Extreme heat is an ever-growing threat to human health and well-being, one that has been exacerbated by global warming. Those soaring highs, associated with the greenhouse-gas emissions generated by our industrialized world, have increased the earth’s average temperature by 1.2 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century. However, the specter of rising temperatures is not evenly distributed geographically and disproportionately affects the Global South—the very regions that were exploited to fuel the industrial economies of the West. It is now estimated that nearly 40 percent of deaths resulting from heat exposure over the last three decades derive from human-made global warming, with much of that suffering inflicted on Africa, South Asia, Central and South America, and the Mediterranean Rim.
North America is also grappling with extreme heat conditions, as even formerly moderate regions, such as the Pacific Northwest, experience searing summer heat waves. In Portland, Oregon, for example, temperatures reached nearly 120 degrees Fahrenheit last summer, resulting in a spike in deaths and the failure of infrastructure. Such issues are further compounded by the continued legacies of urban disinvestment, where certain communities, often poor and of color, are subject to higher sustained temperatures due to the urban heat-island effect—in short, an abundance of heat-retaining surfaces and a dearth of vegetation.
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