The Heat is on! The last seven years all rank as the seven hottest years on record. And the United States (U.S.) just experienced the hottest June ever in 2021. Not to be outdone, Siberia also reached a record 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit). Heat records were similarly shattered all over Canada in June and July. With temperatures surging to unprecedented levels in recent years, communities around the globe are feeling the heat now more than ever…and it is becoming dramatically worse. Heat waves, once rare events, are now exponentially hotter, last longer, cover more area, and are more frequent than they were mere decades ago. Heat waves now occur three times as often as they did in the 1960s and affect 25 percent more land area in the Northern Hemisphere than they did in the 1980s. The culprit? By amplifying heat — the deadliest type of weather — to new extremes, climate change has catapulted the world into an era characterized by scorching temperatures of a dangerous degree.
Heat waves now occur three times as often as they did in the 1960s and affect 25 percent more land area in the Northern Hemisphere than they did in the 1980s.
Heat Waves Sweeping The Globe
In late June and early July of 2021, the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. and parts of western Canada experienced an unprecedented heat dome — among the most intense ever measured globally. Major cities such as Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington broke their all-time heat records by astonishing margins, resulting in buckling roads and loss of power to thousands of residents. Ben Noll, a meteorologist, tweeted that on one day of the heat wave, Portland would be hotter than 99.9 percent of the rest of the planet — surpassed only by Africa’s Sahara Desert, California’s deserts, and the Persian Gulf.
Meanwhile, Lytton, British Columbia recorded Canada’s highest ever temperature of 49.6 degrees Celsius (121.3 degrees Fahrenheit). The next day the town burned to the ground, consumed by a wildfire that burned 90 percent of the village. In greater British Columbia, the heat wave was so dramatic that 486 deaths were recorded over the course of 5 days, nearly triple the usual average of 165 deaths. Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe blamed the extreme weather for the spike. This high mortality rate extended to the region’s wildlife as well, with the heat dome killing an estimated 1 billion sea creatures off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.
Even as far north as the Russian Arctic, heat waves shattered temperature records. Warming in Siberia has led to rapid melting of permafrost, releasing even more heat-trapping gas into the atmosphere and creating massive infrastructure challenges in the region due to sinkholes and deteriorating ground conditions. Southeastern Europe, already having experienced an unusually hot July, faced even greater danger going into early August in the form of a heat dome over the Balkan Peninsula. As of August 2, temperatures in Greece had reached 46.3 degrees Celsius (115.3 degrees Fahrenheit), climbing very close to the all-time European record. Dozens of heat-related wildfires have already begun raging across Greece and Turkey.
The Middle East, already one of the hottest regions in the world, was not spared either. In June alone, five countries reached 50 degrees Celsius for the first time, due to a heat wave deemed ‘the harshest heat wave in history for this time of year’ by climate historian Max Herrera. Studies suggest that entire regions of the Middle East and South Asia may become virtually uninhabitable for parts of each year as temperatures continue rising — and that this will happen sooner than previously expected.
As seen above, heat waves have been recorded and meticulously documented across the Northern Hemisphere. However, extreme heat events taking place in other regions — Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically — are being severely under-reported. Lack of reporting on deaths associated with extreme heat means that there is little awareness surrounding the dangers of heat waves, hindering the planning of future protection measures, and leaving the African people even more vulnerable. As of now, climate projections predict that, combined with population changes, 20-50 times more people than now could be exposed to dangerous heat in African cities by the end of the century.
Climate Change and Heat Waves
From Portland to Greece, these unheard-of temperatures would be nearly impossible without climate change. Analysis of the heat wave in the Pacific Northwest shows that an incident of this magnitude would have been a 1-in-150,000 year event without climate change. But the reality of our current climate has increased these odds to 1-in-1,500, making the formerly unimaginable that much more likely. If the planet continues warming to 2 degrees Celsius, a measure we are currently projected to reach between 2034 and 2052 in the highest emissions scenario, this event would have a likelihood of occurring every 5 to 10 years.
In the past, the occurrence of heat waves could be attributed to purely natural phenomena. Heat waves are usually caused by areas of high air pressure, which lock in sunny skies and create ever-intensifying “heat domes” as heat rising from the ground and sea increases the pressure even further. Oscillations in the jet stream caused by weather events around the globe also contribute to heat waves, bringing heat from the warm equatorial regions to typically cooler latitudes, and creating various co-occurring hot spots across the planet.
However, the anomalous heat events that have occurred recently are far from natural — climate change is a major driver. Heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions and the atmospheric warming they have caused are exacerbating the issue of extreme heat greatly, shifting the background state and providing an intense amplifying effect. Even the roughly 1 degree Celsius of warming that has already occurred has had a significant impact on the frequency and severity of heat waves.
Heat Waves and Climate Justice
Though these extreme heat events are occurring on a global scale and affect many different groups, it is important to note that certain populations are being disproportionately affected. People who are poor, those who face housing insecurity, and communities of color, in particular, are significantly more susceptible to the dangers of heat waves and are bearing the brunt of this climate impact.
A 2021 study published in Earth’s Future found that poorer neighborhoods in the U.S. were hotter than wealthier neighborhoods by up to 3.9 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) during the summer.
Research has shown that neighborhoods predominantly inhabited by poorer people and people of color tend to be hotter than those with wealthier or white residents. A 2021 study published in Earth’s Future found that poorer neighborhoods in the U.S. were hotter than wealthier neighborhoods by up to 3.9 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) during the summer. Similarly, non-white neighborhoods were found to be hotter than white ones in 71 percent of the counties examined, even when the areas had similar income levels.
Why this temperature differential? Poor neighborhoods of color tend to have fewer trees, which cool the area by providing shade, and more heat-absorbing surfaces in their place, like dark pavements and roofs. This disparity can be traced back to discriminatory housing practices, like redlining, and systemic underinvestment in poor neighborhoods.
Further, many poor people living in hot areas lack the resources to relocate to cooler locations or purchase technology like air conditioning. This is the case in the Pakistani town of Jacobabad, where temperatures can reach upwards of 50 degrees Celsius. As local market trader Zahid Hussain told The Telegraph: “People are aware that the heat is getting up and up, but they are poor people. They can’t go anywhere, they can’t leave their places.”
In Iraq, blazing July temperatures resulted in intermittent power outages lasting as long as 24 hours. Although these outages took place across the entire country, residents of wealthier districts were able to afford generators to keep them cool, while those in poorer neighborhoods had no access to electricity for air conditioning. People living in developing countries that lack air conditioning and rely specifically on labor-intensive outdoor agriculture are among the most vulnerable as well.
Unhoused populations also face significantly higher risk of danger from heat waves due to increased exposure to the elements. In the U.S., rising temperatures have been recorded in parts of the country where more than half of the homeless population is unsheltered. Women and LGBTQ+ people are also disproportionately affected, as some of the most vulnerable to housing insecurity. The increasing intensity of extreme heat events will only increase the likelihood of more displaced and unhoused people.
Extreme heat can also exacerbate pre-existing health conditions, meaning that people who are at risk for or already have health complications are more vulnerable to heat-related injury or death. Black Americans living in the U.S. highlight this injustice. Generations of systemic racism have created stark health inequalities, with Black communities suffering from hypertension and heart disease at higher rates than other communities — making them more susceptible to heat-related health complications.
With communities around the world facing the dangers of extreme heat, it is clear that we have a climate emergency on our hands. While systemic change is needed to address the roots of this climate crisis and its associated injustices, more direct strategies such as better preparedness planning, more equitable distribution of cooling strategies in cities, and improved access to healthcare and housing initiatives should also be taken to combat the risks being posed by heat specifically. Through our work here at the Global Center for Climate Justice, we aim to serve as a catalyst for these kinds of intersectional changes on all levels. It is imperative that action be taken now to increase resilience and protect the most vulnerable.
