Extreme Heat Photo Contest: HKFP photojournalism shortlisted

Photography by HKFP’s Kyle Lam has been shortlisted in the Extreme Heat Photo Contest, organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Global Heat Health Information Network.

The competition invited photographers to depict how extreme heat affects lives and communities in real and human terms.

Two images of Pattie – a 55-year-old street cleaner sweating under unbearable heat in the New Territories – were shortlisted as finalists.

“It doesn’t matter who you are—the human body can only handle so much heat before our brain and other vital organs are affected and begin to malfunction, make us sick and shut down. Parts of our planet are already becoming so hot that they are virtually unlivable during certain times of the year.” – Joy Shumake-Guillemot, co-lead of the Global Heat Health Information Network.

HKFP Climate Project

Too often, news media depict unprecedented heatwaves with “fun in the sun” images of cheery beachgoers or children playing in fountains. But the reality is more long-term, and a lot less trivial: struggling workers, sweating pedestrians, and ecological damage.

HKFP is committed to illustrating extreme heat in an accurate and ethical way, so – in September – we released dozens of free-to-use, locally shot images for individuals and non-commercial entities as part of our Wikicommons Climate Project.

View HKFP’s Climate Project archive

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the intensity and frequency of heatwaves have continued to increase since the 1950s due to human-caused climate change. The prevalence of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide – which trap heat in the atmosphere – raises the planet’s surface temperature, with hotter, longer heatwaves putting lives at risk.

See also: How extreme heat became the deadliest silent killer among world weather disasters

Hong Kong has already warmed by 1.7 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution, research NGO Berkeley Earth says. Heat and humidity may reach lethal levels for protracted periods by the end of the century, according to a 2023 study, making it impossible to stay outdoors in some parts of the world.