Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20220621

A28 u.s. news
Diamars 21 Juni 2022

Sweltering streets: Hundreds of homeless die in extreme heat

does combined. seasonal map that volunteer shade, using cooler materials
climatologists created for the for roofs, and expanding its
Around the country, heat International Research Insti- network of cooling centers
contributes to some 1,500 tute at Columbia University. during heat waves.
deaths annually, and advo-
cates estimate about half of Last summer, a heat wave It’s not just a U.S. prob-
those people are homeless. blasted the normally temper- lem. An Associated Press
ate U.S. Northwest and had analysis last year of a dataset
Temperatures are rising near- Seattle residents sleeping in published by the Columbia
ly everywhere because of their yards and on roofs, or University’s climate school
global warming, combining fleeing to hotels with air con- found exposure to extreme
with brutal drought in some ditioning. Across the state, heat has tripled and now af-
places to create more intense, several people presumed to fects about a quarter of the
frequent and longer heat be homeless died outdoors, world’s population.
waves. The past few sum- including a man slumped be-
mers have been some of the hind a gas station. This spring, an extreme heat
hottest on record. wave gripped much of Paki-
(AP) — Hundreds of blue, In Oregon, officials opened stan and India, where home-
green and grey tents are “During the summer, it’s Just in the county that in- 24-hour cooling centers lessness is widespread due
pitched under the sun’s pretty hard to find a place cludes Phoenix, at least 130 for the first time. Volunteer to discrimination and insuf-
searing rays in down- at night that’s cool enough homeless people were among teams fanned out with wa- ficient housing. The high in
town Phoenix, a jumble to sleep without the police the 339 individuals who died ter and popsicles to homeless Jacobabad, Pakistan near the
of flimsy canvas and plas- running you off,” said Chris from heat-associated causes encampments on Portland’s border with India hit 122 de-
tic along dusty sidewalks. Medlock, a homeless Phoe- in 2021. outskirts. grees (50 Celsius) in May.
Here, in the hottest big nix man known on the streets
city in America, thousands as “T-Bone” who carries ev- “If 130 homeless people were A quick scientific analysis Dr. Dileep Mavalankar, who
of homeless people swel- erything he owns in a small dying in any other way it concluded last year’s Pacific heads the Indian Institute of
ter as the summer’s triple backpack and often beds would be considered a mass Northwest heat wave was Public Health in the western
digit temperatures arrive. down in a park or a nearby casualty event,” said Kristie virtually impossible with- Indian city Gandhinagar, said
desert preserve to avoid the L. Ebi, a professor of global out human-caused climate because of poor reporting it’s
The stifling tent city has bal- crowds. health at the University of change adding several de- unknown how many die in
looned amid pandemic-era Washington. grees and toppling previous the country from heat expo-
evictions and surging rents “If a kind soul could just of- records. sure.
that have dumped hundreds fer a place on their couch It’s a problem that stretches
more people onto the siz- indoors maybe more people across the United States, and Even Boston is exploring Summertime cooling cen-
zling streets that grow ee- would live,” Medlock said at now, with rising global tem- ways to protect diverse neigh- ters for homeless, elderly and
rily quiet when temperatures a dining room where home- peratures, heat is no longer borhoods like its Chinatown, other vulnerable populations
peak in the midafternoon. A less people can get some a danger just in places like where population density have opened in several Eu-
heat wave earlier this month shade and a free meal. Phoenix. and few shade trees help ropean countries each sum-
brought temperatures of up drive temperatures up to 106 mer since a heat wave killed
to 114 degrees (45.5 Celsius) Excessive heat causes more This summer will likely degrees (41 Celsius) some 70,000 people across Europe
- and it’s only June. Highs weather-related deaths in bring above-normal temper- summer days. The city plans in 2003.
reached 118 degrees (47.7 the United States than hur- atures over most land areas strategies like increasing tree
Celsius) last year. ricanes, flooding and torna- worldwide, according to a canopy and other kinds of

Pennsylvania Democrats aim for united front

(AP) — One candidate is could go a long way in help- Fetterman and Shapiro are paign, Pennsylvania swung to stroke.
unabashedly blunt, will- ing the party keep control of working toward a united Joe Biden in 2020 — but only
ing to embrace progres- the chamber. front ahead of the fall elec- by about 1 percentage point. Campaign aides say they ex-
sive positions, doing little tion. And Democrats gearing up pect the men will appear to-
to build rapport with par- Shapiro, meanwhile, poses for the 2022 campaign are al- gether at bigger events, such
ty leaders and dominating even larger existential ques- They are participating in a ready facing huge challenges. as rallies, regional campaign
rooms with a 6-foot-8-inch tions as he faces a Republican coordinated campaign fund- office openings or party
frame. The other crafts a rival for governor who has ed and run by national and Fetterman suffered a stroke events to raise money, help
more moderate image, a embraced conspiracies about state party organizations, in- just days before winning his boost turnout or highlight
deliberate public speaker the last presidential election cluding the Democratic Na- party’s nomination for the down-ticket candidates.
who became a congressio- and would have significant tional Committee, Demo- Senate race last month and
nal aide out of college and influence over running the cratic Governors Association has not yet returned to the Earlier this month, Fetter-
has carefully cultivated next one in the premier bat- and the Democratic Senato- campaign trail, or given much man’s wife, Gisele, stood
relationships within the tleground state. rial Campaign Committee. indication when he will do in for him at an event with
party ever since. so. And both candidates will Shapiro where they spoke at
“The stakes have never been Together, these groups could be running in a difficult en- the opening of a coordinated
In both style and substance, higher, the contrast has never send more money to Penn- vironment for Democrats, campaign office in Pitts-
John Fetterman and Josh been clearer,” Shapiro told sylvania than anywhere else weighed down by Biden’s burgh.
Shapiro strike dramatically state Democratic Party com- to register and persuade vot- unpopularity and rising pric-
different profiles. mittee members at their Sat- ers as part of what the state es for everyday goods, food “I look forward to getting
urday meeting in Gettysburg. party calls “the largest and and gasoline. John out here, and I know
Yet their fate — and that of “This commonwealth has the earliest midterm coordinated he’s chomping at the bit to
the Democratic Party — is power to decide whether we campaign in Pennsylvania Aides to both campaigns say get out, too,” Shapiro said
intertwined in a pair of Penn- have the 51st senator. This history.” the coordination has already Friday. Fetterman’s campaign
sylvania elections that will commonwealth has the pow- begun. said in a statement that “we
be among the most closely er to decide whether the great Such help from national or- look forward” to campaign-
watched in the U.S. experiment that started in the ganizations may be badly Fetterman’s and Shapiro’s ing with Shapiro and helping
city of Philadelphia 245 years needed in a big swing state. campaigns say they have been other Democrats on the fall
Fetterman offers Democrats ago continues.” in touch often, and Shapiro ballot.
their clearest path to picking After backing Donald Trump said he has texted with Fet-
up a U.S. Senate seat, which With the stakes so high, in the 2016 presidential cam- terman since Fetterman’s