Summers in the U.S. no longer consist of long days spent under the sun and comfortable evening temperatures for outdoor activities. Now, rising global temperatures have transformed summer from a time of leisure into one of heat and human vulnerability.
While many people can treat extreme heat as an inconvenience, managed with air conditioning and shaded commutes, others are forced to endure conditions that are outright threatening to their health, means and lives. The divide between who has access to shelter from the heat and who doesn’t is one of the most prominent and critical aspects of the climate crisis in terms of human impact. It is a matter of life and death that we, as a nation, address this inequality appropriately, saving thousands of lives of the people who are oftentimes already disadvantaged.
Extreme heat is now the deadliest form of weather in the U.S, killing more people each year than hurricanes, floods or tornadoes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that heat-related deaths have actually doubled in recent decades, jumping from one to two deaths per million people annually. These deaths and injuries are not random, though; they fall disproportionately on those who work outdoors or in poorly-ventilated conditions, who often have little power to demand protection from the battering conditions.
The danger of heat is reinforced by science. Heat waves are becoming longer, hotter, more humid and more challenging to recover from. In fact, summer nights in the Southwest are now 4.5 degrees warmer than they were in 1970. Such an increase in nighttime temperatures is detrimental to one’s body, limiting its ability to cool down before the next day’s exposure. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions, nearly 75% of which come from fossil fuel burning, are trapping more heat in the atmosphere. This problem continues to go unaddressed, and lobbyists for oil monopolies continue to push for larger, more environmentally-harmful fracking, drilling and pipeline projects. Until we address this massive corporate greed, individual people will be unable to defend themselves from the effects of their harmful emissions.
What makes extreme heat especially unjust is how unequally the burden and effects are distributed. In the U.S., the people most exposed are often the people who are least able to protect themselves: construction workers, delivery drivers, farmworkers and others in physically demanding jobs with much time spent outside. This amounts to nearly 32 million American workers, who are frequently immigrants or people of color, those who are already disadvantaged in politics, the economy and other societal structures. Latinos account for one-third of all worker heat fatalities, and farmworkers in the U.S. West and Great Plains face the highest rates of death from heat-related illnesses. Compared to those with white-collar jobs in office buildings across the U.S., low-paid workers suffer five times as many heat-related injuries.
Despite the massive loss of human life due to the climate crisis, protections remain weak for outside workers. A few states, such as California and Colorado, have passed laws requiring employers to provide shade, water and rest breaks for workers. This is a step in the right direction, while other states move in the opposite direction. For example, in 2023, a bill was introduced in Texas banning cities from mandating water breaks for outdoor workers. Such policies prioritize productivity over human safety, effectively forcing workers to sacrifice their health to keep their jobs. Many people with healthy ethics should see that this is a problem, and everyone is impacted by the climate crisis, not just those workers.
There are possible solutions to this inequality, but they require political change, which many will oppose. First, it is necessary to reduce heat-trapping emissions in order to reduce the number of days with extreme heat in the future. This means sanctioning heavy-polluting industries, prioritizing clean energy sources, reducing waste in nearly every single industry and using less electricity. More importantly, we must implement enforceable, science-based standards for heat safety in outdoor workplaces. Coupled with foundational workers’ rights and protections, these standards would save thousands of lives every year with their implementation alone. There is also room for more creative alternatives, which are morally just and efficient, such as insurance programs piloted in India, which provide workers with payouts when temperatures reach dangerously high thresholds, allowing them to stay home without losing income.
The broader injustice of the heat crisis is abundantly clear: those who contribute the least to global emissions are the ones suffering most from their effects. The “cooled” can retreat to their air-conditioned homes, offices and cars. On the other hand, the “cooked” are forced to endure relentless exposure to dangerous heat with little protection. Until policymakers and employers take responsibility, this divide will only widen. After all, it’s not as if they’re choosing to spend money on slowing climate change, either.
The heat crisis is not just about rising temperatures. It is about fairness, dignity and fundamental human rights. Every degree warmed makes inequality worse, and every delay in action carries a human cost. We must address heat inequality to maintain summer as a season of life, enjoyment and celebration, not a dangerous or death-ridden one.
