The Opinions - It’s Time We Start Naming America’s Deadliest Climate Disasters

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Heat waves kill more Americans than hurricanes, tornadoes and floods combined. But despite their deadly toll, we rarely treat them with the urgency they demand. Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist, has spent the better part of his career studying the effects of heat waves. In this episode, he argues that to take heat waves more seriously, we need to start naming them like we do hurricanes — a simple, zero-cost action that could end up saving lives.Questions? Thoughts? Email us at [e-mail]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is The Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times opinion. You've heard the news. Here's what to make of it. My name's Eric Kleinenberg. I'm a professor of sociology at New York University. I've been studying and thinking about heat for a long time. And here we are in September, and there's record-setting heat waves on the West Coast. It is hot, hot, hot out there, and it is going to only get hotter. Today, Phoenix hit a record 100th straight day of triple-digit temperatures. So we are seeing heat waves that come more frequently last longer and that reach higher temperatures.

And a surprising thing that most Americans don't know is that in this country, in typical years, heat waves kill more people than hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods combined. Heat waves are tricky. disasters because they're invisible. Most of us probably have a camera-ready image of a hurricane or a tornado or a flood in our mind. But if you close your eyes and try to picture a heat wave, you probably draw a blank or maybe you see kids playing in a fire hydrant somewhere, but we can't see the heat. I bet everybody remembers Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Sandy. But we didn't always name hurricanes. We just started naming hurricanes in the 1950s. And the reason we started that is because before we gave them numbers,

and no one could remember the numbers. No one could keep track of whether their region was going to be affected by Hurricane 42 or Hurricane 43 or 44. So to clarify, instead of confuse, meteorologists came up with a simple idea. We'll give them a name. And that when we name something, we know this from lots of anthropologists, anthropological research, we express our recognition that it is significant, that it's worth paying attention to, that it's individual, this thing has individual characteristics. We anthropomorphize it, personify it. It becomes easier for us to organize around it or defend ourselves from it. It takes

on all these characteristics that implant it in our minds. So why don't we do that for the disaster that kills us the most. More than 20 years ago, I wrote a book about a catastrophic heat wave in Chicago. On July of 1995, this hot air mass started moving its way up into Chicago. Meteorologists could see it. And by the way, it's useful to think about

how we visualize hurricanes as they move into city or state. We have these color-coded maps. The meteorologists do live reports, political officials get summoned back to the place if they're away. Everyone is in preparation mode. But that didn't happen in 1995 in Chicago. Chicago's heat continues unabated. The heat is hard baked now.

No longer an amusement or a nuisance. It's a full-fledged. Kill it. There was frightening testament to how dangerous this heat wave has become. As busloads of children are overcome by the sweltering temperatures, many rushed to hospitals. So the mayor left town, the health commissioner left town. the fire commissioner, who was in charge of paramedics, left for his vacation. So the A-team was gone. The power went out.

The temperature hit 106 degrees. It felt like it was 125 because of the humidity. People were trapped. And suddenly thousands of people started calling for emergency medical care. Paramedics got delayed. Hospitals couldn't take in new patients because the emergency rooms were full. And soon enough, hundreds of people began to die.

So many people died in such a short period of time that the coroner's office was overwhelmed. They had no place for the bodies. I'm a Chicago native, and when I read this story about a massively lethal heat wave, where I grew up, I wanted to understand what happened.

So what happens in heat waves is the heat gets trapped into our buildings. If the power goes out, it's impossible to cool down. You might be trapped in a building where the elevator doesn't work, or you can't get water. You might not be able to open your windows, depending on the building you live in.

And so after about 36 or 48 hours, people's bodies began to break down from extreme temperatures. You can see heat stroke that results in organ failure, and if you are really overheated or really vulnerable, you will die. So it's important to note that heat waves are lethal not only because they're hot

but also because they hit societies where social isolation is a problem. And one reason to name heat waves is because when the heat has a name, we think about it more. We know, oh, heat wave Harvey is here,

I should knock on Katrina's door and make sure she's okay. In Sevilla and Spain, they've implemented a new system, recently, where they code heat waves in terms of their severity, and then the most severe ones get named. And it seems to be the case from the earliest research we have that when you name a heat wave, people take more measures to protect themselves and to protect each other. It comes into our consciousness more strongly. We need to start making all kinds of changes to deal with climate change.

And we also need to make changes to deal with extreme heat. We could plant trees. We could build out more accessible air conditioning. And we will do all those things in time. But for right now, for zero dollars, we could do something tremendously effective to raise awareness about the dangers of heat. And that's giving heat waves a name. If you like this show, follow it on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.

This show is produced by Derek Arthur, Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Vichaca, Phoebe Lett, Christina Samuelski, and Jillian Weinberger. It's edited by Kari Pitkin, Alison Bruzek, and Annie Rose Strasser. Engineering, mixing, and original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker, Carol Saburo, and Afim Shapiro. Additional music by Amin Sahota. The fact check team is Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Lacher, and Michelle Harris. Audience Strategy by Shannon Busta, Christina Samueluski, and Adrian Rivera.

The executive producer of Times Opinion Audio is Annie Rose Dresser.