As the Southwest cooks from climate change, rising temperatures are a warning for everyone

As the Southwest cooks from climate change, rising temperatures are a warning for everyone
Phoenix may be getting hotter, but nowhere will escape the extreme heat of climate change

By Matthew Rozsa
Staff Writer
Published November 3, 2024 5:15AM (EST)


(Salon) For millions of Americans in the Southwest, the extreme heat from climate change is a literal life-and-death matter. Just ask Amy Dishion, whose 32-year-old husband Evan unexpectedly died from the heat while hiking six miles with friends in Phoenix. Dishion was left to raise their three-month-old baby.

“I lost my partner in life and my favorite person and the father of my child to extreme heat because he went on a hike during hot weather," Dishion told Salon. “My life is never going to be the same. It’s been incredibly difficult and I’m not sure how I’m ever going to bounce back from this loss. Evan is someone no one would have expected this to happen to. He was extremely fit, he was a marathon runner in the prime of his life. My husband was exceptional — he overcame so much to become a physician. And now, because of the heat, he doesn’t get to see his baby girl grow up and I’m left to pick up the pieces.”

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Between June and August 2024, 26 major American cities had at least one dangerous extreme heatwave. According to Climate Central, anthropogenic climate change is so extreme that one out of four people on Earth received no relief from climate change-driven heat in summer 2024. On Aug. 13, global exposure peaked when half of all living people — 4.1 billion human beings were forced to undergo “unusual temperatures made at least three times more likely by climate change.”

This problem is especially prevalent in the Southwest, as epitomized by the Phoenix metro area. Maricopa County, the most populous in the state, has 4.5 million residents and is the fastest growing county in the United States. Roughly 400 Arizonans died from heat throughout 2023, many in Maricopa County, with some climate activists urging fossil fuel companies to be held legally accountable for these deaths. As humans continue to burn fossil fuels for transportation, manufacturing and agriculture, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions trap heat and unnaturally warm the planet. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/11/03/as-the-southwest-cooks-from-climate-change-rising-temperatures-are-a-warning-for-everyone/