A Body Temperature Above 104 Can Result in Heatstroke
10 ways to avoid one
THE GUY HERE is Jeff Goodell.
contributing writer at Rolling Stone.
winner of a Guggenheim 2020.
author of many books on the climate crisis.
The latest of these is The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet.
When I was in Jacksonville, FL in May, speaking at an environmental conference, Goodell was also in town, appearing at the downtown public library. I met my friend Teri there. In the photo above, she’s the woman getting her book signed.
The Heat
This week a heat wave has clobbered the western U.S. Phoenix broke a daily record high on Monday with 118 degrees. On Tuesday Las Vegas broke a daily record with 117.
And people are dying. Heat is suspected in at least 7 deaths in the West. As I listened to this news, I was reminded of Goodell’s talk.
Turns out, most of us pay attention to weathering other hazards of climate change—tornadoes, flood, drought, hurricanes—and we even think about ruggedizing, as futurist Alex Steffen calls it, our lives, but we are less aware of the dangers of heat. Goodell called heat a lethal weapon.
Heatstroke can occur if your body temperature rises to 104 degrees.
“Our comfort hasn’t yet been disrupted by this lethal weapon,” he said. I believe, however, that our comfort is actually being disrupted.
The question is, Who is vulnerable and who is not? Vulnerable folks may have
health conditions, especially heart disease, lung disease, and obesity.
no or little access to AC. (More than 750 million people on the planet don’t have electricity.)
little to no money.
inner-city lives. The city is hotter than land with trees.
“I don’t feel that climate change is a human-extinction event,” Goodell said. He wore new skinny-leg blue jeans and a khaki blazer. “Many of us in this room will be okay in the biggest sense. It’s a justice issue.” It’s rich versus poor, a class divide of people globally. It’s the people who have the resources to protect themselves versus the ones who don’t.
What Is Heat?
Goodell called heat a manifestation of energy, a vibration. “Think about it as a world with a faster metabolism,” he said. He called a heatwave a predatory event, one that stalks the most vulnerable people.
We know that a hotter planet is a more chaotic planet.
“We got here by burning a lot of fossil fuels for a couple hundred year,” Goodell said. We are moving into a permanently different climate. We are not going back.
What To Do
The best way to geo-engineer the planet, Goodell said, is to stop burning fossil fuels.
Eliminate subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
Stop banks from giving cheap loans to fossil fuel industries.
Accelerate the change to renewables.
Move more quickly to electric cars.
Why We Haven’t Been Able to Act
Goodell was very clear that we have the technology we need to begin to reverse climate change and mitigate climate disaster.
“It’s a political problem,” he said. “We don’t have the political will.” In fact, Florida’s Gov. DeSantis signed legislation that would ban most instances of the words “climate change” from state law, effective July 1.
“That’s not going to do anything,” Goodell said. Climate change is happening whatever we call it.
How to Protect Yourself From Overheating
Get out of the sun. Work in the shade or at least take lots of breaks in shade.
Try not to work or exercise outside in the hottest part of the day, noon to 4 pm.
Drink lots of water. We cool off by sweating, and that water needs to be replenished.
Wear loose-fitting, lightweight clothing.
Don’t get sunburned. Sunburn changes the way you process heat.
Cool off in air-conditioned spaces.
Cool off under a hose or in a cold shower.
Use an electric fan if you don’t have AC.
Pull down blinds or, better yet, use thermal shades.
Insulate your home.
I know you know this, but I’m going to remind you anyway. Never leave a child or a pet in a car, and don’t walk your dogs in the brutal heat of midday.
As For Me
I’ve written this post as much for me as for you. I am terrible about working outside in excruciating heat, until I’m red-faced, dripping with sweat, and maybe even a little dizzy. I tell myself, I’m healthy. I’m thin. I’m acclimated. I was born and raised in the south of Georgia, with intense summer heat.
However, the heat of the past is not the heat of the present. We’re in new territory.
I’m getting serious about not overheating, and I’d like you to do the same. I want to keep you around.
Question
What kind of temperatures are you seeing where you are? What kind of fallout from the heat? How are you?
Thanks, Janisse, for getting the word out about heat. And for all that pressure we need to be putting on government, banks, etc., to quit fossil fuels, does everyone know about the Climate Action Now app? Daily ideas for who to contact now, with templates, super easy. Plus background on each campaign. I find it's important to keep doing things I can to push for a cooler planet. We never know how much our efforts add up.
We live in the Phoenix metro, so it is hot. The highs are probably not the biggest problem, but the fact that the lows are in the high 80's and even the 90's. There's just not a break from the heat.
It's important to realize that your decision-making ability is affected by the heat. It's not a time to figure things out on the fly. Be prepared and be prepared to quit.