{"id":36200,"date":"2018-07-26T07:27:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T12:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=36200"},"modified":"2018-07-26T07:27:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T12:27:29","slug":"the-global-heatwave-is-about-to-hit-your-wallet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=36200","title":{"rendered":"The Global Heatwave Is About to Hit Your Wallet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A\u00a0combine harvester cuts a field of rapeseed in the U.K. Major crops\u00a0are expected to be smaller due to dry conditions. \u00a0 \u00a0 Photographer: Bloomberg Creative Photos\/Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The Global Heatwave Is About to Hit Your Wallet<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Scorching\u00a0weather across the globe makes fields\u00a0too dry for crops, rivers too warm to cool power plants, and leaves wind turbines idle \u2013\u00a0and it\u2019s pushing commodities prices higher<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Commodity producers are having\u00a0a summer to remember, for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

A heatwave across swathes of North America, Europe and Asia, coupled with a worsening drought in some areas, is causing spikes in the prices of\u00a0anything from wheat to electricity. Cotton plants are stunted in parched Texas\u00a0fields, French rivers are too warm to effectively cool nuclear reactors and the Russian wheat crop is faltering.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0scorching heat\u00a0is extracting a heavy human cost \u2013\u00a0contributing to floods in Japan and Laos and wildfires near Athens. Relief from soaring temperatures,\u00a0which topped 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Arctic Circle,\u00a0\u00a0may not arrive for at least two weeks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0a timely reminder of the vulnerability of global commodity markets to the\u00a0changing climate, as human activity disrupts the behavior of plants<\/a>, animals and the march of the seasons.<\/p>\n

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Grain Pain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wheat prices surge to a three-year high as the heatwave hurts Europe’s crop<\/p>\n