You wake up in your bed, covered in sweat, as you look around and notice the blinding yellow light shining through your window. You barely used your blanket last night, tossing it on the ground because the heat from your home was more than enough to lull you into sleep for the night. This is the reality for many of us in the United States right now, with a record-breaking heat wave sweeping across the country. As of early July, over 190 million people in the U.S. are facing temperatures over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and cities like Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. are dealing with days in the upper 90s with no relief at night. In some places, temperatures have climbed past 100 degrees, with heat indexes feeling even hotter due to humidity.
But even though the weather seems really bad right now, scientists have predicted that the temperatures will continue to increase for some time. This heat wave is a part of the ongoing changes due to global warming. As companies continue to pollute the air, water, and land, greenhouse gases trap heat close to the planet's surface, which causes baseline global temperatures to rise.
Interestingly enough, the areas that are hit hardest during these heat surges are cities, and more specifically, marginalized communities. Because cities are surrounded by numerous buildings and roads, this contributes to the greenhouse gases trapping heat on the Earth's surface, causing urban areas to experience heat waves more intensely than other places. Due to redlining, a racist practice pushing people of color into specific areas that has been done since the 1930s in the United States, those same people of color are affected by the heat waves the most.
Unlike you or me, the marginalized communities in urban areas can't always afford to crank the A.C. up. With the stress of prolonged heat, energy prices are skyrocketing right now. In New York, energy prices went all the way up to nearly $2,400 per megawatt-hour, and grid operators in several states issued emergency alerts. These failures hit lower-income neighborhoods first, places that are already dealing with poor infrastructure. A lot of these people in poor housing stocks or government buildings can't make the extra money to afford a home that has a working A.C.
Money issues aren't the only problematic result of the heat wave that marginalized communities face. Heat waves can potentially be deadly. High heat increases the risk of heat stroke, dehydration, and respiratory issues, especially for the elderly, children, and people with chronic illnesses in general. When air quality drops during intense heat, which can happen commonly, asthma and heart conditions can worsen. Without A.C. or safe shelter, the risk becomes even greater for people on the margins.
Some cities have started opening cooling centers, but access isn't always equitable. Language barriers, transportation issues, and a lack of outreach often block those who need these services the most from using them. At the end of the day, low-income residents, people of color, indigenous communities, and non-English speaking groups aren't considered at all in this process, perpetuating the cycle of systemic neglect.
An equitable adaptation to include these often neglected groups could look like cooling centers in high-risk neighborhoods, targeted energy assistance programs, heat-resilient infrastructure in red-lined zones, and community-led preparedness plans. All of these solutions should be implemented while working with, not for, the impacted communities. What can you do to help these people? The most important thing is to advocate for them and get the word out. You don't have to be a government official to make change. Don't let the government further neglect them; instead, push for their causes and get underprivileged communities in the limelight. As a citizen of a county, you can pressure your city council to prioritize cooling assistance. You can find and share resources online and support mutual aid funds that give fans or water to people who need it.