Heat record – let’s go take selfies!

A rant

I’m in a very privileged position as even though Switzerland was hit by really high temperatures (high for us who live without air-conditioning in our houses/apartments), but it didn’t get as bad as in 2016 and we had a lot of thunderstorms that brought relief. Other parts of the world like southern Europe or the southwestern United States have been hit hard. People are dying and it’s DIRECTLY linked to the heat. The reason I’m mentioning southern Europe and the American Southwest is because I’m in Europe and not very far from Italy. And I used to live in California, have travelled through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah many times and I have friends who live there.

Also, the headlines I see don’t really mention other places. I remember reading about heat records in Italy, Spain and Death Valley and the continued heat in Arizona where the news is not that it’s incredibly hot, but that it’s been insanely hot for an unprecedented number of consecutive days.

I know there are other places around the globe that are struggling and have been for years if not decades. We are in this together and solving the problem will also need to be a global effort. I also think we need to start thinking on a basic human level. We need to start thinking about people as human beings that deserve to be treated with kindness and compassion.

How is it okay to just let homeless people die on the sidewalks from severe burns? How is it okay to let people drown in the Mediterranean? How is it okay to tell people who are displaced by climate change that it’s their own fault for leaving? Is this really how we want to treat fellow human beings? Have we stopped to think what we are doing?

There are people dying from heat exposure, from severe burns because they have nowhere to go. Yet the headlines read “tourists evacuated from holiday resort in Greece due to raging wildfires” or something like that. I’m not saying the situation is not horrible for those tourists and I hope they all make it out alive. I’m just wondering if we really are more sympathetic towards people who are being evacuated to safety than we are towards homeless people who have nowhere to go and are left to die. Is this really us? It is if newspaper headlines are anything to go buy or the stories being shared on social media.

The horrific story that started me looking into this

Sometimes when I discuss these topics with friends it becomes clear that what’s missing is a connection between the facts and the human experience. If you read John Burn-Murdoch’s article (it’s free to read, but you need to register). This is also an issue he raises. A rise in temperature of 1.5 to 2°C does not seem like a lot, but if you look at the number of heat-related deaths in Arizona. That’s the human experience of that increase.

Source: John Burn-Murdoch’s Twitter

Did you see what it says in this tweet? 85 people suffered severe burns and seven of them died. Does a 1.5°C increase in global temperature still feel small looking at those numbers. And as John says. This is happening NOW. I don’t know if people realize how hot the pavement can get or had to get for people to die from their burns and it’s horrific to think about. How do those people not have a place to go? How do we not prevent this from happening?

What does the heat do to our bodies and why is it a problem?

I found this very interesting in terms of what happens to your body when it’s exposed to extreme heat.

World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum on Instagram: “What are your tips for staying cool? Learn how countries are keeping citizens safe from extreme heat by tapping on the link in our bio.”

July 14, 2023

For those of you without IG. Here are 4 ways extreme heat affects your body

Your heart rate rises

As your blood vessels open, your blood pressure drops. So your heart has to work harder. For every 0.5°C (1°F) rise in core temperature, your heartbeat goes up 10 beats per minute which may make you feel lightheaded.

Your skin flushes as your blood vessels open up

This helps your body lose heat from its surface but it can also cause symptoms such as heat rash or swollen feet.

You start to sweat more

Sweat helps cool the body as it evaporates from the skin but sweating too much can also lead to dehydration and the loss of key electrolytes. Combined with low blood pressure, this can cause heat exhaustion. Symptoms include cramps, dizziness, nausea, fainting and confusion.

If it’s particularly humid, sweating becomes less effective at cooling you

This can lead to heat stroke which is when the core body temperature rises past 40°C. Sufferers may hallucinate or have seizures. Organs such as the kidney and liver begin to shut down and the heart can go into cardiac arrest.

If someone is confused, uncoordinated, has a fit or is still unwell after 30 minutes of resting and cooling or their skin stops sweating and becomes hot and dry to the touch they may have heatstroke and need medical attention.

Relief offered

I liked this story about how air-conditioned buildings opened their doors to everybody. This was in Barcelona. It’s great that they banned some outdoor work during the heatwave, but that somebody had to die (last summer) for them to react is really beyond comprehension.

Let me also tell you about CODE: RED

I don’t think I can do this relief organization based in Phoenix justice. Please click on the picture to read about them properly. CODE: RED offers relief to homeless people who are extremely vulnerable in this heat.

Anybody can get involved in their effort. It also explains in a slightly different way than above what happens to the body, how much more water our bodies need in this heat and so much more. As I said before – we are in this together. Just because some of us are luckier than others doesn’t mean the unlucky ones deserve to die horrible deaths in this heat. This is the human toll of the climate crisis. This is what we are doing to our planet and to each other. This is happening NOW! We are there. No need to wait for 10 or 20 years for people to die from the heat. They already are. Also in countries that we don’t talk about that much, because nobody is there to report on their stories/deaths.

But yes! Of course, we should all flock to Death Valley and take selfies with the record breaking temperatures on the screen. Makes perfect sense! How about we actually DO something NOW?

We’re not, because we are more uncomfortable with making the necessary and very possible policy changes, having those difficult conversations, pissing off the mighty fossil fuel industry or entire countries than we are with people burning to death on our sidewalks. I don’t think we should be okay with that. Time to grow some balls and pair it with compassion for human beings!

Stay hydrated and out of the heat as much as you can.

Notes:

Code Red 2023 - Phoenix Rescue Mission

What we get wrong when we talk about global warming | Financial Times (ft.com)

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1682367131885682688?s=20

WEF Instagram