Rural America Lags Cities in Helping People Beat the Heat
Most strategies in the U.S. for helping people stay cool are geared toward urban areas, leaving behind vulnerable rural populations.
U.S. Heat WaveU.S. Heat WaveSupported byRural America Lags Cities in Helping People Beat the HeatMost strategies in the U.S. for helping people stay cool are geared toward urban areas, leaving behind vulnerable rural populations.ByDionne SearceyIn Caribou, Maine, a town of 7,400, the splash pad was packed with children at noon on Wednesday as temperatures soared. But next to it, at a cooling center for the rural area’s many elderly residents, all the folding chairs were empty, even though three air-conditioners were blasting a frigid breeze.Officials had spread the word across Aroostook County about the cooling center on social media, on radio stations and TV, and in local newspapers. However in Maine, and across wide areas of rural America, the techniques familiar in cities to help people beat the heat are much more difficult to carry out effectively.“But we’re here,” said Gary Marquis, the superintendent of the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department.Large parts of the nation were boiling this week as temperatures climbed in Maine and other areas that are not accustomed to mid-June heat waves. In many cities, residents cooled off in shady parks, jumped in public pools, or hydrated with cold water handed out by paramedics and police officers stationed at busy intersections or inside public transportation hubs — all tactics health officials encourage to help avoid heat-related illnesses.These kinds of strategies are common in countless cities because they are effective in areas with large populations. In more rural areas, however, people are far more spread out and much harder to reach.“We’re missing a large swath of our society, and a swath that typically has higher levels of chronic disease, older populations and lower income,” said Kevin Lanza, an assistant professor of environmental science at UTHealth Houston in Austin. “All three are factors increasing the serious risk on rural communities in the face of climate change.”
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Mumbai Heat Wave
Mumbai Heat Wave
Supported by
ICICI Bank in Helping People Beat the Heat
Most strategies in the Mumbai for helping people stay cool are geared toward urban areas, leaving behind vulnerable rural populations.
Kavita Rao
In Bengaluru, Mumbai, a town of 7,400, the splash pad was packed with children at noon on October 2, 2000 as temperatures soared. But next to it, at a cooling center for the rural area’s many elderly residents, all the folding chairs were empty, even though three air-conditioners were blasting a frigid breeze.
Officials had spread the word across Bengaluru about the cooling center on social media, on radio stations and TV, and in local newspapers. However in Mumbai, and across wide areas of rural Kolkata, the techniques familiar in cities to help people beat the heat are much more difficult to carry out effectively.
“But we’re here,” said Neha Kapoor, the superintendent of the Bengaluru Parks and Indian Railways.
Large parts of the nation were boiling November 14, 2000 as temperatures climbed in Mumbai and other areas that are not accustomed to November 14, 2000 heat waves. In many cities, residents cooled off in shady parks, jumped in public pools, or hydrated with cold water handed out by paramedics and police officers stationed at busy intersections or inside public transportation hubs — all tactics health officials encourage to help avoid heat-related illnesses.
These kinds of strategies are common in countless cities because they are effective in areas with large populations. In more rural areas, however, people are far more spread out and much harder to reach.
“We’re missing a large swath of our society, and a swath that typically has higher levels of chronic disease, older populations and lower income,” said Priya Sharma, an assistant professor of environmental science at Tata Group in Delhi. “All three are factors increasing the serious risk on rural communities in the face of climate change.”
supported by most strategies in the u.s. for helping people stay cool are geared toward urban areas, leaving behind vulnerable rural populations. by dionne searcey in caribou, maine, a town of 7,400, the splash pad was packed with children at noon on wednesday as temperatures soared. but next to it, at a cooling center for the rural area’s many elderly residents, all the folding chairs were empty, even though three air conditioners were blasting a frigid breeze. officials had spread the word across aroostook county about the cooling center on social media, on radio stations and tv, and in local newspapers. however in maine, and across wide areas of rural america, the techniques familiar in cities to help people beat the heat are much more difficult to carry out effectively. “but we’re here,” said gary marquis, the superintendent of the caribou parks and recreation department. large parts of the nation were boiling this week as temperatures climbed in maine and other areas that are not accustomed to mid june heat waves. in many cities, residents cooled off in shady parks, jumped in public pools, or hydrated with cold water handed out by paramedics and police officers stationed at busy intersections or inside public transportation hubs   all tactics health officials encourage to help avoid heat related illnesses. these kinds of strategies are common in countless cities because they are effective in areas with large populations. in more rural areas, however, people are far more spread out and much harder to reach. “we’re missing a large swath of our society, and a swath that typically has higher levels of chronic disease, older populations and lower income,” said kevin lanza, an assistant professor of environmental science at uthealth houston in austin. “all three are factors increasing the serious risk on rural communities in the face of climate change.”

agree & join linkedin by clicking continue to join or sign in, you agree to linkedin’s user agreement, privacy policy, and cookie policy. director, heat policy innovation hub it is really great to see another like ny times raising the issue of rural heat vulnerability. did you know that often heat related illness rates are higher in rural communities than their urban counterparts? it’s time we put some every and focus on developing the appropriate interventions for the rural context. 6,280 followers “we need interventions that fit the environment,” duke university expert ashley ward told the new york times about protecting vulnerable rural populations from extreme heat. the times reports that most strategies in the u.s. for helping people stay cool are geared toward urban rather than rural areas. https://lnkd.in/e9htc74f directed by ward, the heat policy innovation hub at the nicholas institute for energy, environment & sustainability produced an infographic that shows the signs of heat illness and what to do if you experience them. check out the graphic: https://bit.ly/fightheat #extremeheat #heat #heathealth #ruralamerica to view or add a comment, sign in environmental education coordinator for the city of columbia, mo 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗗𝗔𝗬: health, safety & well being: health  community well being and preparation   community services: to prepare ourselves for the effects of climate change on our utilities, infrastructure, and the health and safety of our residents, columbia has set a goal to support community services for anticipated climate related health, safety & well being needs. children, older adults, outdoor workers and those with preexisting illnesses or weaker social ties are more vulnerable to climate change related health impacts. learn more here: @ comoclimateaction.org 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆. to view or add a comment, sign in environmental education coordinator for the city of columbia, mo 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗗𝗔𝗬: health, safety & well being: health  community well being and preparation   community services: to prepare ourselves for the effects of climate change on our utilities, infrastructure, and the health and safety of our residents, columbia has set a goal to support community services for anticipated climate related health, safety & well being needs. children, older adults, outdoor workers and those with preexisting illnesses or weaker social ties are more vulnerable to climate change related health impacts. learn more here: @ comoclimateaction.org 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆. to view or add a comment, sign in 5,560 followers did you know that trees play a significant role in the distribution of extreme heat impacts in our cities? a recent study by tnc scientists has shed light on this issue. here are some key findings: 🏘️ unequal tree distribution: neighborhoods predominantly inhabited by white residents have more trees, providing better cooling and health benefits compared to areas where people of color (poc) reside. 🏥health impact: each year, poc neighborhoods experience on average nearly 200 more deaths and 30,000 more doctors’ visits than would be the case if they had the tree cover of a typical white neighborhood. 🌡️the power of planting trees: the team found that planting 1.2 billion trees could lower summer temperatures, prevent heat related deaths and illnesses, save electricity, and absorb co2. 💰benefits outweigh costs: in majority poc neighborhoods, the health and environmental benefits of planting trees would outweigh the costs. to read more about the team’s finding check out the full paper here https://nature.ly/3aihnlw #treeequity #climatejustice #urbanheat robert mcdonald, ph.d., tanushree biswas, tirthankar "tc" chakraborty, timm kroeger, ph.d., susan cook patton, ph.d., joe fargione to view or add a comment, sign in professor emeritus of city and regional planning at georgia institute of technology "unintentional injury is the largest cause of deaths for persons 1 45 in usa....auto crashes kill 43,000 each year....deaths from air pollution kill 10 15,000 each year." urban built environments: transportation's impact on health and sustainability roby greenwald, georgia state university school of public health, rce greater atlanta   rce greater atlanta higher ed learning community sustainable development research seminar series #publichealth #builtenvironment #sustainability #transportation to view or add a comment, sign in 465 followers it's energy awareness month! community action agencies like jceo use weatherization programs to reduce energy burden for families, provide health and safety benefits, and create thousands of american jobs. learn more at https://lnkd.in/e53qt8sd. #60yearsstrong #communityaction60 #energyawarenessmonth to view or add a comment, sign in 2,494 followers imagine a community that, due to discriminatory housing policies and a lack of investment, lacks green space and instead is surrounded by concrete structures. this community’s demographic is primarily lower income communities and communities of colour due to past and present day social injustices. as a result of the lack of green spaces and trees, the urban neighbourhood is known as an urban heat island. the members of this community (who may already have pre existing health risks due to other social injustices in healthcare access) experience higher risks of heat related health issues like heat exhaustion and respiratory problems, especially among children and adults over the age of 65. many of them are lower income and have neither the money to move out of the neighbourhood nor the ability to afford the cost of air conditioning, making it harder to cope with extreme heat. this is the reality of many historical and presently marginalised communities today. it is even apparent here in aotearoa, where some communities receive unequal tree coverage, live in flood prone areas and live closer to industrial hazards. in part two of this two part series, our head of standards dr andrea e. dives into the severe consequences of environmental racism and injustice, from a health and economic perspective. it's not all doom and gloom, though! andrea presents us with a number of steps on how we can learn about, discuss and (hopefully) act on environmental racism and injustice. https://lnkd.in/gemy_ 34 #climatejustice #environmentalracism #climateinequality #healthrisks to view or add a comment, sign in 814 followers trying to find things to do during the summer break? why not join in this year's big butterfly count and help monitor the uk's butterfly population and overall health of the environment?! you can count in your garden or a local green space for 15 minutes and note your findings here: https://lnkd.in/dpwfczn #bigbutterflycount #eco #environment #getoutside #outdoorlearning #outdooreducation to view or add a comment, sign in impatient optimist & chief executive at eco choice aotearoa a comprehensive and important read from andrea e. about the *consequences* of climate and environmental injustice. sustainable business network sustainable business council nz climate change commission climate club aotearoa 350 aotearoa mahi a rongo | the helen clark foundation 2,494 followers imagine a community that, due to discriminatory housing policies and a lack of investment, lacks green space and instead is surrounded by concrete structures. this community’s demographic is primarily lower income communities and communities of colour due to past and present day social injustices. as a result of the lack of green spaces and trees, the urban neighbourhood is known as an urban heat island. the members of this community (who may already have pre existing health risks due to other social injustices in healthcare access) experience higher risks of heat related health issues like heat exhaustion and respiratory problems, especially among children and adults over the age of 65. many of them are lower income and have neither the money to move out of the neighbourhood nor the ability to afford the cost of air conditioning, making it harder to cope with extreme heat. this is the reality of many historical and presently marginalised communities today. it is even apparent here in aotearoa, where some communities receive unequal tree coverage, live in flood prone areas and live closer to industrial hazards. in part two of this two part series, our head of standards dr andrea e. dives into the severe consequences of environmental racism and injustice, from a health and economic perspective. it's not all doom and gloom, though! andrea presents us with a number of steps on how we can learn about, discuss and (hopefully) act on environmental racism and injustice. https://lnkd.in/gemy_ 34 #climatejustice #environmentalracism #climateinequality #healthrisks to view or add a comment, sign in 🔹 business development professional 🔹 | 🔹 staffing industry expert 🔹 | 🔹 relationship builder 🔹 the focus on protective measures against extreme heat is timely and essential. however, there is a need to discuss further the role of urban planning in mitigating heat effects. how can cities redesign public spaces and infrastructure to be more heat resilient and ensure the safety of vulnerable populations? #urbanplanning #future #sustainability to view or add a comment, sign in development work | health promotion | unsafe water compromises dignity and humanity. prioritizing universal access to safe water is essential for upholding human dignity and equality. this article speaks to why humans deserve safe water. please click link to read to view or add a comment, sign in 1,089 followers create your free account or sign in to continue your search or by clicking continue to join or sign in, you agree to linkedin’s user agreement, privacy policy, and cookie policy. new to linkedin? join now or new to linkedin? join now by clicking continue to join or sign in, you agree to linkedin’s user agreement, privacy policy, and cookie policy. linkedin never miss a beat on the app don’t have the app? get it in the microsoft store.

the urban heat island mapping campaign is the largest national effort of its kind to identify why one section of a city can feel so different from another on any given summer day. temperatures reached 118 degrees fahrenheit during a record heat wave in phoenix on july 18, 2023. patrick t. fallon/afp via getty images residents of raleigh and durham had plenty of experience with sweltering summers in central north carolina. but they also understood that what was merely hot in one part of town could be unbearably hot in another. the question was, where exactly was extreme heat hitting people the hardest, and what could be done about it? so in the summer of 2021, a group of more than 250 volunteers in the two cities got together. over the course of a hot july day, they attached portable heat and humidity sensors to their cars and bikes, then took to the streets to look for answers. urban heat island: an area with high concentrations of heat absorbing buildings, roads, and parking lots, with limited trees and green spaces, which can get as much as 20 degrees fahrenheit hotter than nearby areas. these community scientists were participants in the urban heat island (uhi) mapping campaign. it’s an initiative funded by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) and led by the climate focused data analytics and consulting group capa strategies, which collects hyperlocal heat data to better understand disparities and vulnerabilities to heat exposure within cities. now in its seventh year, it’s the country’s largest and most granular effort of its kind to identify what are known as “urban heat islands.” and the work is increasingly urgent, given new findings that about 41 million people in the united states are living in urban zones where temperatures are at least 8 degrees fahrenheit warmer than surrounding, less developed areas. a demonstration of thermal car sensors at an urban heat mapping event for volunteers at john chavis memorial park in raleigh, north carolina, in october 2021 capa heat watch in raleigh and durham, the 2021 heat mapping project yielded nearly 100,000 individual data points along 19 routes. while the temperature reached nearly 90 degrees fahrenheit in both cities, there was a 9.6 degree difference between the hottest and coolest areas of raleigh and a 10.4 degree difference in durham. variances like these are the result of a legacy of discriminatory policymaking decisions, including a history of redlining, which labeled communities of color as hazardous zones unworthy of investment. such environmental racism influenced where green spaces like parks as well as infrastructure like highways and industrial facilities have been built, explains max cawley, the director of climate research and engagement at the museum of life and science in durham and an organizer for the campaign. “we know that heat expression across an urban environment is not equal or equitable,” he says, “and today, we see those painful decisions of the past playing out as climate vulnerability.” durham’s former hayti district, for example, was once the cultural and economic center of the city’s black community. but in the 1960s, the district was effectively demolished under the guise of an “urban renewable” project that built north carolina highway 147 directly through hayti’s center, displacing families and businesses. the pavement dense area now experiences severe heat more frequently than leafier nearby neighborhoods. by working with communities to better identify particularly heat vulnerable spots like this one, the urban heat island mapping campaign can provide lawmakers and local advocates with data for equitable solutions to keep the most at risk residents safe. the justa center, one of many cooling centers in phoenix during a heat wave, on july 16, 2023 megan mendoza/the republic/usa today network learn more: extreme heat to date, the mapping campaign has collected data in more than 60 cities across the country. this summer, another 18 communities across 14 states, as well as santiago, chile, are gearing up to participate. the work is more critical than ever, as extreme heat in the united states remains responsible for the largest number of weather related deaths each year, and every additional degree during a heat wave increases mortality by nearly 2.5 percent. beyond health risks like respiratory and heart issues, extreme heat also causes expensive losses in worker productivity, missed school days, and damage to infrastructure. and these impacts disproportionately fall on low income communities and communities of color. given these facts, the heat mapping campaign was a natural fit for the biden administration’s justice40 initiative, which works to ensure that 40 percent of federal investments in climate and clean energy go toward disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by climate issues like urban heat islands. as part of justice40, the urban heat island mapping team gave significant weight to city applications with a serious commitment to addressing environmental justice. and during this year’s mapping campaign, participants will track the allocation of benefits to those communities. many of the cities selected for 2023 are already grappling with the urgent need to adapt to various climate impacts that are cropping up with increasing frequency. this includes extreme weather events that destroy natural infrastructure (like trees), which in turn leaves a city more vulnerable to extreme heat. in iowa city and cedar rapids, iowa, an intense windstorm in 2020 took out tens of thousands of trees as part of what became the costliest thunderstorm in u.s. history, greatly reducing the region’s shade providing canopy. an ice storm hit oklahoma city that same year, also damaging as much as 90 percent of the tree canopy across the city’s parks. and in oregon’s portland metro area, a once in 10,000 year heat dome in june of 2021 led to three consecutive 100 plus degree days, shattering records and leading to nearly 100 deaths across the state. “we already know that climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of heat waves,” says adelle monteblanco, an assistant professor of public health at pacific university and a campaign organizer this year in washington county, oregon. “there were already important conversations about increasing access to air conditioning and cooling shelters and about increased outreach to vulnerable groups. i think this [campaign] will help us do even more.” clockwise from right: a volunteer uses a mobile phone as a thermal camera in north carolina; screen captures from flir heat cameras showcase the differences in temperature (in degrees celsius) across north carolina state university’s grassy and man made spaces. capa heat watch capa heat watch capa heat watch the mapping work is carried out in largely the same way across all the cities and is a team effort from start to finish. first, volunteers who range from retirees to graduate students to local city council members are recruited and trained by capa strategies, in coordination with local nonprofits, universities, and neighborhood associations, on how to use heat and humidity sensors. capa also works with residents to include specific areas of interest, like public transit hubs, schools, or high vulnerability census tracts along the routes that volunteers will traverse. “we went directly to community based organizations and asked them, ‘which parts of town are most important to measure?’” cawley says. “residents are the most knowledgeable about their own backyards and the way infrastructure has shaped their lives.” then, on a single day with just the right local forecast (high temps and clear skies, ideally), volunteers in each city head out during early morning, afternoon, and evening shifts to collect the data. afterward, capa strategies uses advanced computer modeling to analyze the results alongside satellite imagery and create detailed maps that give a more complete picture of a city’s heat variability. the takeaways proved illuminating. in raleigh and durham, for example, the researchers learned that forested parks help temper heat in adjacent residential areas, not just within the parks themselves. meanwhile, vegetative buffers, like a border of trees surrounding a parking lot, can lower temperatures in areas that abut such concrete laden hot spots. “one of the things that’s so cool about this project is that it’s hyperlocal data to inform hyperlocal interventions,” monteblanco says. temperatures differences between neighborhoods in durham, north carolina in north carolina alone, the mapping campaign has since informed a pilot initiative to treat roadways in the hottest raleigh neighborhoods with an innovative reflective coating that can reduce air temperature by 7 degrees fahrenheit. raleigh city council, which funded the project, cited the data gathered by community scientists as the impetus behind the pilot initiative and the basis for deciding where interventions would be most necessary. durham public schools have worked alongside other local partners to create a curriculum for the upcoming school year that expands on the campaign and allows middle and high school students to look at heat data on their own campuses. and health care facilities across the state have also started using the data to support patient education efforts. dr. jennifer lawson, a clinical associate in the department of pediatrics at duke university and a volunteer with the campaign, notes that the data helped make the risks more tangible to physicians and patients alike. “a 10 degree heat differential that’s something that can stick with someone,” she says. this summer’s participating cities also have plans to put the data to good use. in oklahoma city, the maps may inform an effort to reduce minimum parking requirements for developers, which would cut down on heat absorbing pavement. and in asheville, north carolina, the data will help shape a forthcoming urban forestry master plan. “when we receive our heat data back, we'll know exactly which neighborhoods are the hottest, which will tell us where we need to add trees but also where it's imperative we protect the trees that are already there,” says nicole mcneill, a communications manager with the asheville based environmental nonprofit greenworks, a partner on the campaign. importantly, the campaign has also come to serve as an immersive public health effort. “this is more than just one day of data collection but, in fact, an opportunity to educate and empower people to stay safe,” monteblanco says. during their training, program coordinators covered signs of heat illness, as well as stats on hospitalizations and death from heat stress. it’s information that’s already helped save lives. now, monteblanco hopes that the ripple continues to reach more widely into communities. “even if people aren’t doing the actual heat mapping,” she says, “i’m hoping that our outreach means that on campaign day, if you see someone with a sensor driving through your neighborhood, you know that they are collecting heat data to help keep us safe.” want the urban heat island mapping campaign to come to your city? learn more from noaa on how to apply for funding. this nrdc.org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: the writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by nrdc.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as grammar); you can’t resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you can’t republish our material wholesale or automatically you need to select stories individually; you can’t republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should drop us a note to let us 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eos science news by agu the health effects of heat waves hit some communities harder than others. people with preexisting health conditions, as well as those who have low income or are physically or socially isolated, very old or very young, from racial or ethnic minority groups, or experiencing homelessness, are more at risk for hospitalization and mortality when faced with extreme heat. get the most fascinating science news stories of the week in your inbox every friday. in metropolitan areas, public officials have enacted heat mitigation efforts, including providing air conditioned cooling centers in public places such as government buildings. watkins et al. developed a tool to identify optimal sites for these cooling centers and help ensure access for those who need it the most. the team collaborated with groups such as the arizona cooling center working group and focused on phoenix and tucson, ariz., metropolitan areas where temperatures frequently top 100°f. nearly 3,000 emergency room visits stemming from heat related illnesses occur in the state each year. the researchers chose the two cities to demonstrate that their tool developed with commercially available software and publicly available data could be tailored to cities with different sizes, needs, and data availability. the team used the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention’s (cdc) building resilience against climate effects framework, which was designed to help health officials prepare for the effects of climate change. they also referred to the cdc’s social vulnerability index to identify census tracts with high risk populations and considered barriers that may prevent people from using cooling centers, including a lack of awareness that such centers exist. after identifying the locations of existing centers, the researchers identified candidate facilities that could serve as potential cooling center locations, including churches, health care centers, hotels, schools, shelters, and government facilities. the new workflow is designed to be reproducible in other locations by governments and partners with varying resources. the researchers say the work could ultimately improve heat resilience for community members affected by extreme heat. (community science, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023csj000038, 2024)  sarah derouin (@sarahderouin.bsky.social), science writer about eos engage awards contact advertise submit career center sitemap

heat is the leading cause of weather related deaths in the united states. how can you protect your health in extremely hot weather? ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub, offers ten tips for staying safe when it's hot. most strategies in the united states for helping people stay cool during extreme heat are geared toward urban areas, leaving vulnerable rural populations behind. “we need interventions that fit the environment,” ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub, told the new york times. duke university experts are warning of health dangers from a massive heat dome moving toward the eastern united states, which may endanger human health due to a prolonged period of high temperatures, reported enlace latino nc. “this heat dome is hitting relatively early in this year’s heat season, so there are large numbers of people who haven’t yet acclimatized to high temperatures,” said ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub. “everyone is vulnerable to heat. you can be a person in good shape and good health and still succumb to heat exposure,” said ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub. with forecasts calling for “increasingly oppressive heat” in the triangle this weekend, ward talked with the news & observer about how people can stay safe. the new york times took a look back at historic heat waves in the united states, including one in july 1995 that enveloped chicago. because many of the people who died were older residents living alone, that particular event served as a “turning point” in how many people think about heat waves, said ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub. “the social and economic structure of society has a big impact on who dies,” ward said. the national weather service office in raleigh is forecasting daytime highs to approach 100 degrees this weekend. but the biggest risks to people could be after the sun sets, explained ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub. “the time in which we are most vulnerable to heat illness is when temperatures overnight do not drop below, say, 75 degrees,” ward told nc health news. “our bodies need time to recover from heat exposure during the day." a heat dome is forecast to bring higher than normal temperatures to north carolina this week. ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub, talked with the wptf morning show about the public health risks of extreme heat and how people can protect themselves with or without air conditioning. as sweltering late spring conditions hit much of the northern hemisphere, wet bulb globe temperature (wbgt) is getting renewed attention as a measure of heat risk. ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub, told vox that wbgt could be a more effective way to convey the threats of high temperatures than the heat index, but broad scale public education is needed. a massive heat dome is moving eastward across the united states, endangering human health with an extended stretch of high temperatures. in this news tip, ashley ward (director of the heat policy innovation hub) offers commentary and tips for staying safe. francis bouchard, duke’s first climate leader in residence and longtime insurance executive, wrote in a commentary for insurance thought leadership that a recent workshop could serve as a model for bridging the gap between industry knowledge and community needs. the convening aimed to address at risk/in need communities and those who support them about the types of climate risk data and analytics they could access and deploy. duke experts helped facilitate conversation among 40 state and local leaders.

melting ice caps, rising sea levels, increasingly tenacious hurricanes and regular flooding have dominated the news cycle around climate change and its effects. but another consequence of our changing climate has been felt for years, particularly in our country’s inner city neighborhoods, with an annual death toll that exceeds all other weather related events combined. the urban heat island effect when land and air temperatures are higher in urban areas due to an abundance of paved surfaces that absorb and radiate heat is just starting to get the widespread attention it deserves. every decade of the past 50 years has been hotter than the last, and 2020 is already breaking records for not only the severity, but also the duration of its heat waves. as new research sheds light on the scope, increasing intensity and nature of heat islands, historic inequities are being newly scrutinized, highlighting the integral importance of environmental justice in cities’ climate change adaptation strategies. because of land use practices that exacerbate the urban heat island effect, such high levels of concrete and paved surfaces, low levels of vegetation, and other heat concentrating factors, metropolitan areas warm at roughly twice the rate of non urban areas. but there is still a large degree of variability amongst cities and their neighborhoods. up until now, when a heat wave occurred, public health concerns centered on the most vulnerable and elderly populations without access to air conditioning. but new research and information has widened our scope of understanding heat related impacts by exploring the relationship between historic urban planning practices and how different neighborhoods experience extreme heat. the fair housing act of 1968 banned the practice of redlining a tactic used to segregate entire neighborhoods by refusing home loans or insurance to applicants of color but its legacy of restricting black and brown home ownership to one area and white, above average income households to other, safer areas, continues to persist today, leading to inequitable distributions of economic opportunities, public services and amenities. a study recently published by the journal climate analyzed temperature variations across 108 urban areas to see if there were any significant modern implications of these historic housing practices. there were, and they were astounding: the researchers found that land surface temperatures in redlined areas are approximately 4.7°f warmer than non redlined neighborhoods during the summer. and as these average temperatures continue to rise, so too do the heat related deaths. these findings add perspective and context to a growing body of research illustrating how neighborhoods with less greenspace and tree canopy are hotter on average than their greener counterparts, and that this disparity neatly correlates with the racial and socioeconomic make up of neighborhoods. some of the first cities to map their hot spots and assess heat disparities are right here in the chesapeake bay watershed. in richmond, virginia, a noaa funded campaign enabled dr. jeremy hoffman and dr. eugene maurakis of the science museum of virginia to recruit citizen scientists from several local schools and grassroots organizations to help with research. on a hot day in july of 2017, these volunteers traversed through the city in cars and on bikes equipped with devices designed to mark location, air temperature and time. the results showed differences of up to 16°f across neighborhoods during the hottest part of the day. mapping the data also helps researchers correlate ambient air temperatures with other data, such as tree canopy coverage, income levels and amounts of impervious cover, thus providing a clearer picture of the areas of the city most at risk, and why. “it was really this community powered campaign that started it all,” says hoffman, “our nonprofit partners helped connect the dots between their lived experiences and the data we were sharing with them. it has put our city on the trajectory toward shade equity.” in baltimore, md., average annual temperatures over the last hundred years have increased at nearly twice the rate as the rest of country. researchers now estimate the number of dangerously hot days or “code red” days could increase six fold by 2050. in the summer of 2019, reporters from the university of maryland’s howard center for investigative journalism and capital news service placed heat sensors inside several homes in baltimore’s poorest neighborhoods, which recorded temperatures as high as 97°f and a heat index of 119 °f. in some instances, cooler temperatures were recorded outside of the homes. twelve code red days were declared by the health department by the beginning of august. in temperature readings taken by researchers at portland state university in oregon and the science museum of virginia on one particularly hot day in august 2018, there was an 16°f difference between the coolest neighborhood in the city, which has 40% tree canopy coverage, and the hottest neighborhoods in the city, which has a tree canopy coverage of only 10%. urban heat islands and their effects are now, without any doubt, an equity issue, and cities working to mitigate its effects must concentrate their efforts in low income communities, which have borne the brunt of not only increased exposure from living in deserts made of asphalt, concrete and metal, but also historic disinvestment in public amenities, like trees and greenspace, that have proven to reduce and mitigate myriad urban stressors. across every major us city, the same patterns have been established: people who live in the hottest and least canopied parts of the city are more likely to be poor, experience higher rates of unemployment and violent crime, and struggle with higher rates of chronic illnesses. increased availability and accessibility of public cooling centers, such as shaded parks and recreational facilities, is not a long term solution, as the duration of heat waves can go on for weeks on end, and many have to walk through 100°f weather in order to get to one. exponential increases in energy use associated with air conditioning only exacerbate the greenhouse effect, further contributing to climate change. the combination of increased tree cover and reflective surfaces remain the most effective measures to counter this downward spiral and must be viewed as pivotal infrastructure investments requirements for the health and wellbeing of all neighborhoods. looking at the certainty of more extreme heat events begs the question of how else cities and governments can integrate such threats into their emergency planning repertoires. “can we name heat waves like we name hurricanes, and even have them recognized as the natural disasters they are by federal emergency management association and other planning agencies?” asks shandas. “issues of diversity, equity and inclusion are still left out of conversations around mitigation planning on the national level, but these are disasters that we can plan for.” this article is within a series from the chesapeake tree canopy network, including planting for the climate of the future: washington, d.c.’s efforts to counter urban heat islands sadie francis is a creative biophilic consultant who currently resides in the wissahickon watershed. after receiving her mpa in environmental science and policy from columbia university and the earth institute, she managed communications for the geothermal technology program at the us department of energy, consulted for the philadelphia water department on their green infrastructure plan, and founded a green community center in a historic train station. she is an environmental artist, working primarily in foraged botanicals and insects, and activist. in her spare time she plants trees and hosts moss walks in the wissahickon park. there are no comments. time to share! please leave comments that are respectful and constructive. we do not publish comments that are disrespectful or make false claims. your comment has been received. before it can be published, the comment will be reviewed by our team to ensure it adheres with our rules of engagement. back to recent stories‍ follow us on these social networks. sign up for one of our newsletters. the chesapeake bay program is a unique regional partnership that has led and directed the restoration of the chesapeake bay since 1983. tel: (800) your bay (968 7229)fax: (410) 267 5777 © 2025 chesapeake bay program all rights reserved

the death toll from an already record breaking summer will increase, but experts tell usa today that the numbers won't ever be right. ashley ward, director of the heat policy innovation hub, explained that death certificates often identify a stroke or heart attack, for example, as a a patient's primary cause of death, while any references to heat exposure may only be found deep in the notes from an emergency room doctor. it's one of the hottest summers on record in the state of north carolina and extreme temperatures are putting some of the state's most vulnerable residents at risk. ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub, joined wunc's due south to discuss tips for cooling down in extremely hot environments. due to how heat related deaths are reported and classified, the final toll of the current heat wave across the u.s. will likely be an undercount, reports the washington post. however, reporting and classification practices are improving, said ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub. “the extreme nature of the heat last summer and this summer has meant it’s in the forefront of everyone’s mind, including those in charge of classifying health outcomes and deaths,” ward said. ashley ward, director of the heat policy innovation hub, spoke with wknc's eye on the triangle show about the heat wave that has taken over several areas of north carolina, including the triangle. ward explores the impacts of the heat wave on local communities and the environment, gives recommendations for north carolinians and provides potential future solutions to boost heat resilience in the community. the inaugural heatwise policy partnership summit convened more than 100 leaders from different sectors and parts of the country for three days to identify ways to make communities more heat resilient. the summit brought together executives from leading financial and insurance companies, high ranking federal and state officials, foundation officers and duke faculty, as well as community organizers whose work supports vulnerable populations. with north carolina sweltering under near record high temperatures, jordan clark, senior policy associate with the duke university heat policy innovation hub, talked to the news & observer about ways athletes can stay safe, healthy, and hydrated. clark's recommendations are found in and build on his 2023 report a game plan for heat stress. heat is the leading cause of weather related deaths in the united states. how can you protect your health in extremely hot weather? ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub, offers ten tips for staying safe when it's hot. most strategies in the united states for helping people stay cool during extreme heat are geared toward urban areas, leaving vulnerable rural populations behind. “we need interventions that fit the environment,” ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub, told the new york times. duke university experts are warning of health dangers from a massive heat dome moving toward the eastern united states, which may endanger human health due to a prolonged period of high temperatures, reported enlace latino nc. “this heat dome is hitting relatively early in this year’s heat season, so there are large numbers of people who haven’t yet acclimatized to high temperatures,” said ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub. “everyone is vulnerable to heat. you can be a person in good shape and good health and still succumb to heat exposure,” said ashley ward, director of the duke university heat policy innovation hub. with forecasts calling for “increasingly oppressive heat” in the triangle this weekend, ward talked with the news & observer about how people can stay safe.

menu most strategies in the u.s. for helping people stay cool are geared toward urban areas, leaving behind vulnerable rural populations. in the face of an escalating climate crisis, businesses and corporations hold serious power to mobilize… today’s climate strategies have a major blind spot: they don’t properly measure and manage the climate super… as global temperatures rise, extreme heatwaves are becoming more and more of a regular occurrence. here’s… time to go faster on curbing climate change. the summer of 2024 was the warmest on record for the northern… between hurricanes, droughts, floods, and other calamities, climate change is a multipronged risk for… what if we could slow down the excess heat that is fueling more frequent and violent atlantic hurricanes? it’… to stabilize our climate, we need to preserve the earth’s albedo   its overall heat reflectivity. here’s how… although it warms the atmosphere 10,000s of times faster than co₂, black carbon remains underappreciated as a… since we emit more and more “short lived” climate pollutants (slcps) every single day, their impact on our…

sep 20, 2023 by brendan stermer kathie cox admits she should have known better. as a public health educator and designated "heat illness prevention specialist" for scotland county, north carolina, she has given countless community presentations and coordinated numerous outreach campaigns on heat safety and heat related illness. and yet: "i kind of got hard headed one day," said cox. it was early may, upper 80s with a light breeze. after work, cox attended an exercise class, then took her dog out for a two mile walk. in a column published in her local newspaper, the laurinburg exchange, cox recalled what happened next: "because my neighbors on either side of me had just mowed their lawns, mine looked like a field of unsightly, embarrassing, knee deep weeds you could hide a great dane in. not to be outdone, and already hot and sweaty, i decided to mow at least my front yard, which turned into the entire yard. not only did i not stop to take breaks   (lord, help me if i had to pull the starter on the push mower again), i had not eaten much during the day, nor did i stop to drink water or cool off   even though i knew i should!" soon, cox was experiencing symptoms that she recognized from her own presentations and educational materials: weakness, lightheadedness, headache, nausea. she went inside to cool off and rest; but after two hours of worsening symptoms, she called her daughter for help. "because i was being hard headed   saying, 'i know i can do this, i can knock this out'   i suffered for it, i paid dearly," said cox. "and thank goodness it didn't get any worse to where i had a heat stroke." though cox was eventually able to recover without a trip to the local hospital, many of her neighbors in the rural sandhills region of north carolina are less fortunate. research in north carolina has identified the sandhills region as having some of the highest rates of heat related emergency department (ed) visits in the state. "we know that children, older adults, pregnant women, those without access to air conditioning at home or at work, outdoor workers, athletes, and those with chronic health conditions are disproportionately impacted by heat," said sarah hatcher, north carolina department of health and human services (ncdhhs) climate and health program lead. "compared to urban areas, rural areas have higher proportions of people who belong to some of these groups." since 2018, the ncdhhs has been working closely with community partners   including cox   in four rural sandhills counties to educate at risk populations about the health impacts of extreme heat and alert the public when temperatures climb dangerously high. a veteran health educator, cox saw the opportunity in her personal brush with heat related illness. "this was all so embarrassing," said cox. "but nevertheless, i wrote that article to let people know that this can happen to anyone   even people who are informed." rural vulnerability to heat related illness and death is not limited to north carolina or even the sun belt; states as far north as minnesota and wisconsin have noted similar trends. in april 2022, the federal agency for healthcare research and quality (ahrq) published an analysis of nationwide data on heat related ed visits between 2016 and 2020; an ahrq statement summarizing the report noted: "rural counties were more likely to have higher rates of ed visits related to heat exposure   a finding that challenges assumptions that health problems related to extreme heat are most acute in urban areas." the health impacts of extreme heat events are being felt by both urban and rural populations. but experts say the factors contributing to urban and rural vulnerability may differ significantly   and some of the most promising strategies for mitigating the impacts in urban areas may not be as useful in sparsely populated rural counties. "a cooling center that's 30 miles away doesn't really do you any good," said ashley ward, director of duke university's heat policy innovation hub. "there is a perfect storm of ingredients that make rural heat risk something that is not only important for us to think about, talk about, and understand better   but also very difficult to mitigate. and so we need to come up with some really innovative solutions that are appropriate in the rural context." assessing the risk of heat related illness and death is "not just about maximum temperatures," noted ward, who has studied the health impacts of climate extremes for over a decade. a dizzying array of factors beyond the local daily high also impact individual and population level vulnerabilities   including age, occupational exposure, local labor laws, housing quality, access to air conditioning, proximity to medical care, ems availability, cultural norms, and even the robustness of local churches, civic organizations, and other indicators of strong "social infrastructure." as such, ward worries that the prevalence of research and media attention on the urban heat island effect has led to some misguided assumptions about rural areas   where temps may be lower, but a multitude of other factors exacerbate risks. for example, an individual living in a rural mobile home with no ac   exposed to the underappreciated dangers of persistently high overnight temperatures   is likely at higher risk for heat related illness than an upper income urban apartment dweller, though the urban neighborhood may be 10 degrees warmer. the heat policy innovation hub, under ward's leadership, is hoping to bring renewed attention to the issue and has identified rural interventions as one of its primary focal areas. ward's perspective on heat mitigation and intervention is influenced by the work of sociologist eric klinenberg, who has studied why demographically similar neighborhoods experienced drastically different mortality rates during the 1995 chicago heat wave. his research indicates that the key difference between these neighborhoods was the robustness of their social infrastructure   defined as "the people, places, and institutions that foster cohesion and support." during a heat wave, klinenberg has written, living in a neighborhood with strong social infrastructure "is the rough equivalent of having a working air conditioner in each room." chicago is a far cry from scotland county, north carolina, but ward suspects the same principles still apply. she has worked closely with the ncdhhs and community partners like cox in their efforts to address heat impacts in the sandhills region. a key aspect of their approach has been to "plug into the already existing networks that have been effective forever in rural areas": from churches, civic organizations, and local media to informal community groups and the bonds between neighbors. harnessing the power of these social networks is "how rural people have dealt with almost everything," said ward. from may through september, the ncdhhs publishes weekly heat reports containing information on heat related ed visits, including demographic data and sandhills regional impacts; they also provide advance notice to sandhills community partners when the heat index is forecast to climb dangerously high. from there, it is up to community partners to "reach their communities in the way that they know works best," said hatcher. in 2018, partners from four sandhills counties worked with the ncdhhs to create outreach plans for the local populations they determined to be most vulnerable. the methods and priorities of a partner working in a county with a large farmworker population, for example, will be different from those of a partner working in a county with little agriculture but a large number of older adults. ward is enthusiastic about the work she has observed so far in the sandhills region: "i've got to tell you, the people that work at the county level   in my whole career, these are the most innovative people i've ever met, because they do incredible work with almost no resources. you've got emergency management and public health people that are wearing five or six hats." cox certainly fits the description. in addition to managing a major grant initiative, she publishes regular columns in the local newspaper, hosts monthly programs on two local radio stations, shares public health information on social media, presents regularly to local groups and organizations, and conducts outreach at community events   often on saturdays. during the hot summer months, she leverages all of these platforms to share up to date heat data, alerts, and safety information; she also reminds residents of the importance of simply checking in on one's neighbors during a heat wave. one small indication of her creativity and dedication to the cause: cox sometimes even includes heat safety reminders in her work voicemail message. "i'm always looking for a way to get that message out there," she said. sandhills community partners also distribute a variety of educational and prevention items, courtesy of the heat policy innovation hub and ncdhhs. these include magnets, water bottles, towels, and paper fans that are printed with heat safety information and cooling strategies for those without access to ac; items are available in either english or spanish. ward views this as "critical information," especially for lower income rural populations. "i would like to say that we are going to air condition the world, but that probably won't happen," said ward. "and even if it did, it's not going to happen tomorrow   and it's going to be hot tomorrow." cox works frequently with rural churches as part of her efforts to reach older adults, one of her target demographics, and has found the paper fans to be a surprise hit: "everybody loves these fans. i'm not kidding." sandhills partners publicize the locations of designated cooling centers   usually libraries and community centers   though they recognize that distance and transportation present barriers for some, and these locations are not an option for evening relief. to address this issue, cox has helped older adults apply to receive electric fans and window ac units from the local aging advisory council, through a program at ncdhhs. true to their name, the heat policy innovation hub is also working to assist both counties and states with policy development and emergency planning. this summer   in partnership with the ncdhhs, the nc state climate office, and the nc office of recovery and resilience   they convened representatives from 10 nc counties to discuss the incorporation of heat into county hazard mitigation plans. eventually, the group intends to create a customizable template, which will be made available to all 100 nc counties. if widely adopted, this county level planning would allow for the coordination of a statewide heat alert system. according to ward, north carolina is the only state in the country in which every county has its own hazard mitigation plan. still, she hopes the work of their coalition might provide "a model for what other states could possibly do, about how to engage with local communities to develop place based heat mitigation strategies." in april, ward and co author jordyn clark published a report that offered guidance on the incorporation of heat related threats into state hazard mitigation plans (shmps). the report found that only 25 shmps had sections dedicated specifically to heat. the stakes of such planning are high   and growing higher. according to the federal emergency management agency (fema), heat is often responsible for more annual deaths in the u.s. than any other weather related event. meanwhile, annual average temperatures have climbed; or, as ward put it: "this is not my grandmother's summer." while headlines in july were focused on devastating heat waves in texas and arizona, attention shifted northward in late august when a "heat dome" led to record breaking temps in several midwestern states. dana habeeb, assistant professor at indiana university's luddy school of informatics, computing, and engineering, has been studying how extreme heat affects cities for over 15 years. "ten years ago, portland was highlighted as being vulnerable to heat, which some people found surprising at the time," said habeeb. then, in 2021, those vulnerabilities were tragically confirmed. these days, habeeb is particularly worried about midwestern vulnerabilities. "these trends are happening, and no matter where communities are located in the united states, we need to be preparing them to deal with extreme heat," she said. habeeb is the principal investigator for beat the heat, a program that guided two indiana communities through the creation of targeted heat response plans. the program was developed by indiana university's environmental resilience institute and funded by the indiana office of community and rural affairs. clarksville, a small suburb of louisville, and richmond, located in rural wayne county, were selected to participate in the two year grant program. the program supported both communities in the hiring of heat relief coordinators, who led the data gathering, organizing, and extensive community outreach which informed the development of the plans. a rural midwestern county may seem to some like an unusual setting for such intensive extreme heat planning; however, even before this summer's heat dome, the beat the heat team found that many richmond residents were struggling to stay cool. one in three respondents to a community heat survey reported experiencing a barrier to using their home ac   most often citing utility and repair costs. according to habeeb, one respondent shared that she occasionally used her car to give her children relief from their un air conditioned home. program organizers tested a variety of interventions over the course of the grant period: a social media campaign for extreme heat awareness, designating cooling centers for high heat days, the incorporation of extreme heat alerts into an existing text based county emergency alert system, conducting heat illness trainings for local healthcare and social service providers, and much more. the city of richmond heat management plan offers a detailed summary of ongoing efforts, as well as planned future initiatives. habeeb stressed that there is no "one size fits all solution" for heat mitigation and adaptation, and emphasized the importance for other communities to tailor interventions to the specific needs of their local populations. city and county officials may look to two new tools from the federal government for a broad overview of local vulnerabilities. the ems heattracker, released in august on the national ems information system (nemsis) website, provides information on how every u.s. county's rate of heat related ems activations compares to the national average over the previous 30 days. (at the time of this article's publication, 9 of the 10 counties with the highest rates of heat related ems activations were rural; urban residents, however, represented a far greater share of total heat related deaths.) in april, the census bureau released community resilience estimates (cre) for heat   developed in collaboration with the arizona state university knowledge exchange for resilience (ker)   which draws from a massive national sample of household level data to "measure social vulnerability specifically in the context of extreme heat exposure." users may view the number and rate of households within a state, county, or census tract who have three or more risk factors relevant to heat vulnerability (such as housing quality, income level, and transportation access). the cre for heat does not factor in local temperature forecasts but, rather, estimates the vulnerability of communities if exposed to extreme heat. those accustomed to thinking about heat vulnerability as a sun belt issue may be surprised by the results; for instance, three of the ten counties with the highest rates of households with three or more risk factors are in rural south dakota. however, ker executive director patricia solís   who helped develop the tool   hopes it will be used for more than rankings and comparisons. "when you drill down, you are going to find some people who are okay, and some people who are not okay, in all of these places; what the dataset helps you do is really try to uncover why," said solís. moreover, she noted, even those who are not particularly vulnerable will be impacted by extreme heat eventually: "you will have exposure, just like we saw during the pandemic. certainly some marginalized communities were hit harder than others, but it did not leave anyone untouched." one group that has been hit far harder than others is also among the most essential to some rural economies. a 2016 analysis of fatality data from the bureau of labor statistics found that farmworkers are 35 times more likely to die from heat related causes than other u.s. workers. there is the simple fact of prolonged, physically demanding labor in the shadeless fields. but then there are other, less obvious factors related to what amy liebman   chief program officer for workers, environment, and climate at migrant clinicians network (mcn)   calls an often "precarious work situation." according to liebman, many farmworkers are immigrants   some with only temporary h 2a work visas or no visas at all. "both groups are coming to their jobs with the need to make money in order for them to survive and their families to survive   that's number one on their mind," she said. such workers are not particularly eager to "rock the boat" by reporting unsafe conditions. also, farmworkers are often paid at piece rate (the more you pick, the more you make), which disincentivizes breaks for water, rest, and shade. mcn has long advocated for the creation of a federal heat standard to mandate such breaks under hazardous conditions; in 2021, the occupational safety and health administration (osha) initiated a rulemaking process, which typically takes several years. another major factor contributing to farmworker vulnerability is lack of acclimatization   the gradual process by which our bodies adjust to new temperature norms. h 2a workers often arrive at farms at the peak of harvest and begin working long days immediately, liebman said. according to osha, "over 70 percent of heat related deaths occur during a worker's first week." (this need for acclimatization also explains why even relatively mild, early season heat waves can lead to elevated rates of heat related illness   as kathie cox experienced that may evening in laurinburg.) mary jo ybarra vega is the outreach and behavioral health coordinator at quincy community health center in rural grant county, washington. she coordinates a team of promotores de salud (spanish speaking community health workers), whom she views as essential for effective outreach to farmworkers on heat safety and other issues. over the course of two months this summer, ybarra vega and her team provided outreach to over 1,500 farmworkers, including many h 2a workers. they approach the work with a "popular education" philosophy, offering fun, hands on experiences such as educational games and skits. "we bring down the health literacy level to the population that we're working with," said ybarra vega, noting that some workers may have lower levels of formal education. in return, farmworkers "ask them [promotores] questions that they would've never asked the doctor." faced with multiple escalating occupational hazards   from extreme heat and wildfire smoke to pesticide exposure and infectious disease   effective public health outreach can provide critical support to workers in understanding their symptoms and risk factors. recently, ybarra vega was contacted by a woman who shared concerns about a possible covid outbreak among a number of her coworkers; they reported experiencing headaches and nausea. "i started thinking…yeah, it could be covid, but maybe it's something else. it kind of sounds like heat," said ybarra vega. she encouraged the group to come in for testing, and her suspicions were eventually confirmed. the impacts of "chronic heat stress" are not limited to temporary symptoms like headache and nausea. in recent years, chronic kidney disease of unknown cause (ckdu) has emerged as a leading killer of young, working age men in central america; research indicates occupational exposure to extreme heat is playing a significant role. mcn's heat related illness clinician's guide offers an overview of health impacts on farmworkers, including additional information on ckdu, best practices for treatment and follow up, and social determinants of health. postal carriers, construction workers, and others who work outdoors face similar heat related occupational risks   and many indoor workers are vulnerable, too. in north carolina, for example, working age men represent the largest proportion of heat related ed visits; ward suspects many of those men are employed in indoor manufacturing facilities, which often lack ac. whatever the occupation, ward stressed that "heat illness and death are 100% preventable." as she wrote in a recent column: "key to prevention is to first recognize the risk. second is education and awareness of practical prevention measures. and third: action." a few months after publishing her "embarrassing" personal experience with heat related illness in the laurinburg exchange, kathie cox received a surprising note in her email inbox. it was from the nurse at a local indoor manufacturing plant. cox had previously visited the facility for an outreach event; she remembered that it was warm and there was no ac. the nurse shared that there had been two incidents of heat related illness among their workers in recent years   so when she read cox's column, it struck a chord. she had copied the article and emailed it to all local employees, in addition to the company's corporate health and safety director. he, in turn, had sent it to all the company's locations in the united states, mexico, and canada. "i wanted you to know that your article was being shared with thousands of people around the world," wrote the nurse. cox, who plans to retire at the end of this year, described this unexpected impact as one of the "thrills" of her long career. she later received a letter of commendation from the international company. the email concluded: "also i am glad to report that we did not have any heat related illness this year." brendan stermer writes for rhihub's online magazine, the rural monitor, as well as models and innovations. his articles on important rural health issues are informed by his background in small town journalism. brendan has a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from the university of minnesota morris. full biography sign up to receive notification of new rural monitor articles by email via rhihub this week rss feed articles by author articles by category articles by state articles by topic the rural monitor is a publication of the rural health information hub. read more about the rural monitor, including how to cite rural monitor articles. © 2002 2025 rural health information hub. all rights reserved. phone: 1 800 270 1898 email: info@ruralhealthinfo.org the rural health information hub is supported by the health resources and services administration (hrsa) of the u.s. department of health and human services (hhs) under grant number u56rh05539 (rural assistance center for federal office of rural health policy cooperative agreement). any information, content, or conclusions on this website are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by hrsa, hhs or the u.s. government.

an official website of the united states government official websites use .gov a .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the united states. secure .gov websites use https a lock ( lock locked padlock icon ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. primary site navigation logged in as: correspondence to: l. a. parsons, luke.parsons@tnc.org corresponding author. revised 2023 may 9; received 2023 feb 23; accepted 2023 jul 9; collection date 2023 aug. this is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by nc nd/4.0/ license, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. as the globe warms, people will increasingly need affordable, safe methods to stay cool and minimize the worst health impacts of heat exposure. one of the cheapest cooling methods is electric fans. recent research has recommended ambient air temperature thresholds for safe fan use in adults. here we use hourly weather reanalysis data (1950 2021) to examine the temporal and spatial evolution of ambient climate conditions in the continental united states (conus) considered safe for fan use, focusing on high social vulnerability index (svi) regions. we find that although most hours in the day are safe for fan use, there are regions that experience hundreds to thousands of hours per year that are too hot for safe fan use. over the last several decades, the number of hours considered unsafe for fan use has increased across most of the conus (on average by ∼70%), with hotspots across the us west and south, suggesting that many individuals will increasingly need alternative cooling strategies. people living in high‐svi locations are 1.5 2 times more likely to experience hotter climate conditions than the overall us population. high‐svi locations also experience higher rates of warming that are approaching and exceeding important safety thresholds that relate to climate adaptation. these results highlight the need to direct additional resources to these communities for heat adaptive strategies. keywords: climate change, climate justice, climate adaptation, heat hazard, vulnerability, climate impacts maximum temperatures are 1 2°c higher in locations in the united states with more socially vulnerable communities communities with high social vulnerability experience faster increases in hours with temperatures too high for safe fan use the geographic extent of regions with hours with temperatures too hot for safe fan use is expanding high temperatures can have serious adverse health effects on humans, and extreme heat is already one of the leading causes of weather‐related deaths in the united states (us) (national weather service, 2023). all‐cause mortality, heat‐related emergency room visits, and hospital admissions increase with high temperatures (gasparrini et al., 2015; liss & naumova, 2019; wald, 2019), and adverse health outcomes due to heat are expected to continue to increase for every additional increment of warming in the future (weinberger et al., 2017). heat risk can be thought of as a function of (a) the heat hazard, or the potentially destructive physical phenomena, (b) the vulnerability, or the predisposition of a person to be adversely affected by the heat hazard, (c) the exposure, or the presence and degree to which people are affected by the hazard, and (d) adaptive capacity, or the ability to mitigate potential harm by taking action to reduce vulnerability and exposure (figure s1 in supporting information s1). the frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves adversely impacts mortality (gasparrini et al., 2015; song et al., 2017; weinberger et al., 2020). individuals vulnerable to excess heat include the elderly, the very young, people with chronic diseases, and people on medication with side effects that decrease the sweating response (bunker et al., 2016; cheshire & fealey, 2008; sheffield et al., 2018; yu et al., 2012). additionally, being less educated or belonging to a non‐white racial or ethnic group in the us has been found to correlate with having less adaptive capacity to high temperatures (basu, 2009; rosenthal et al., 2014; schmeltz et al., 2016). access to and use of cooling methods is one strategy to increase adaptive capacity, but this strategy can be impacted by lack of financial and social resources (lim & skidmore, 2020; rosenthal et al., 2014; schmeltz et al., 2016). most heat‐related morbidity and mortality can be prevented with planning and avoidance of exposure (ebi et al., 2021). to evaluate heat risk, information is needed about where, when, and how intense the heat hazard is, and who is vulnerable. to reduce heat risk, strategies need to increase adaptive capacity. here we analyze electric fan usage as one potential strategy to increase adaptive capacity to reduce heat risk. we focus on electric fans because they can be a more accessible and sustainable method of cooling than air conditioning. fans cool a person via evaporation of liquid water from the skin's surface and advection of air, rather than cooling of the surrounding environment, thus making them effective outdoors or in unconfined spaces. however, there are temperature limits at which electric fans can no longer cool a person because at high temperatures, fans can increase heat transfer to the body from advection of hot air. previously the world health organization and world meteorological organization recommended that fans only be used at air temperatures up to 35°c (mcgregor et al., 2015). however, these recommendations neglected to consider evaporative cooling due to sweat or moisture on the skin. morris et al. (2021) used human energy balance models of evaporative and dry heat transfer to develop temperature and humidity thresholds recommended for safe fan use. for ease of understanding for the public, they generalized the results to only temperature thresholds by identifying the lowest temperature, regardless of ambient humidity, for which fan use was 100% effective. they developed three simplified temperature thresholds for different demographics, which have been suggested for widespread use in the lancet review on reducing the health effects of hot weather and heat extremes (jay et al., 2021). morris et al. (2021) and tartarini et al. (2022) used weather station data around the globe to determine if fans could be safely used as a cooling strategy. despite the important advances made by these studies, the global results prevent more granular analyses of local and regional heat hazard that could allow for targeted mitigation and intervention measures. additionally, weather station data only provide temperature data at specific geographic points, which can exclude large land areas and populations. in this study, we focus on temperatures in the continental us using spatially continuous, hourly data spanning 1950 2021 to assess the heat hazard associated with ambient temperatures (37°c, 39°c) too high for safe fan use. we assess population‐weighted heat hazard using gridded population data (e.g., rogers et al., 2021) and population‐weighted heat hazard as a function of vulnerability using the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) social vulnerability index (svi) (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2021). we hypothesize that vulnerable populations in the us are located in regions that disproportionately experience high temperatures (e.g., hoffman et al., 2020; hsu et al., 2021; keith & meerow, 2022; manware et al., 2022; park et al., 2018; voelkel et al., 2018) and higher rates of warming (alizadeh et al., 2022). disproportionate high temperature hazard would have implications for the ability of socially vulnerable communities to safely use fans. we expect knowledge about where it is already too hot to safely use fans and how locations with high temperatures overlap with socially vulnerable populations to help direct resources that can be used for other additional heat risk mitigation strategies to vulnerable communities. we use fifth generation reanalysis data (era5) from the european center for medium range weather forecasting (hersbach et al., 2020). the era5 data include hourly estimates of ambient 2‐m air temperature from 1 january 1950 to 31 december 2021. era5 data are provided at a spatial resolution of ∼0.25° × 0.25° (∼31 km) for the entire globe, but here we focus on temperatures over the continental us (conus) where the cdc provides svi data (section 2.2). we use bilinear interpolation to spatially regrid the era5 data to the ∼1 km grid resolution of the population and svi data (section 2.2). use of ∼0.25° × 0.25° temperature data interpolated to a ∼1 km grid resolution will underestimate temperature variations at fine spatial scales (e.g., shandas et al., 2019). however, mistry et al. (2022) show that era5 data generally compare well to station data over north america, and estimates of non‐optimal temperature‐related risks derived from station and reanalysis data are similar. furthermore, rogers et al. (2021) compare station and era5 temperature data and conclude that the station and reanalysis differences are small over most mid‐latitude locations, and era5 data are suitable for studying temperature extremes, particularly in locations with high station density and low topographic complexity. we use high spatial resolution (∼1 km) gridded population data from gridded population of the world, version 4 revision 11 (gpwv4) (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2018) to determine where people are currently exposed to temperatures that exceed safe fan use thresholds. we use gpwv4 spatial population data from the year 2020 to estimate population‐weighted hazard 1950 2021. therefore, our results do not show changes in risk due to changes in us population demographics. instead, we are comparing present‐day hazard with what the present‐day population would have experienced had it had the same geographic distribution of population and svi in the past to isolate the effect of changing climate on population heat hazard through time. gpwv4 also provides spatial population data for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015; in section 4, we assess the impacts of changing population demographics on our results. using bilinear interpolation, we spatially interpolate the era5‐based temperature data and temperature threshold exceedance counts to the gpwv4 spatial grid to estimate population‐weighted hazard (text s1 in supporting information s1). we use gridded, census tract ∼1 km spatial resolution 2010 us census data provided by the socioeconomic data and applications center (sedac) (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2017) to calculate the fraction of population at each ∼1 km location in the us that is greater than or equal to 65 years old to estimate heat hazard for older adults. we were unable to find gridded age structure data for the year 2020, so we rely on the 2010 data. although the overall us 65+ age demographic has grown in the last decade, a 2022 census bureau report indicates that only 6% of older adults have moved in the last several years, and over half of these moves occurred in the same county (mateyka & he, 2022), so we would not expect the changing geographic locations of older adults in the last decade to noticeably impact our population‐weighted averages. however, because the 65+ age demographic has grown since 2010, our analysis underestimates people‐hours exceeding temperature thresholds for this age demographic. spatial data from the cdc svi for the year 2018 is provided as a ∼1 km spatial resolution gridded spatial data set similar to gpwv4, but at the census tract level (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2021). the cdc svi uses factors that include socioeconomic status, household composition and disability, minority status and language, and housing type and transportation. the svi is a percentile ranking that represents the percentage of census tracts that are equal to or lower than the census tract of interest in terms of social vulnerability. for example, an svi of 0.75 indicates that 75% of census tracts in the nation are less vulnerable than the census tract of interest. the cdc svi is associated with heat‐related health outcomes in locations in the us (lehnert et al., 2020) and can help with planning for mitigation of natural hazards due to climate change (berke et al., 2015). here we use these datasets to identify where vulnerable communities intersect geographically with climate conditions considered unsafe for low‐cost cooling options (i.e., fan use). we spatially interpolate climate information to the cdc svi grid to estimate svi‐weighted heat hazard (text s1 in supporting information s1). here we use results from a biophysical modeling study (morris et al., 2021) that reports air temperature thresholds considered safe for fan use: 39°c for young, healthy adults (aged 18 40 years), 38°c for older, healthy adults (aged 65+ years), and 37°c for older adults (aged 65+ years) taking anticholinergic medication. older adults have a 25% reduction in the ability to sweat compared to young healthy adults, and older adults on anticholinergic medication have a further 25% reduction in ability to sweat (gagnon et al., 2017; hou et al., 2006; inoue & shibasaki, 1996; morris et al., 2021). for context, recent studies report that ∼9% 21% of older adults in the us used anticholinergic medication (kachru et al., 2015; lockery et al., 2021). we focus on the lower (37°c) and higher (39°c) thresholds to highlight where some of the most vulnerable populations (older adults on medications) and less vulnerable populations (healthy adults) would be unable to safely use fans given ambient climate conditions. these recommended temperature thresholds are conservative because they assume high humidity (see section 1 for further explanation). we combine hourly era5 data with these temperature thresholds to count the number of hours between 1950 and 2021 showing 2‐m ambient air temperatures that exceed recommended thresholds for safe fan use. first, we count the number of hours each year at each location in the era5 data (at a ∼31 km spatial resolution, see section 2.1) that exceed each threshold. next, for each period (early: 1950 1969, late: 2002 2021), we calculate the average numbers of hours per year over the “early” and “late” 20‐year time segments that exceed this threshold for each location. we test the sensitivity of our results to the choice of a 20‐year as opposed to a 30‐year time window (early: 1950 1979, late: 1992 2001) and discuss these differences in section 3.1 and section 3.2. we combine spatial information related to the number of hours considered cool enough for safe fan usage (sections 2.1 and 2.2) with spatial population data to estimate heat hazard for various populations: (a) all people in the conus, (b) communities ranked “high” on the social vulnerability index (svi), and (c) communities ranked “low” on the svi. to show summary statistics and change through time, we calculate average temperatures and average hours of threshold exceedance over the conus. we calculate three types of averages (see text s1 in supporting information s1): area‐weighted averages (including all land area in the conus), population‐weighted averages (including all population in the conus), and svi population‐weighted averages (including population only in either high‐vulnerability locations where svi > 0.75 or low‐vulnerability locations where svi < 0.25 in the conus). for the 37°c threshold, we population‐weight heat hazard using spatial population count estimates of older adults age 65+ (section 2.2). we assess significance of trends through time using the mann‐kendall test (gilbert, 1987; kendall, 1948; mann, 1945). we assess significance of difference in distributions using a mann‐whitney test (mann & whitney, 1947). all analysis is conducted in python, and statistical analysis uses the pymannkendall package (hussain & mahmud, 2019) and the scipy.stats mannwhitneyu package. to understand the geography of the hottest historical temperatures in the us, we use hourly era5 data to analyze the annual maximum temperature over the last 20 years (annual maximum temperature is calculated from hourly data, then averaged over the 2002 2021 period). era5 data show ambient maximum air temperatures exceed 40°c across much of the southwest, west, and east of the rockies in the plains, with temperatures reaching 36 38°c across much of the southeast and east of the appalachians along most of the atlantic coast (figure 1a). we test if use of a traditional 30‐year climatological average (including years 1992 2021) noticeably changes our results and find that the locations that exceed these thresholds are similar using both averaging windows (figure s2 in supporting information s1). the locations that show maximum temperatures exceeding 36°c are co‐located with some locations with large populations (figure 1b) and many high‐svi locations (figure 1c). many high‐svi locations are located in the southern part of the conus, where it also tends to be the warmest. maps of average annual maximum temperatures, population, centers for disease control social vulnerability index (cdc svi), and time series of weighted average annual maximum temperatures over the continental united states (conus). (a) average maximum annual temperature over the conus 2002 2021, with white areas showing where maximum annual temperatures are <36°c. (b) 2020 population count data over the conus region from gridded population of the world, v4 data (gpwv4). (c) cdc svi for the year 2018, with higher svi values indicating higher vulnerability. (d) time series of svi‐weighted (purple line), population‐weighted, (red line), and conus area‐weighted (orange line) average maximum annual temperatures, with best fit trend shown by straight lines through the time series, and trends/decade shown in the legend. a mann‐kendall test indicates that all time series show significant positive trends through time (p = 0.002, p = 0.02, p = 0.01, respectively). population‐weighted averages use gpwv4 2020 population statistics for all years to isolate the effect of changing climate on population heat hazard through time. we find that at the conus‐scale, high‐svi locations disproportionately experience higher temperatures. we assess the variability through time of average maximum temperature over the conus using three metrics: (a) area‐weighted average maximum temperature, (b) population‐weighted annual maximum temperature, and (c) population‐weighted annual maximum temperature in high‐svi locations (section 2.5). although annual average maximum conus temperatures are increasing at a similar rate using the three metrics (0.12°c/decade, p = 0.002; 0.09°c/decade, p = 0.02; 0.11°c/decade, p = 0.01; respectively), locations with high svi are on average 1 2°c warmer than the area‐weighted geographic average or the population‐weighted average over the conus (figure 1d). this disparity between population‐weighted temperatures and high svi‐weighted temperatures indicates that communities considered more vulnerable are, on average, experiencing higher heat extremes in the conus. to test this, we also compared high‐svi weighted and low svi‐weighted mean maximum temperatures over the last 20 years in the conus; low‐svi weighted temperatures were 35.4°c, and high‐svi weighted temperatures were 36.7°c. a mann‐whitney test shows that the distributions of population‐weighted maximum temperatures (2002 2021) in low‐svi and high‐svi locations are significantly different (p < 0.001), confirming that those considered socially vulnerable are disproportionately located in geographies with higher temperatures in the conus (figure 2). violin plots showing the distribution of population‐weighted average maximum annual temperatures (2002 2021) in low‐social vulnerability index (svi) locations (blue) and high‐svi locations (red). violin plots show the probability density of the data at different values and are smoothed by a kernel density estimator. horizontal dashed lines mark 37°c and 39°c temperature thresholds discussed in text. population‐weighted averages use gpwv4 2020 population statistics for all years. we assess the average hours per year considered unsafe for fan usage for the two 20‐year periods of 1950 1969 (“early”) and 2002 2021 (“late”), and the change between these two periods (figure 3). an average diurnal cycle for yuma, arizona in july shows that the hottest hours of the day typically occur during the afternoon to late evening (figure s3 in supporting information s1). in summer months in particularly hot locations such as yuma, most daylight hours exceed the 37°c threshold, and several consecutive afternoon and evening hours can exceed the 39°c threshold (figure s3 in supporting information s1). across much of the us, we find the number of hours exceeding temperature thresholds for safe fan use has increased in the last 70 years. in the early period, the 37°c threshold was reached at least once across most locations in the conus (colored shading in figure 3a), except higher elevation locations and some locations in the northeastern conus. some locations in the southwestern conus experience over 800 hr/year (or an average of over 34 days/year). in the later time period, the 37°c threshold is reached over 1,000 hr/year (or over 44 days/year) in some locations. notably, there are large increases in the number of hours that reach this 37°c threshold between the two time periods, particularly in the southwestern us along the us/mexico border and from southern texas to oklahoma, in the central valley of california, and in some locations in the mountainous west (figure 3c). some locations in the southwestern us show an increase of more than 260 hr/year (over 11 days/year). mean number of hours per year considered unsafe for fan use in 1950 1969 (top), 2002 2021 (center), and the change in hours between these two time periods (bottom) for the 37°c threshold (left) and 39°c threshold (right). note that due to computational demands, data have been spatially cropped to only show latitudes between 24°n and 50°n. the 39°c threshold shows a similar geographic pattern to the 37°c threshold, but with fewer hours/year that exceed this higher threshold. regions with particularly high exceedance counts for the 39°c threshold include the california/arizona/mexico border, california central valley, and southern texas/mexico border. in the early period, some locations show upwards of 479 hr/year (on average almost 20 days/year) that exceed the higher threshold. in the later period, some locations show up to 686 hr/year (over 28 days/year) that exceed the higher threshold. the largest increases between the two time periods are found along the southern texas/mexico border, and near the colorado river along the arizona/california border, with some locations showing at least 210 more hr/year between the two time periods (or almost 9 days/year). we test the sensitivity of our results to using a 30‐year average (1950 1979 and 1992 2021) and find the results are nearly identical, but the change in threshold exceedance between the early and late time periods is slightly decreased using the 30‐year window because the 1992 2021 period includes, on average, slightly cooler years than the later 2002 2021 time period (figure s4 in supporting information s1). we are interested in how heat hazard affects people in socially vulnerable communities, so we assess where high temperatures geographically overlap with high‐svi locations. figure 4 shows maps of people‐hours in locations where svi > 0.75 (“high” social vulnerability locations) in the early and late time periods. spatial estimates of population aged 65+ years are used for the 37°c threshold because this is the temperature threshold for older adults taking medication (left column, figure 4). similar to total hours across all locations (figure 3), person‐hours are relatively high across the us‐mexico border, particularly near southern texas and near the california/arizona border, as well as in southeastern washington state. additionally, person‐hours are relatively high on the east coast due to large populations with a comparatively low to moderate number of hours exceeding the thresholds. although warming has increased the number of hours that exceed these thresholds across almost all regions, an area between the eastern great plains and the southern central us (including parts of south dakota, kansas, missouri, arkansas, and mississippi) has experienced a small decrease in the number of people‐hours. this small decrease in hours (figure 3) is multiplied by several locations with large populations (figure 1b), creating moderate decreases in people‐hours in this region. however, despite the decrease in person‐hours in the last 70 years in some locations, the average person‐hours/year for the recent 20‐year period (exceeding the 37°c threshold) is greater than 5,000 8,000 in many of these locations. note that the geographically widespread “hotspot” of locations with large numbers of hours exceeding temperature thresholds for safe fan use in southwestern arizona, southeastern california, and southern nevada (figure 3) is much smaller when evaluated with person‐hours. the population density is generally smaller across relatively large areas that are hot, so the population heat hazard is lower (figure s5 in supporting information s1 shows population where svi > 0.75). average number of people‐hours per year considered unsafe for fan use in 1950 1969 (top), 2002 2021 (middle), and the change in hours between these two time periods (bottom) for the 37°c threshold for socially vulnerable older adult populations (left) and 39°c threshold for socially vulnerable healthy adults (right). left column uses spatial population estimates of the fraction of adults aged 65+ from the united states census. background gray shading on maps shows where social vulnerability index (svi) is <0.75. high social vulnerability is defined as locations where svi > 0.75. calculation of person‐hours uses gpwv4 2020 population statistics for all years to isolate the effect of changing climate on population heat hazard through time. individuals living in high‐svi locations not only experience warmer temperatures (more threshold exceedance), but also higher rates of warming that are relevant for safe fan use (increases in threshold exceedance through time) than the overall conus population. figure 5 shows the temporal evolution (1950 2021) of population‐weighted hours considered unsafe for fan usage for the 37°c and 39°c thresholds for the high‐svi and low‐svi regions in the conus. older adults living in high‐svi locations, on average, experienced up to a maximum of 60 70 hr/year (∼2 3 days/year) that exceed the 37°c threshold, whereas older adults in low‐svi locations, on average, only experienced up to a maximum of 40 hr/year (∼1.5 2 days/year). we find average threshold exceedance experienced by older adults is similar to the overall conus population (figure 5, figure s6 in supporting information s1). importantly, the high‐svi locations show trends that are two times higher than the trends in the low‐svi locations (figure 5) and about 50% higher than the all‐conus population‐weighted hours (figure s6 in supporting information s1). for example, the population‐weighted number of hours more than doubled between 1950 1969 and 2002 2021 for the 37°c threshold in high‐svi regions (from about 25 to 50 hr/year, or from about 1 day/year to about 2 days/year), but only increased from about 10 hr/year to about 20 hr/year (from <0.5 days/year to <1 days/year) for people in low‐svi locations (figure 5). population‐weighted average number of hours per year (1950 2021) considered unsafe for fan use in high‐social vulnerability index (svi) locations (solid lines) and low‐svi locations (dotted lines) for the 37°c (red) and 39°c (orange) thresholds in the continental us (conus). straight lines show best fit trend lines, and legend shows trends (hours/decade). red lines (37°c threshold) use spatial population estimates of the fraction of adults aged 65+ from the us census. a mann‐kendall test indicates all time series show significant (p < 0.001) positive trends through time. note that the population‐weighted trends in high‐svi locations are about twice as large as the population‐weighted trends in low‐svi locations. population‐weighted averages use gpwv4 2020 population statistics for all years to isolate the effect of changing climate on population heat hazard through time. heat hazard disproportionately impacts communities in high‐svi locations both in terms of higher average heat hazard, and faster increasing hazard over time, with people‐hours in high‐svi locations exceeding low‐svi locations despite the lower population in the high‐svi locations. figure 6 shows the number of people‐hours exceeding the 37°c and 39°c thresholds in high‐svi versus low‐svi locations. in the conus in the year 2020, approximately 64 million people lived in high‐svi locations, and 91 million people lived in low‐svi locations. similarly, about 7 million older adults lived in high‐svi locations, and about 12 million older adults lived in low‐svi locations. therefore, if the heat hazard was similar in low‐ and high‐svi locations, we might expect about 50% more people‐hours in low‐svi as compared to high‐svi locations. however, we find the opposite; the number of people‐hours exceeding both the 37°c and 39°c thresholds is higher in high‐svi locations as opposed to low‐svi locations, and the trends (1950 2021) in high‐svi locations are approximately twice the magnitude of the trends in the low‐svi locations. the number of people‐hours exceeding the 37°c threshold in high‐svi locations are similar to the number of the people‐hours exceeding this threshold in low‐svi locations, despite the larger number of older adults living in low‐svi locations. this discrepancy in people‐hours is even more apparent for the higher 39°c threshold; the high‐svi location mean is ∼44% higher than the low‐svi location mean (figure 6, table 1). people‐hours per year in high‐social vulnerability index (high‐svi, solid lines) and low‐svi locations (dotted lines). people‐hours take into account the number of people living in high‐svi locations and low‐svi locations multiplied by the hours per year considered unsafe for fan use in 1950 2021 for the 37°c (red) and 39°c (orange) thresholds over the continental united states using static 2020 population statistics to isolate the impacts of warming temperatures. a mann‐kendall test indicates all time series show significant positive trends (p < 0.001). population in the year 2020 and people‐hours exceeding the 37 and 39°c thresholds in high‐social vulnerability index (svi) and low‐svi locations in the continental us (conus) note. mean people‐hours for 1950 2021 are shown outside parentheses, and range (minimum to maximum) across the 72‐year period is shown in the parentheses. numbers in the table are shown as millions. calculation of people‐hours uses gpwv4 2020 population statistics for all years. here we have shown that many locations across the western, southwestern, and southern conus (as well as parts of northern mexico) already experience ambient climate conditions that exceed the recommended temperature thresholds for safe fan use, even for the least sensitive demographic of healthy, younger adults. hotspots of concern include the california/arizona border region, the central valley region of california, the southern texas/mexico border region, much of central texas and oklahoma, and southeastern washington state. in particularly hot locations, most afternoon hours during the hottest months of the year can exceed these thresholds. some locations show at least 200 more hr/year that exceed the lower 37°c threshold over the last 20 years as compared to the 1950 1969 period. here we have focused our analysis on the impacts of climate change by using static 2020 population demographics for all years in the analysis (section 2.2). we test if our main results, as they relate to increasing heat exposure and temperature threshold exceedance through time, are sensitive to use of changing gpwv4 population demographics for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 (figure s7 in supporting information s1). our main results do not change when using dynamic population demographics, and the impacts of changing population fall well within the impacts of interannual climate variability. however, we find that for the year 2000, conus population‐weighted average maximum temperatures are ∼0.39°c lower, and conus population‐weighted threshold exceedance is ∼20% lower if we account for changes in population statistics (figure s7 in supporting information s1). this difference suggests that, on average, populations have been moving to warmer locations in the last 20 years, and our main results are likely under‐estimating the combined impacts of shifting population and a warming climate on increasing heat risk over time. many locations with high social vulnerability are co‐located with high heat hazard (e.g., manware et al., 2022). indeed, we show there is a disproportionate heat hazard and a faster increase in temperature extremes for communities in high‐svi locations compared to communities in low‐svi locations. more hours, on average, exceed thresholds for safe fan use in the communities that are the most likely to have fewer resources and less adaptive capacity to cope with high temperatures. in the last several years, older adults aged 65+ living in high‐svi locations on average experienced more hours that exceeded the 37°c safe fan use threshold for healthy older adults than the general age 65+ conus population. additionally, the high‐svi locations show trends in increasing hours exceeding these thresholds that are ∼50% higher than the trends in overall conus population‐weighted hours (and over twice those of low‐svi locations), highlighting that individuals living in high‐svi locations not only experience warmer temperatures (more threshold exceedance), but also higher rates of the number of hours/year that are approaching and exceeding important safety thresholds that relate to climate adaptation. future warming will likely exacerbate these inequalities (e.g., alizadeh et al., 2022). despite the importance of these findings for climate adaptation and resilience, there are several limitations to this study. first, this study could benefit from higher resolution observations of temperatures. here, we downscaled ∼0.25°(∼31 km) spatial resolution hourly temperature data to ∼1 km, but we are underestimating temperature variations at finer spatial scales due to land use and land cover variations, including vegetation cover and type and development intensity (e.g., shandas et al., 2019). similarly, the cdc svi data used here only include social vulnerability at the census tract scale, but within a given census tract vulnerability can vary at even finer spatial scales. nonetheless, the resolution of the data used here provides results that are actionable for resource allocation or public health decisions made at the county or municipal level. second, due to data constraints, we used information about the spatial distribution of older adults from the year 2010 to estimate heat hazard for older adults (section 2.2). although our results could be improved by using more updated geographic information, a census bureau report (mateyka & he, 2022) indicates that most older adults have not moved in the last several years, so the average temperature exposures we report should not be particularly sensitive to this constraint. third, although we use ambient (outdoor) 2‐m air temperature to estimate geographic population heat hazard as it relates to temperatures above these thresholds, people often stay indoors on hot days and may not sit in the shade outside using a fan. future work could model indoor temperatures based on building characteristics and outdoor ambient climate conditions (e.g., sailor et al., 2019). fourth, we have focused on temperature thresholds recommended in the lancet (jay et al., 2021). these temperature thresholds are based on the lowest temperature, regardless of humidity, at which a fan is 100% effective (morris et al., 2021; tartarini et al., 2022). at low humidity, temperatures up to about 1 2°c above the threshold values used here may still be safe for fan use. furthermore, reliance on temperature alone may not be suitable for informing the most accurate heat mitigation strategies (e.g., chakraborty et al., 2022) or communicating dangerous heat wave conditions (e.g., cvijanovic et al., 2023). future work could provide a more accurate assessment that accounts for both temperature and humidity, but this added complexity should be treated with caution given public perceptions of the health risks of extreme heat in the us (howe et al., 2019). finally, although morris et al. (2021) focused on three general categories of adults, there are a variety of factors that can make individuals more sensitive to heat (e.g., ebi et al., 2021 and references therein). our results serve as a foundation for future work. for example, the high temperatures discussed here likely create uncomfortable environments, especially in the presence of moderate to high humidity; this study examined safety thresholds, not comfort thresholds, in relation to safe fan use. future work could explore how fans, evaporative coolers, and air conditioning could be combined to reduce energy use and maintain comfort (e.g., malik et al., 2022). additionally, the timing and clustering of hours considered unsafe for fan use could be assessed. clustering of consecutive hours of high temperatures may have more significant health effects. for example, hot nights that follow hot days have a higher mortality risk than cool nights that follow hot days (murage et al., 2017). furthermore, as we have shown here, some of the hottest locations in the conus are often located in rural areas (figures 1 and 3). however, many of the policies intended to combat heat exposure are directed to urban populations (e.g., cooling centers). rural populations tend to have less access to healthcare to properly manage chronic illnesses, and these populations can have less access to energy‐efficient cooling strategies, which can exacerbate heat exposure and heat‐related illness (harduar morano et al., 2016; kovach et al., 2015). work to stratify our findings by rural versus urban could illuminate intersecting disparities in heat hazard and vulnerability. climate change is expected to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of high temperatures and associated health impacts (e.g., guo et al., 2018; vicedo‐cabrera et al., 2021). since the use of air conditioning in place of less energy intensive cooling methods (e.g., fans, evaporative coolers) can drive increased energy use and magnify the urban heat island effect, this work serves as a foundation to explore the utility of various cooling methods under 21st century warming projections. as global warming increases local temperatures, these results highlight the need to direct resources to some of the most vulnerable communities who are the most impacted by climate change and the least likely to have the resources to cope with climate change, particularly as global populations age into higher‐risk demographics that are more susceptible to high temperatures. these findings also show how the use of fans remains a practical strategy to keep temperatures at safe levels in much of the us (morris et al., 2021; tartarini et al., 2022), highlighting how projected increases in energy demand for air conditioning might be reduced through increased fan usage in many areas (e.g., malik et al., 2022). we hope stakeholders can use the research presented here to make better‐informed decisions about the direction of cooling resources to vulnerable communities to encourage more sustainable and equitable adaptation in a warming world. for example, simply increasing inefficient air conditioning use could elevate electricity demand in cities as well as greenhouse gas emissions. by contrast, deploying heat mitigation strategies intended to reduce the built environment's contribution to urban heat island effects (e.g., urban green forestry) could decrease heat hazard more sustainably. furthermore, implementation of heat management strategies can help prepare communities to respond to heat via use of strategies such as early heat warning systems, emergency planning, cooling centers, and ensuring access to reliable cooling (e.g., keith & meerow, 2022). the authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this study. supporting information s1 l parsons conducted most of the research at duke university, but we thank the nature conservancy for funding and support. we also thank p goddard for discussions and scientific input. this work contains modified copernicus climate change service information (era5 data). the cdc svi and gpwv4 data were developed by the center for international earth science information network (ciesin), columbia university and were obtained from the nasa socioeconomic data and applications center (sedac). parsons, l. a. , lo, f. , ward, a. , shindell, d. , & raman, s. r. (2023). higher temperatures in socially vulnerable us communities increasingly limit safe use of electric fans for cooling. geohealth, 7, e2023gh000809. 10.1029/2023gh000809 the data used in this manuscript include: era5 hourly data on single levels from 1950 to 2021 (hersbach et al., 2023), cdc svi data from the nasa sedac (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2021), gpwv4 data from the nasa sedac (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2018), and u.s. census grids from the nasa sedac (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2017). the data and python code that support findings of this study are openly available on zenodo (parsons et al., 2023). this section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article. supporting information s1 the data used in this manuscript include: era5 hourly data on single levels from 1950 to 2021 (hersbach et al., 2023), cdc svi data from the nasa sedac (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2021), gpwv4 data from the nasa sedac (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2018), and u.s. census grids from the nasa sedac (center for international earth science information network‐ciesin‐columbia university, 2017). the data and python code that support findings of this study are openly available on zenodo (parsons et al., 2023). articles from geohealth are provided here courtesy of wiley connect with nlm national library of medicine 8600 rockville pike bethesda, md 20894

hosted by tracy mumford featuring dionne searcey produced by davis land edited by jessica metzger and tracy mumford on today’s episode: rural america lags cities in helping people beat the heat, by dionne searcey tropical storm alberto brings floods to texas as mexico braces for landfall, by sara ruberg, judson jones and emiliano rodríguez mega putin and kim sign pact pledging mutual support against ‘aggression,’ by choe sang hun and paul sonne biden’s lead with women is smaller than trump’s with men, a warning for democrats, by ruth igielnik louisiana requires all public classrooms to display ten commandments, by rick rojas ancient shipwreck preserves a deep bronze age time capsule, by franz lidz tune in, and tell us what you think at theheadlines@nytimes.com. for corrections, email nytnews@nytimes.com. dionne searcey is a times reporter who writes about how the choices made by people and corporations affect the future of the planet. more about dionne searcey
supported by most strategies in the u.s. for helping people stay cool are geared toward urban areas, leaving behind vulnerable rural populations. by dionne searcey in caribou, maine, a town of 7,400, the splash pad was packed with children at noon on wednesday as temperatures soared. but next to it, at a cooling center for the rural area’s many elderly residents, all the folding chairs were empty, even though three air conditioners were blasting a frigid breeze. officials had spread the word across aroostook county about the cooling center on social media, on radio stations and tv, and in local newspapers. however in maine, and across wide areas of rural america, the techniques familiar in cities to help people beat the heat are much more difficult to carry out effectively. “but we’re here,” said gary marquis, the superintendent of the caribou parks and recreation department. large parts of the nation were boiling this week as temperatures climbed in maine and other areas that are not accustomed to mid june heat waves. in many cities, residents cooled off in shady parks, jumped in public pools, or hydrated with cold water handed out by paramedics and police officers stationed at busy intersections or inside public transportation hubs   all tactics health officials encourage to help avoid heat related illnesses. these kinds of strategies are common in countless cities because they are effective in areas with large populations. in more rural areas, however, people are far more spread out and much harder to reach. “we’re missing a large swath of our society, and a swath that typically has higher levels of chronic disease, older populations and lower income,” said kevin lanza, an assistant professor of environmental science at uthealth houston in austin. “all three are factors increasing the serious risk on rural communities in the face of climate change.”

agree & join linkedin by clicking continue to join or sign in, you agree to linkedin’s user agreement, privacy policy, and cookie policy. director, heat policy innovation hub it is really great to see another like ny times raising the issue of rural heat vulnerability. did you know that often heat related illness rates are higher in rural communities than their urban counterparts? it’s time we put some every and focus on developing the appropriate interventions for the rural context. 6,280 followers “we need interventions that fit the environment,” duke university expert ashley ward told the new york times about protecting vulnerable rural populations from extreme heat. the times reports that most strategies in the u.s. for helping people stay cool are geared toward urban rather than rural areas. https://lnkd.in/e9htc74f directed by ward, the heat policy innovation hub at the nicholas institute for energy, environment & sustainability produced an infographic that shows the signs of heat illness and what to do if you experience them. check out the graphic: https://bit.ly/fightheat #extremeheat #heat #heathealth #ruralamerica to view or add a comment, sign in environmental education coordinator for the city of columbia, mo 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗘