help reduce energy consumption. If built properly, they can last a long time without requiring major repairs. Additionally, unlike regular bricks, making adobe bricks is eco-friendly as they do not require a kiln and therefore do not emit planet-warming greenhouse gases.
On the other hand, to cope with difficult climates, people have lived in caves for thousands of years. Geothermal energy storage keeps the caves comfortable year-round. For example, between approximately 1190 and 1300, ancient Anasazi Native Americans built shallow caves under the overhanging cliffs along the walls of Mesa Verde Canyon (Spanish for “green table”) near Cortez in the southwest. from Colorado.
Known as the Kingdom of Caves, up to 20,000 people in Cappadocia, central Turkiye, lived in underground cities from the 7th century to 1952. Now, many cave dwellings have been restored and converted into luxury hotels.
Today there are also cave dwellers. Recently, while my wife and I were traveling from Granada to Valencia in Spain, we stopped in Gaudíx, an off-the-beaten-path provincial town, to see a cave. The cave area is signposted as “Barrio Troglodita”, which means “village of cave dwellers”. Nestled in the surrounding ocher cliffs, the region’s troglodyte dwellings, where many of its inhabitants have lived for hundreds of years, were carved into the soft tufa stone of the hills. The dazzling chimneys and whitewashed walls of the caves are dramatically juxtaposed with the snow-capped peaks of the nearby Sierra Nevada.
Troglodyte dwellings in Mesa Verde, Colorado, United States. PHOTO: MAHJABEEN HAIDER
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Troglodyte dwellings in Mesa Verde, Colorado, United States. PHOTO: MAHJABEEN HAIDER
Before entering the cave, we expected to see a Stone Age house: dirty, damp, poorly lit rooms with primitive bathrooms and kitchens. After the proud owner of the cave beckoned us to follow him to his house, we were baffled by what we saw: electric lights, ducts for air circulation, modern bathrooms with showers, toilets, hot and cold running water, and a state-of-the-art kitchen. Clearly, our host’s underground home had all the amenities of the 21st century, including Wi-Fi and other cutting-edge technologies.
Inside Gaudíx’s troglodyte homes, the temperature is around 18-20 degrees day and night, all year round. The temperature outside was 10 degrees during our visit in December. The Guadix troglodytes, therefore, do not need cooling or heating devices.
Troglodytes can be found in many other regions of the world. In Coober Pedy, an opal mining town in outback Australia where summer temperatures regularly reach 52 degrees, about 60 percent of the population of nearly 2,500 are troglodytes. In addition to homes, there are underground restaurants, shops, motels and a church.
In certain areas of northern China, caves serve as homes for more than 40 million people. Some of the local Berbers of Matmata, a village in southern Tunisia, live in underground caves. There are troglodytes in Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, in Sassi di Matera in southern Italy, and on the Bandiagara Escarpment, a sandstone cliff in Mali. In the Loire Valley and the Dordogne region of France, there are caves inhabited by troglodytes. The people of the village of Bhalil in Morocco live in caves carved into the rock face.
There has never been a “one silver bullet” solution to dealing with intense heat waves. However, when the going gets tough, we have to rethink the structure of our lives in the context of an entire ecosystem and make appropriate changes to the way we live today. If our leaders are reluctant to address the root cause of global warming, then one of those changes is to return to a simpler lifestyle: build thermally insulated houses with adobe bricks or become troglodytes.
Dr Quamrul Haider He is professor emeritus at Fordham University in New York, United States.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
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