Creation Care Mom

If you are lucky enough to live somewhere that has not seen the effects of climate change through increased fire, flooding, tornadoes, or hurricanes, you have probably still seen the effects of climate change through temperature. This week heat made the news both as current heat waves continue and as statistics published on last years extreme heat.

Asian countries have been dealing with extreme heat for months. Recurring heat waves from March through May have resulted in school closures, heat stroke, and death. In India alone, they suspect nearly 25,000 heat stroke cases and 56 or more deaths. Temperatures have repeatedly been 110 degrees or more with New Delhi reporting a record breaking 120 degree day on May 29th. There is no end in sight.

Closer to home, cities in California, Arizona, and Nevada are likely to break heat records in the coming days. Link. These areas are accustomed to heat, but it has never arrived so early in the summer. Fears are that the temperatures will only get higher from here. This extreme heat could even stretch as far north as Boise and Salt Lake City.

The Associated Press analyzed the 2,300 deaths that mention heat that occurred in the USA last year (2023). It was the highest number in 45 years, and with the early heat this year, this year could be worse. What they found surprising in analysis was the number of deaths occurring in places we consider “use” to the heat, in the southwest, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas especially. From their article, “Nearly three-quarters of the heat deaths last summer were in five southern states that were supposed to be used to the heat and planned for it. Except this time they couldn’t handle it, and it killed 874 people in Arizona, 450 in Texas, 226 in Nevada, 84 in Florida and 83 in Louisiana.” I highly suggest taking the time to read their article.

Last year Phoenix, saw 20 days of consecutive extreme heat in July. It was the longest stretch since at least 1940 and included blistering days and scorching nights. And yet, the future looks worse. Climate change is increasing heat waves length and severity. By 2040 or 2050, we will look back and see that 2023 was “cool” unless we continue to make progress to net zero carbon emissions, and eventually to negative carbon emissions.

I receive a weekly newsletter from climate scientist, Katherine Hayhoe. This week her issue was talking about heat and directed me to the following two stories. You can read it here.

In the good news department, in April, Arizona’s governor signed into law a bill the will guarantee the right for mobile home owners to install heat-reducing measures such as window air conditioning units or shade sails. This bill was the conclusion of research completed by ASU that found heat related deaths to be highest in mobile home communities. You can read about their work here.

Also in the news, ClimateCentral.org, released a report assessing the influence of climate change on heat waves. They categorized extreme heat as heat above the 90th percentile. Using that benchmark, ~78% of the world’s population experienced 31 or more extreme heat days and climate change has added an average of 26 days of extreme heat to our year. You can read their report summary, full report, and view the graphics here.

On a personal note, Matt, James and I decided to walk to Target yesterday morning. It was in the 70s with rather high humidity because of rain overnight. We don’t live all that far from Target so the total trip took less than 40 minutes. Totally doable yesterday, but not doable in the height of summer. Given how much I was reading about heat this week, I noticed the quite obvious lack of shade in all the commercial properties we passed by/through except one. Our Target is in a shopping mall, so the parking lot was huge. Even in the 70s, I could feel the heat radiating from the asphalt. It would be all the worse with higher air temps and the sun beating down relentlessly. I’m not saying that planting a bunch of trees in the parking lot is the best answer for this problem, but we need to find ways to reduce the heat effect our commercial properties produce.

Summertime in the USA has just begun. Please stay safe and hydrated. Be prepared for extreme heat to visit your area.