Climate Change Effects

 Climate Change : Poorest hardest hit by Historic Heat waves

Changing climate, changing lives: This occasional series of reports from the front lines of climate change explores how extreme weather already affects millions of people in different settings around the globe, looking at both the real-world impacts and possible ways forward. Heat waves which raise temperatures soaring across parts of Europe and North America grab media headlines, prompting coverage of the dangers posed by extreme heat brought on by the climate crisis. But such heat in other parts of the world rarely makes international headlines, often rendering invisible the daily dangers faced by poor communities. Climate scientists predict that rising temperatures will make some parts of the globe uninhabitable. What’s surprising many of them is the speed at which temperatures are rising: Numerous heat records were broken worldwide last year alone. Heat waves have increased in intensity and duration in recent years across South Asia, to the Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan. 

While extreme heat affects everyone, the harms fall most on people experiencing homelessness and on lower-income families who are more likely to lack access to air-conditioning. Sitting or falling on the sidewalk is especially dangerous, because pavement absorbs heat and can reach high unbearable temperatures, causing severe burns. Unhoused people accounted for about 40% of the heat-associated deaths as per data. If this continues, we will see more heat-related deaths. It is a life-and-death situation. Unequal access to air-conditioning is just one of the many ways that the growing effects of climate change have the biggest implications for the least advantaged. Following are the few others:-

Urban heat Islands

More than 40 million in US cities are experiencing far more intense heat than those in rural areas, thanks to urban “heat islands” according to an analysis. Temperatures can be more than 8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than in nearby rural environments. Urban heat islands are created in cities where open land has been replaced with buildings, concrete sidewalks, paved parking lots and other structures that absorb and retain heat. Due to fewer heat-reducing amenities like parks, yards and street trees, low-income neighbourhood's and communities of colour are more likely to be in severe heat islands. 

Outdoor work

Those in blue-collar occupations are far more likely to work outdoors in extreme heat. Extreme heat poses a major health risk for outdoor workers. For many hourly workers in the construction industry, even having the workday shortened in extreme heat has a downside, as it means lower earnings. Poor people often work outside despite the heat and live in homes that are difficult to cool. An evaluation of the heat index found that our world is at risk of being adversely affected by the heat, “impacting adaptive livelihood capacity, food grains yield, vector-borne disease spread and urban sustainability,” according to a study on Climate.

Wildfire smoke

Much of the northern US has been dealing with air pollution caused by smoke drifting from hundreds of Canadian wildfires. Low-income communities and communities of colour have higher baseline rates of particle pollution because they are often near air pollution sources like highways and ports. Whether it’s diesel trucks and buses in people’s neighbourhood's, commuter cars or power plants — there are a lot of communities that have already been impacted by air pollution. Additional pollution from wildfires is making the situation worse. This dangerous combination of intense heat and wildfire smoke can lead to health effects ranging from asthma to reduced lung function, cardiovascular disease and death.

Flooding

Since warmer air holds more moisture, rainfall has been increasingly extreme in recent years, leading to flash floods. Due to lower-quality infrastructure, poorer communities are more vulnerable during times of floods. This is especially true in developing countries. Last September, flooding in Pakistan killed over 1,700 people, in part because buildings, roads and power lines are less fortified than in rich countries and weather tracking and emergency services are less advanced. Last year, when flooding killed 13 New York City residents, 11 were in basement apartments. These often cramped, illegal units are relatively affordable, due to their lack of light and air, but are more susceptible to flooding. Sea-level rise caused by melting polar ice caps is also contributing to stronger hurricanes. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, the mortality rate among Black residents of Orleans Parish was up to four times as high as for white residents, because many lower-income residents lacked the means to evacuate.

Suggested Remedies

Cities are beginning to address the threat from extreme heat. Eight cities around the world, including Miami, Los Angeles and Phoenix, have appointed chief heat officers to coordinate heat preparedness and response. Phoenix is opening air-conditioned cooling centres, arranging transportation to get the carless to them, and sending out volunteers with water bottles. It is also embarking on new strategies to reduce the urban heat island effect, such as painting pavement lighter colours to reflect heat. To preserve access to air-conditioning, some experts argue that utilities should be prevented from shutting electricity use for non payment in the summertime and that the government should subsidize electricity use for low-income households in the same way that it does home heating fuel. 

Elsewhere, Phoenix, Arizona, broke a 49-year-old record for days over 43C when the 19th consecutive day was recorded on 18 July 2023, and forecasters predicted at least another week of days in excess of 43C across the American Southwest. Chinese officials said the country had more hot days in the past six months than it has ever had, and Beijing is facing one its hottest summers on record, with temperatures over 40C for several days in mid-July. A heatwave also descended on Europe last year, with temperatures over 40C recorded in parts of Spain, France, Greece, Croatia, and Türkiye. Temperatures reached as high as 48C in Italy, where the health ministry issued red weather alerts in 20 of the country’s 27 main cities on July 18, including Rome, Florence, and Bologna.

The climate is changing across the globe for everybody, but only the socially marginalised communities don’t have the resources to battle it effectively. According to the UN, Dalits and Adivasis form five out of every six multi dimensionally poor people in India, meaning they not only lack enough income for daily needs but also do not have access to education and basic infrastructure. In the village where Devaki lives, the houses are packed together with little to no ventilations. 

Policies to address heat often overlook the most vulnerable. Policy makers should prioritise vulnerable populations to reduce the stress from heat. Generally vulnerable groups are often overlooked. The data-based plans outline actions aimed at reducing the impacts of severe heat on communities. Addressing gaps in the implementation of the plans is important, since South and Southeast Asia will face increasing problems related to excessive heat. Humid heat waves are likely to recur at least once every two years if global temperatures rise by 2C, climate scientists predict. Heat waves in Bangladesh are currently about 2C hotter because of human-induced climate change. Poorer, socially marginalised communities in rural areas are being left behind during implementation of governments policies to address the impacts of soaring temperatures. It’s clear that we need to act now to develop a nationwide framework for climate adaptation to protect all vulnerable families from hotter summers, higher bills and more extreme weather events.