According to a study recently published in Nature Climate Change, areas of the Persian Gulf could become uninhabitable by the end of this century, 100 years sooner than previous studies suggested. This is because waves of heat and humidity may become so intense that being outside for several hours could be fatal.

In response to these findings, David Hondula - a senior sustainability scientist and climatologist - said, "We have a lot of evidence and confidence that heat is going to be a major game-changer for certain locations, populations, lifestyles and activities. I would say that this is a different lens to look at an ongoing theme in sustainability and public health literature. I appreciate that the paper illustrates a large-scale outdoor activity that occurs in this part of the world that is one of those particularly high-interest and high-impact cases. But in no way is this ritual 'likely to become hazardous to human health' — it already is."