The World Is Hotter, and the Work Gets Harder

I love it when you have scientific studies that point out the obvious, like studies showing that people like tastier food or that folks find attractive people more attractive than unattractive people.  In this scientific tradition, a new study  from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that, as the world gets warmer and we have summers that are hotter and muggier, people will not be able to work as hard or as much.

            Commonsense right? Well, the scientific study has some number behind it, too. The authors of the study say that the warming that we have already caused the earth has, in the last sixty years, reduced the amount of work folks can do in the worst heat by ten percent. They also project that losses to labor capacity caused by heat stress will double globally by the year 2050.

            As people realize that global warming is more than melting glaciers and sad looking polar bears stuck on shrinking ice floes, when they see how it affects how we live and work, will they want to do something about it? Business and industry, which rely on labor for their profits, are they concerned? Or is the year 2050 too far in the future to calculate in the business cycle?