Image source: Merlina McGovern
It seems like everywhere I look, there’s another story about how brutally hot this summer has been. Almost 20 straight days of heat rising to above 110 degrees in Phoenix, Arizona. At the Persian Gulf International Airport in Iran, the heat index rose today to an absolutely sweltering 162 degrees! With a heat index that high, humans are no longer safely able to go outside.
My parents live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it is currently 101 degrees. They are elderly, so I am thankful every day that they have a house with working central air. My fears for their health are not unfounded, unfortunately. The CDC noted that between the years 2004 to 2018, an average of 702 people die in the US from heat-related causes. In 2020, in a study published in the journal, Lancet Planetary Health, researchers found that heat-related deaths globally are on the rise.
I don’t think any sane person can honestly argue that climate change isn’t real. Not only does it lead to increases in heat-related deaths, but there are also arguments to be made that it leads to a rise in disease exposure, when insects have longer growing seasons, as well as to mass migration, when large portions of land simply become unlivable for billions of people.
It can be easy to become paralyzed with fear as we see daily news about the awful effects of climate change. Still, there are positive steps being taken by countries and organizations. According to this in the MIT Technology Review, positive changes include the fact that “economic growth is becoming less dependent on fossil fuels.” The Atlantic has an article about those non-profit organizations most effective at channeling donations into real change.
As for me, our family does what it can to recycle, and we are slowly moving our house to become powered by solar energy. Because we both began working from home during the pandemic, we downsized our cars to just one, and we both drive very little.
Although this post is filled with doom and gloom about the perils of climate change, I had to open it with a beautiful picture of flowers. These flowers are ones that I see on my daily walks. And even though my walks have become increasingly uncomfortable because of the heat and high humidity, I always take time to pause and take in the beauty of these amazing flowers and the critters that live on them. Taking even that small moment to appreciate this wonderful planet that we live on gives me the strength that I need to think positively so that I can do my part to help mitigate the impacts of climate change.
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