WILLIAM RAU

Last month I detailed the anger and despair of the world’s top climate scientists who fear the eventual collapse of civilization due to our unwillingness to combat rising global temperatures. As Bill McKibben (2024) notes, their dire predictions “rest not on climate science but political science,” namely the refusal of politicians great and small to implement steps to decarbonize human activity. Refusal is understandable. Decarbonization must include, not only all levels of business and government, but all households. That means you and I must stop using gasoline, natural gas, and dirty electricity while transitioning quickly to 100% renewable energy. No politician has the stomach for this fight because all oxen must be gored.

We can no longer stay under a global temperature increase of 1.5°C, but it is still possible — with an outburst of gutsy leaders and followers — to limit the increase to 1.8°C (more realistically 2.0°C), but only “if we act with great speed” (McKibbon 2024). And we now know what will happen if we act with great slowness. Look no further than to the disruption of normal life in the American Southwest and South. Case in point: a son’s friend living in Phoenix has three young boys who must now spend most of the summer couped up indoors because it is dangerously hot outside. He can’t walk his dog at night either; sizzling concrete fries dog paws. The end of carefree childhood summers and dog walking are two consequences of collective inaction.

Other consequences involve increasing demands on ambulances, ERs, and morgue space. Last summer, emergency room visits in five Southern states doubled to quadrupled for July and August compared to the last five years, and about 75% of the 2023 heat deaths in the U.S. were located in the South and Southwest (Borenstein 2024). With a June-through-August average daily temperature of 97°F, and 31 contiguous days at or above 110°F, Arizona recorded the most heat deaths and found its morgue in Phoenix running out of space (Snow 2024). This is why kids can’t play or dogs can’t walk outside anymore.

Heat-related deaths have increased ten-fold in the Phoenix area over the last decade. While deaths fell most heavily on the elderly (65%) and the homeless (45%), young and old, rich and poor, ended up in the morgue: a farm worker, age 26, collapsed and died in a field; an engineer, age 33, went hiking on what became a one-way trip into the desert; a pregnant schizophrenic, also 33, found wandering a blazing hot street, died on the way to the hospital; a camper, age 42, was found dead in her tent on April 11th; a widow, age 73, died in her $1 million home when her air conditioner broke.

With each 1/10th degree notch upward on the global thermometer, life in Arizona will become increasingly difficult, costly, and dangerous. And its intense heat will radiate outward across the South and into the North and East. As Andrew Dessler, Texas A&M climate scientist, puts it:

“I just think in 20 years, you know, 2040 rolls around … we’re going to look back at 2023 and say, man, that was cool. The problem with climate change is if it hasn’t pushed you over the edge yet, just wait.” (Borenstein).

References

• Borenstein, Seth. 2024 (May 31). AP analysis finds 2023 set record for US heat deaths, killing in areas that used to handle the heat. AP; https://apnews.com/article/record-heat-deadly-climate-change-humidity-south-11de21a526e1cbe7e306c47c2f12438d
• Maricopa County Department of Public Health 2024. 2023 Heat Related Deaths Report; https://www.maricopa.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5820
• McKibben, Bill. 2024 (May 15). The 1.5C global heating target was always a dream but its demise doesn’t signal doom for climate action. Guardian; https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/15/1-5-degree-global-heating-target-climate-action
• Snow, Anita. 2024 (May 27). Last year’s deadly heat wave in metro Phoenix didn’t discriminate. AP; https://apnews.com/article/deadly-heat-summer-victims-phoenix-arizona-maricopa-dcb8c01e3566d1737acbd60b462e5ddf
• Associated Press. 2024 (May 27). After a deadly heat wave last summer metro Phoenix is changing tactics. AP; https://apnews.com/article/phoenix-maricopa-arizona-lessons-deadly-heat-summer-26c3f15d28643bec4f9fd6eaaa073960