Kuwait a climate change harbinger, so hot birds and fish die and life is lived indoors

When the temperature reaches 50 degrees Celsius and Ali Habib can no longer stand the heat outside, he stands up from his chair below a parasol on a street corner and heads to his car.

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He turns on the air conditioning and cools down for a while.

Habib, who spends 12 hours a day selling sunflower seeds to drivers in Kuwait, knows all too well what it feels like to spend a summer in extreme heat.

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Located on the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, the country can feel like an oven during summer, with the hot air that blows across the country making breathing hard and skin and hair hot in minutes.

People take shelter from the sun in Kuwait City during summer. Photo: AFP
People take shelter from the sun in Kuwait City during summer. Photo: AFP

No one goes outside during the day unless they have to.

  

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