Consider This from NPR - We're not built for this heat

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

Tens of millions of people across the US are currently under a heat advisory. And the extreme heat isn't just affecting people. You may have seen videos online of the heat causing asphalt roads to buckle. It is impacting rail travel too. Amtrak has been running some trains more slowly, as have the public transit systems of Washington and Philadelphia.Mikhail Chester, an engineering professor at Arizona State University, talks through the intersection of extreme heat and transportation.And NPR's Julia Simon shares advice on how people can keep themselves cool.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Okay, this advice is technically for toddlers, but it might be what you need to hear right now, especially if you are, like I am, living in a part of the country that is still cooking through a brutal heat wave. It comes from Javeria Royal at Curiosity Preschool and Child Care Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. As a teacher, I have to constantly remind them, like, hey, you know, your body is like an engine. It can overheat, so you need to fuel yourself with water. She's adjusted the kids' schedule. Outdoor activities are all in the morning. And that is important because this kind of heat can be dangerous for everyone.

We will expect to see more emergency department visits because of heat stress. We'll expect to see probably an increase in deaths. That's Patricia Fabian, an associate professor of environmental health at Boston University speaking to us over the weekend. She says an early heat wave like this, it is only June, can be especially dangerous. That's partly because people haven't prepared. Maybe their air conditioners aren't put into,

like for window air conditioners, they haven't thought about hydration and carrying water bottles. But also, she says, our bodies aren't put into, like for window air conditioners, they haven't thought about hydration and carrying water bottles. But also, she says, our bodies aren't ready. The other big part of it is really more the physiological response, that as time goes by and we're exposed to hot weather, our body learns how to sweat and cool down.

This early in the season, our bodies haven't had time to adapt, and if we zoom out a bit, you can see a similar pattern playing out on a larger scale. Climate change is making heat waves more intense across most of the U.S., and a lot of American cities just aren't made for this kind of heat, like where Fabian lives. In Boston, we've been used to thinking about cold and blizzards and snow days and not heat days.

And I think for that reason also all of the buildings have been built up over time to retain heat and not to be cool. Consider this. Extreme heat is testing our bodies and our infrastructure. How can humans adapt? From NPR, I'm Juana Sommers. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees.

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It's impacting rail travel, too. Amtrak has been running some trains more slowly, as have the public transit systems of Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. To explain what's happening, I spoke with Mikhail Chester. He's an engineering professor at Arizona State University, where he studies the impacts of climate change on transportation infrastructure. Okay, I'd love to start, if we can, with roads and trains. Can you start by just telling us briefly, how does extreme heat affect train tracks, for example, or make the road expand? What exactly is happening there?

Yeah, so there's sort of two dynamics to think about. One is the impact directly to the infrastructure itself. And in many ways, we've designed our infrastructures over decades, if not centuries, for temperatures that have been relatively milder. So when it comes to a road, we design roads with a particular temperature extreme in mind, depending on the particular location where that road is built and maintained.

And now as temperatures are hotter, you're starting to see the dynamics of those extremes take hold, exceeding the design thresholds of those infrastructures in the particular asset. So you might experience more cracking and rutting when it comes to a road. When it comes to rail, you might experience that the thresholds, the thermal expansion joints of the rail tracks are being exceeded. And even if the infrastructure itself is not impacted, simply the threat of the failure is resulting in transit agencies or transportation agencies in general having to look out for these threats. We've talked a little bit about roads and trains, but are there other

examples you could give us about ways that extreme heat can impact the country's transportation infrastructure and the people who depend on it? Sure. So you have started to see stories pop up of airport impacts to service operations where planes and pilots are told to essentially adjust how much distance they need to take off. And that has had an impact on service and operations. this. So people who operate transportation infrastructure who are outside also are impacted by these heat waves. We need to keep them in reprieve for a little bit longer and make sure that they are ultimately safe. A common story that we might hear about is how passengers

on transit vehicles, for example, might be more unruly more often leading to police intervention. So all of these things are at play and ultimately may have some impact into the service. So Mikhail, to your mind, is this a moment to say that we need to change our approach? Correct. Now is a time when we're starting to see innovation emerge and also limitations of how much we can engineer ourselves using existing models of how we typically approach infrastructure. Whereas in the past, we may have said, we'll simply update to hotter temperatures in how we design. The challenge of doing that is there's so much infrastructure out there and the costs of rehabilitating all might be quite expensive. And as such, we're starting to see folks ask this question of what could we do differently? I wonder if you have a message to policymakers or others who are approving budgets in order

to make cities more resilient. Is there one thing in particular they should think about as they're trying to figure out how to address this? I would say that as we enter this period where we're experiencing these climate hazards, heat and otherwise, we're starting to see that there's a major market for producing knowledge to be able to address these challenges. Often, the way that we've been doing in the past doesn't seem to be sufficient for how we need to approach infrastructure in the future. We need to pivot how we're approaching this challenge.

And that's going to require us to innovate, which we are doing. It's going to require us to share that knowledge, which we are doing, it's gonna require us to share that knowledge, which we're starting to do. One thing you said that really stuck with me is the fact that yes, this is about infrastructure in terms of rails and roads and buses and cars, but it is also about the people who are doing the work, the people who are helping us all get from place to place

and operating these transit systems. I wonder, is there something that can be done to protect those people in this moment where climate change is making life on planet Earth hotter for all of us? We need to make sure that we have the latest knowledge and science to be able to protect them. For example, how long is it safe for them to be outside in heat waves relative to how long do they need to come into air conditioning for reprieve.

Secondly, arming them with the appropriate knowledge of how they should respond to these disasters and threats becomes really important. That's Mikhail Chester, engineering professor at Arizona State University. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. So those were some big picture adaptations to more intense heat, but what can you personally do to get cool and stay cool?

Well, for some ideas, my co-host Elsa Chang talked with Julia Simon from NPR's climate desk. Okay, so with temperatures in the upper 90s and even triple digits in some places, it can be really hard to stay cool even with air conditioning inside. So what can we do to keep temperatures low while inside, you think? So yeah, so first if your lines aren't closed, close them. Close those curtains. Don't let the heat of the sun get inside. If you have fans and aren't running them, turn those fans on, ideally right next to you. This is a time to make a salad, not to start baking. Ideally you're not turning on your stove right now. Definitely not. And also get a wet washcloth. Try a tip my grandmother used in the 1920s.

Sleep with a wet sheet. Yes. Uh-huh. I've totally done that. Oh, I love it. Bonus points if you have a wet sheet and a fan. Evaporation cooling. OK, well, I do understand that the majority

of American homes have some sort of air conditioning, but it seems like people are nervous about stressing out their ACs in this heat, so any tips there? Yes, I spoke to Nate Adams in West Virginia about this. I'm often known as Nate the House Whisperer for taking existing homes and making them much nicer places to live. You'll hear a lot about setting your AC at this exact temperature compared to the outside air. The reality is every house is different.

There's no one answer. Adam says, In this crazy heat wave, do your best to set it where it's comfortable. He also says to definitely make sure your filter is clean. Okay. So let's talk about some long term solutions here because heat waves, I mean, they've just become part of summer life due to global warming, right? What are some longer-term solutions for people's homes?

Longer-term, Adam says, think about better sealing up your house. Make sure that hot air outside isn't coming in when you don't want it to. He says oftentimes. The root cause of a lot of discomfort is a house that is leaky. You've got too many air leaks coming through. So one of the key things to look at is where you can seal up the house. Adam says, look at what he calls the bowels of the house for leaks, the attic, the basement. You can also think about having shades on the outside of the house so the heat doesn't

come in with the sunlight. Oh, like sunglasses for the house. So the heat doesn't come in with the sunlight. Huh, like sunglasses for the house, okay. All right, we're talking about staying cool inside, but what are like ways you can stay cool outside? Every year, heat waves send people to the emergency room for heat stroke. So obviously try your best to stay inside. If you have to go outside, you should be hydrating. Drink

more water than you think you need. Wear a hat. There is a way that the military cools down fast. It involves submerging your arms up to the elbow in ice cold water. But really try to stay inside in dangerous heat like this. Right. Okay. Well, I know we talk about this all the time. Heat records are being broken more frequently and we keep hearing, of course, that is connected to climate change. Julia, just remind us, what is that connection? Scientists say the most intense heat waves would not be possible without human-caused global warming. Last year was the world's hottest year on record. Climate researchers say global warming isn't a who-done-it mystery.

The primary driver is humans burning planet-heating fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal. Scientists say we already have scalable solutions that can cut climate pollution like wind and solar energy combined with large battery systems. Julia Simon from NPR's climate desk. She was talking with my co-host Elsa Chang. This episode was produced by Jeffrey Pierre, Mia Venkat, and Connor Donovan. It was edited by Tenbeat Ermias, Sadie Babbitt, Nila Banerjee, and Courtney Dohring. And that preschool reporting you heard at the top of this piece came from NPR's Adam Bearn.

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