How to beat the heat? Live in mud brick houses or be cave dwellers

The summer of 2023 was marked by record-breaking heatwaves with widespread local extremes that made daily life for the vast majority extremely miserable. July temperatures in large parts of southern Europe were so high – more than 40 degrees Celsius – that the Italian Meteorological Society dubbed the heatwave a “Cerberus heatwave,” after the fearsome three-headed dog in Greek mythology. This moniker may seem strange, but it should not detract from the danger posed by extreme heat waves.

Thanks to climate change, in the middle of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures in Andean cities reached 38 degrees for a few days in August, while Buenos Aires saw temperatures above 30 degrees. Forest fires are spreading everywhere, killing hundreds and forcing thousands to flee their homes. People in Maui (Hawaii) jumped into the ocean to escape “horrific” forest fires. Ocean waves near California rose by a foot.

These and other extreme weather events loudly announce that the Earth is racing toward dreaded climate “tipping points” – conditions beyond which changes become self-perpetuating and irreversible. Accordingly, and to underscore the existential threat we face today, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “the era of global warming has ended” and that “the era of global boiling has arrived.” By contrast, conservatives in the US House of Representatives are working to lay the groundwork for a Republican administration in 2024 capable of dismantling efforts to slow global warming.

Despite the indifference of far-right lawmakers in the United States and elsewhere, how can ordinary people survive in the new era where heat waves are expected to be longer-lasting, more frequent, and hotter? Among the many cooling possibilities, one option is to live in houses built of mud bricks, similar to traditional mud houses in Bangladesh. Another method, albeit far-fetched but practiced in many countries, is to become a cave dweller, also known as a caver.

Summer temperatures in high desert areas of the United States, such as Mojave, Barstow, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, are consistently above 40 degrees. To combat these high temperatures, the building material for most homes in the American Southwest is adobe blocks, a mixture of clay, sand, straw, and water dried in the hot summer sun.

Before entering the cave, we expected to see a Stone Age house – dirty, damp, poorly lit rooms with primitive toilets and kitchens. After the proud cave owner invited us to follow him into his home, we were amazed at what we saw: electric lights, air ducts, modern bathrooms with showers and toilets, hot and cold running water, and a state-of-the-art kitchen.

Because of their earthy composition, mud brick walls absorb heat during the day and radiate it at night. During the winter, the walls retain heat and keep the cold outside. Brick homes are unique in that they are more fire resistant and help reduce energy consumption. If built properly, they can last a long time without needing major repairs. Moreover, unlike regular bricks, mud brick making is environmentally friendly because it does not require a kiln and therefore does not emit greenhouse gases that lead to global warming.

On the other hand, to deal with difficult climates, people have been living in caves for thousands of years. Geothermal energy storage keeps caves comfortable year-round. For example, from about 1190 to 1300, the Native American Anasazi built shallow caves under the overhanging cliffs along the walls of the Mesa Verde Valley — Spanish for “Green Table Mountain” — near Cortez in southwestern Colorado.

Up to 20,000 people in Cappadocia in central Turkey, known as the Kingdom of Caves, lived in underground cities from the 7th century until 1952. Now, many of the cave dwellings have been restored and turned into upscale hotels.

There are cave dwellers today too. Recently, when my wife and I were traveling from Granada to Valencia, Spain, we stopped by the remote rural town of Godex to see a cave dwelling. The cave area is marked as “Barrio Troglodyte” which means “town of cave dwellers”. Nestled in the yellow-hued cliffs of the surrounding area, the area’s cave dwellings, where many inhabitants have lived for hundreds of years, have been hollowed out of the soft tufa stone of the hills. Dazzling white chimneys and cave walls juxtapose dramatically with the snow-capped peaks of the nearby Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Cave dwellings in Mesa Verde, Colorado, United States. Photo: Mahjabeen Haider

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Cave dwellings in Mesa Verde, Colorado, United States. Photo: Mahjabeen Haider