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up front Monday 10 July 2023

Cities have long made plans for extreme heat. Are they enough in

a warming world?

Continued from Front ment has laws to protect
people in cold climates
Around the world, cities from having their heat shut
and countries have adopt- off in dangerous conditions,
ed similar measures. but doesn’t have some-
But experts warn those thing similar for cooling.
steps might not be enough “For people in apartments
in a world that is seeing that are not publicly subsi-
heat records consistently dized, there is no require-
shatter and with continu- ment for landlords to pro-
ing inequality in who is most vide air conditioning,”
vulnerable. Bachin said. “That’s incred-
“I don’t know a single city ibly dangerous to particu-
that is truly prepared for larly our local low-income
the worst-case scenario population, let alone peo-
that some climate scientists ple who are unhoused or
fear,” said Eric Klinenberg, are outdoor workers.”
a professor of social scienc- Klinenberg said that the
es at New York University United States has so far
who wrote a book about gotten lucky with the du-
the Chicago heat wave. ration of most heat waves,
Heat preparedness has but that electrical grids vul-
generally improved over nerable to high demand in
the years as forecasting some regions, along with
has become more accu- persistent social inequities,
rate, and as meteorolo- could spell serious trouble
gists, journalists and gov- in the coming decades.
ernment officials have That’s partly because the
focused on spreading the underlying social problems
word of upcoming danger. that make heat events so
Chicago, for example, has deadly are only getting
expanded its emergency worse, Klinenberg said. Chi-
text and email notification cago’s 1995 deaths were
system and identified its The suns sets behind the Rocky Mountains after daytime high temperatures reached above clustered not only in poor
most vulnerable residents 90-degrees Fahrenheit, 32 Celsius, Monday, June 26, 2023, in Denver. and segregated neighbor-
for outreach. Associated Press hoods, but also specifically
But what works in one city within what he calls “de-
might not be as effective ple in city apartments and higher, and sets in motion Kate Moretti, an emergen- pleted” neighborhoods,
in another. That’s because homes without air condi- things like more social serv- cy room physician, said the places where it’s harder for
each has its own unique tioning. The system includes ices in communities most city’s hospitals see more people to gather together
architecture, transporta- public announcements vulnerable to heat risks. patients when the heat and where social connec-
tion, layout and inequities, urging people to hydrate. He lauded the heat officers strikes — with increases in tions have been worn thin.
said Bharat Venkat, an as- Just last month, Germany in cities like Los Angeles, Mi- illnesses that may not be Empty lots, abandoned res-
sociate professor at UCLA launched a new campaign ami and Phoenix, but said obviously related to heat, taurants and poorly main-
who directs the university’s against heatwave deaths there are “still over 19,000 like heart attacks, kidney tained parks mean that
Heat Lab, aimed at tack- that it said was inspired by cities and towns without failure and mental health people are less likely to
ling what he calls “thermal France’s experience. them.” problems. check up on each other.
inequality.” In India, a powerful heat Inkyu Han, an environmen- “We definitely notice that it Noboru Nakamura, a pro-
Venkat thinks cities should wave in 2010 with tempera- tal health scientist at Tem- puts a strain on the system,” fessor of atmospheric sci-
address inequality by in- tures over 118 degrees Fahr- ple University in Philadel- Moretti said. Older people, ences at the University of
vesting in labor rights, sus- enheit (48 degrees Celsius) phia, noted that cities are people who work outdoors, Chicago who specializes
tainable development and led to the deaths of over still struggling to get aids people with disabilities and in extreme weather events,
more. That may sound ex- 1,300 people in the city of such as cooling centers people who are homeless said he thinks Chicago
pensive — who pays, for Ahmedabad. City officials and subsidized air condi- make up a big share of has made plenty of smart
instance, when a city tries now have a heat action tioning into poorer neigh- those admissions, she said. changes by implement-
to improve conditions for plan to improve awareness borhoods. He said more Miami — considered a ing heat emergency plans,
workers in blistering food in the local population and can be done, too, with ground zero for the climate routine wellness checks
trucks? — but Venkat thinks health care staff. Another simple and sustainable change threat due to its and cooling centers.
doing nothing will ultimate- simple initiative: Painting solutions such as improv- vulnerability to sea level But he too cited inequality
ly cost more. roofs white to reflect the ing tree canopy. “Nota- rise, flooding, hurricanes as a difficult challenge.
“The status quo is actu- blazing sun. bly, low-income neighbor- and extreme heat — ap- “A systemic problem of a
ally deeply expensive,” he Ladd Keith, an assistant hoods and communities of pointed its heat officer two resource inequity is some-
said. “We just don’t do the professor at the Univer- color in Philadelphia often years ago to develop strat- thing that you can’t really
math.” sity of Arizona, cited Balti- lack street trees and green egies to keep people safe get rid of overnight. And
France launched a heat more’s Code Red Extreme spaces,” Han said. from the heat. we still have the same is-
watch warning system after Heat alerts as an example In Providence, Rhode Is- Robin Bachin, an associate sue that we had back then
an extended heat wave of a well-designed alert sys- land, the Atlantic Ocean professor of civic and com- today,” Nakamura said.
in 2003 was estimated to tem. The alerts go out when typically moderates tem- munity engagement at the “So that aspect still is a
have caused 15,000 deaths the forecast calls for a heat peratures but the region University of Miami, noted big, big, big, big unsolved
— many of them older peo- index of 105 Fahrenheit or can still get heat waves. that the federal govern- problem.”q