The human-induced heat footprint arises from activities that harm the environment.
Our living and breathing ecosystems were changed by cutting down trees, draining wetlands, and sealing the ground with pavement. The way people changed their landscapes altered the water cycle. People continue to discard rainwater runoff as waste and use unsustainable industrial agriculture practices.
Our planet can only handle the blazing solar rays in two ways. Sunshine has been arriving on Earth every day for billions of years, and our ecosystems have evolved in symbiosis to convert that energy into life. Or, if there is no vegetation on the ground, nothing helps us convert the hot, blazing shortwave radiation. Bare ground cannot transform incoming solar energy into the hidden (latent) heat that has made our planet the Garden of Eden. To find out science behind these concept, keep an eye out for our book coming out soon!
The human interventions that alter the water cycle significantly increase land surface temperatures, directly impacting weather patterns and climate. Instead of being transformed by water evaporation, sunlight and solar energy are converted into sensible heat. This is a form of heat that we can actually feel.
When our landscapes lose water, there is nothing to evaporate and carry the heat to higher levels of the atmosphere. Hence, the heat index rises. Many of us are becoming familiar with the urban heat islands. But that is not the full story. Increased heat footprints and heat domes can develop across all landscapes, not just in cities.
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