Life at 50°C

Life at 50°C explores the human impact of climate change starting with the stories of Farouk and Joy, working in intense heat in Nigeria.

After a deadly heatwave in Karachi, Pakistan, the use of air conditioning is on the rise – for those who can afford it. Raza, a young repairman, has never been busier. But energy-hungry Aircon itself helps drive climate change. Meanwhile, entrepreneur Shahzad Qureshi is trying to cool the city by creating urban forests.

In Australia, where global heating is causing ever more extreme temperatures, teenager India MacDonell battles to save her home from bushfire, and urban heat expert Dr Sebastian Pfausch measures surface temperatures of 90C in Sydney playgrounds.

In Mexico the Colorado River now runs dry, partly because of climate change. Together with a team of environmentalists, Antonia, a member of the Cucapah tribe, is fighting to bring it back to life. When a deadly heat wave hits the area, Julio, a paramedic in nearby Mexicali, is on call to attend to the city’s most vulnerable.

In India, another sweltering summer grips Ahmedabad, but Shakeela is offered a simple but life-changing way of cooling her home. Meanwhile in Delhi, Pappu escapes the heat by working in an ice factory. High in the mountains of Ladakh there's ice in abundance, and it offers a new solution to a growing problem. But as the country heats, traditional cooling methods are shunned: Indians are getting richer and they're buying more fridges - which only makes global heating worse.

In Mauritania, where the Sahara covers much of the country, heat has always been part of life. But now it is becoming intolerable. Sidi takes a dangerous journey on top of a freight train in search of work in a cooler climate, and Mohammed battles to save his home and date harvest from the encroaching sands of the Saharan desert.

Iraq is one of the most climate-vulnerable places on Earth. This summer, Sheikh Kezem Al-Kaabi fights to continue farming his ancestral land despite extreme heat and worsening water shortages. Meanwhile in Baghdad, traffic cop Sa’ad Saddam Abdulhasan is responsible for one of the city’s busiest intersections. He keeps the city moving, but that means working in 50C heat while standing on black asphalt. With 2021 set to be one of the hottest years on Earth, Life at 50C presents the reality of climate change.

The Middle East is heating faster than much of the world and Kuwait is careering towards unbearable temperatures. As the mercury tops 53C, three Kuwaiti citizens - a weather forecaster, an influencer, and a retired civil servant - raise the alarm. They say that Kuwait must not be allowed to get any hotter - and one of them has a solution to offer. With 2021 set to be one of the hottest years on Earth, Life at 50°C presents the human impact of our changing climate.

This year, Canada had a record heatwave which scientists say was impossible without climate change. Wildfires engulfed Patrick Michell’s hometown of Lytton after it reached 49.5°C. Now he and his community must plan for an uncertain future. Meanwhile, an environmental protest against the logging industry becomes the largest act of civil disobedience Canada’s ever seen. With 2021 set to be one of the hottest years on Earth, Life at 50°C presents the human impact of climate change.