Most of Brazil was on a heat alert this weekend, as heat indices reached as high as 140°F. An ocean away, South Sudan is closing its schools in advance of an extreme, two-week heatwave with temperatures forecast to hit 113°F (45°C) in one of the world’s youngest, least climate-culpable, and most climate-vulnerable nations.
About 3,200 miles east across the Arabian Sea, water is already in short supply in Bangaluru, India with the year’s hottest and driest months yet to come and the city (also known as Bangalore) is growing faster than groundwater supplies. February and March have been unusually hot and the region has received little rainfall, in part due to climate change. The city’s runaway inequality is only exacerbating the crisis with the extravagant headquarters of multiple global software companies buying up potable water at inflated prices. Bhavani Mani Muthuvel, a 40-year resident of the Ambedkar Nagar neighborhood can only afford about five 5-gallon buckets of water for her family of nine per week. “From taking showers to using toilets and washing clothes, we are taking turns to do everything,” she said. (South Sudan: AP; Bangaluru: AP; Brazil: AP)