Extreme Measures Needed To Tackle Climate Chaos Before It’s Too Late
The last week in July saw record-breaking temperatures across the globe. The forecast map for Europe appeared as a giant oppressive red mass with barely any orange or yellow nuance. Not built to withstand temperatures in the triple digits fahrenheit, cities such as Stockholm, Paris, Berlin, and elsewhere boiled beneath an unrelenting summer sun.
Here in the US, cities across the country sent out advisories telling residents to stay inside with air conditioning on. And while three-quarters of homes in the US have air conditioning, high-risk, low-income communities sometimes don’t, and even if they do, they don’t always have access to it. For instance, a mere few days after Mayor de Blasio signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency due to extreme temperatures, nearly 50,000 Con Edison customers had their power cut.