Heat can kill - here's how to help!

INSPIRATION

My friend Patricia Solis is a geographer who studies resilience and helps people prepare for climate-induced disasters. Not long after she arrived at Arizona State University (ASU), she was working with community members to map heat-related deaths in the city and noticed a peculiar hot spot. “Why would death rates be clustered there?” she wondered. “It must be a data error.” A few days later, driving to campus, she neared that hotspot. Shocked, she realized it wasn’t a data error: the neighborhood consisted entirely of mobile homes.

That began her nearly decade-long quest to understand why mobile home residents were so much more vulnerable to extreme heat and what could be done to fix it. With help from researchers and students from the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience center Patricia leads at ASU, they began interviewing residents. They soon confirmed the scope of the problem: most mobile home parks are covered in heat-absorbing concrete with little shade, and it can be up to 40C or 105F indoors during a heatwave.

Older model homes are often poorly insulated, and many residents frequently can’t afford their utility bills. Since they don’t own the land, residents aren’t allowed to plant trees or put in grass to cool the area, and they’re not eligible for utility assistance if they pay their landlord for power - as most do. As a result, though mobile homes account for 5 percent of housing in Maricopa County, they were responsible for 39 percent of indoor heat deaths at the start of her study in 2019.

The team quickly put together a guide for residents and planners on how to reduce heat in mobile home communities with shade sails and roof insulation and worked with the AZ Association of Manufactured Home, RV & Park Model Owners to distribute it. However, then they discovered a deeper problem: some landlords weren’t allowing residents to install shade sails or even window AC units, sometimes.

To address this, Patricia shared their data with local community-action organizations, testified to the state legislature, and educated elected officials. Their efforts paid off: their proposed bill passed unanimously through committee, unanimously in the Arizona state house, and unanimously in the state senate and on April 2 of this year, a new law was signed preventing landlords from denying tenants the right to install an air conditioner or other cooling measures.

“This is an inspiring example of what can happen when you work on the issues that come from the community with the community,” Patricia says – and I know it’s just the first of many changes to come. She says, "In this era of climate change we need everyone to be prepared and be able to adapt their own homes. This work will prevent barriers for some of the most vulnerable people to keep themselves cool.” To paraphrase anthropologist Margaret Mead’s famous quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change their community.”

NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS

Last year alone, climate change was responsible for an average of 26 additional days of extreme heat, a recent report by the Red Cross / Red Crescent in collaboration with Climate Central and World Weather Attribution (WWA) reveals. The report also finds that 78 percent of the world’s population experienced at least a month of extreme heat last year, made twice as likely thanks to climate change. To raise awareness of heat risks, they designated yesterday, June 2, as Global Heat Action Day. 

The release of this report is timely, as just last week temperatures in Delhi reached a sweltering 52C (126F). If verified, this will be the highest temperature ever recorded in India. This heatwave has already caused dozens of deaths, wildfires, severe water shortages, and impacts on local wildlife, from bird deaths to monkeys falling from trees. 

In Mexico last month, a heatwave caused over 138 howler monkey deaths in the southern state of Tabasco. Meanwhile, in Finland, a record 15 days in May exceeded the country’s heatwave threshold. And in the Philippines, a WWA analysis determined that their recent heatwave was so extreme that it would have been impossible without climate change. All around the world, people’s well-being and livelihoods are being affected by extreme heat.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

How can you stay safe in extreme heat, and ensure others do, too? First, take this risk seriously. Even if you’ve lived in the same place for a long time, it doesn’t feel the same any more thanks to climate change. It’s much hotter! 

Joellen Russell who guest-edited the newsletter last week lives in Arizona. There, summers are so hot now that hiking trails are closing and new cooling centers are opening to keep people safe. I’ve lived in Texas for more than 15 years, and never got heat stroke before. The last two summers, though, every member of our family got it – some of us more than once! – even though we’ve increased our water intake and cut our time outside. 

If you can, avoid spending much time outside when it’s hot, and don’t leave pets outside either. Save outdoor activities for early mornings or cooler weeks. This includes sports practices and outdoor events like concerts and festivals. If you have to be outside, especially if you’re working outdoors, stay hydrated, wear a hat, and take as many breaks as you can. 

Extreme heat disproportionately affects young children and the elderly, especially those with chronic medical conditions. Check on anyone you know who might be vulnerable, making sure they are okay and that they have a cool place to be. Support organizations that care for people in your community who may not be able to pay their utility bills or get to a cooling center, like the mobile home residents Patricia and her team work with. 

Home cooling can get very expensive for all of us during heatwaves. If you have an AC unit, get it checked early in the season and replace your filters to ensure good airflow. Help any elderly people you know do the same. If you don’t have AC – or even if you do, but there’s a risk of power outages due to grid overload – find places where you can stay cool during the day, like cooling centers, public libraries, or shopping malls, and know how to get there if needed. 

According to the WHO, heat stress is already the leading cause of weather-related deaths around the world. Nearly half a million people die from it every year, and it’s getting worse. We all need to help each other prepare for these growing risks and stay safe.