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"What this new study means is that the same 30 percent of land that will be subject to more drought by 2100 will also be subject to more monster heat waves like the European one in 2003 and Russian one in 2010," Romm says.By that estimation, one third of the planet's land will be prone to mega-heat waves by the end of the century. And like so many phenomena spurred on by climate change—melting ice cover, thawing permafrost—it will create an ominous feedback loop. Heat waves dry out the soil and cause worse heat waves which dry out the soil even more and prime the ground for mega-heat waves, which—and so on.Such a cycle will make combating desertification and growing crops in hotter climes even more challenging. We'll have to embrace new water management regimes and adaptation technologies—like this solar farm/cropland hybrid concept, maybe—that help keep the soil moist while hastening a transition away from the fossil fuels that are heating the globe. But these mega-heat waves are all but assured to become a fact of life in the near-future. Some studies have determined that such massive heat events will be up to ten times more likely in coming years.As Romm says, "this continues to makes clear that the greatest challenge facing humanity this century will be feeding 9 billion people post-2050 in a world that is running out of arable land and potable water."I think back to my summer in Europe in 2003, and I remember sweat glistening on foreheads, dampening armpits, people driven to the shade in droves, weak in the knees. It's a strange thing to remember sweat. Or a dryness so distinct that events seem painted on a landscape of parched pastel, but I do. I remember the heat: it was heavy; it had its own gravity, a slimy burden bearing down on every pore.And I was on vacation. I can't imagine exercising, or working—doing physical labor; building, hauling, tilling land—under those conditions. No one should have to suffer through that. But we're going to, because we're living in the age of the mega-heat wave."The greatest challenge facing humanity this century will be feeding 9 billion people post-2050 in a world that is running out of arable land and potable water."