According to NPR, Harvard University, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, more than half the Americans have experienced the effects of extreme heat. These include higher electricity bills and worsening health. California has a higher percentage of heat-related deaths than the rest, with 71% reporting that heat is the leading climate effect.
“California has low air conditioning rates in homes. Maybe because it’s blessed by cool breezes in many parts of the state. But when there’s an extreme heat event and there’s no cool water available, you’re in trouble,” says David Eisenman who directs UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters. This is why you are seeing this higher rate.
Poll results show that people are conscious of the connection between climate change and their health. Nearly 25% of people who have experienced extreme weather over the past five years claimed that someone in their family has suffered from serious health problems as a result. According to poll respondents, not all Americans feel the same way about heat. 11% of Americans who have been personally affected say that their homes have experienced serious health issues due to lack of air conditioning. This sentiment was shared by a greater number of Asian, Latino, Black, and Native American adults.
According to the survey, a higher percentage of Californians believe that air conditioning has an impact on their health.
This is not surprising to Democratic Assemblywoman Luz Rios, who represents eastern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. She grew up with air conditioning but sometimes had it. Rivas claims that land use policies, such as historical redlining, have contributed to the urban heat in the hot neighborhoods she knows.
Rivas states that families like hers have been suffering heat for decades because there aren’t many trees or other ways to cool them. Rivas recalls her mother taking her to the mall for cooling down on hot days. “Now that heat waves are becoming longer, our old coping strategies are no longer going to work.
Rivas’ legislation would allow the California Environmental Protection Agency to create a heat wave ranking system. This would be used for public warnings. Rivas says that it’s similar to the way we do for hurricanes in other States. She also said that ranking heat waves would allow the public to “know the severity and then learn what to do in those cases.”
Public health officials, emergency room physicians, and researchers argued that heat is worse for Black Americans, Latinos, city dwellers, and outdoor workers. They also noted that there was an 8 percent increase in mortality during the hottest days of the year in Los Angeles.
Eisenman from UCLA said that “we aren’t tracking the health hazards of heat events in any manner that is really helpful.” He also added that it is important to track climate change in California because people could be exposed to multiple disasters, such as wildfires and spiked temperatures. NPR/Harvard/Robert Wood Johnson poll shows that Californians are suffering from serious health issues, apart from the heat. 36% of wildfire-affected households reported serious health problems. Some households also reported heat-related impacts.
He says, “That combination of heat and smoke is where California’s future looks really grim.”
Ranking heat waves is just one of many proposals that could go beyond the recommendations contained in California’s Extreme Heat Action Plan, which was announced earlier this year. California legislators are also looking into legislation to make indoor cooling a housing right.
Minerva Contreras (44-year-old mother of 2 living near Bakersfield, Calif.) would be particularly benefited by the proposal. Her neighborhood had 42 days in the past where temperatures rose above 100 degrees. Kern County, California, racked up 67 such days last year and projections show that this number will continue to climb.
Contreras explains in Spanish that “it is very difficult because it is practically like being unable to breathe.” “It’s frustrating.”
Contreras, when she is well, works in the agricultural fields picking everything from tangerines and radishes. However, she has a lung cancer. Although it’s not serious, it can make hot days more difficult. Contreras points to the fact that there are many people around her who are sensitive to heat, including the very young. Kern County’s asthma rates exceed both state and national averages.
Although indoor cooling standards have been supported by tenants, housing advocates, and journalists, they are facing a fierce fight in Sacramento. California Apartment Association, representing property owners, argues that the cooling standards bill “circumvents California’s building code adoption process” and “ignores the variety of climates in the state.” If passed, the law would become the first state-level requirement for cooling in the country.
For the moment, California renters pay most of the cost of cooling their homes.
Contreras, behind her modest ranch home in brown, shows an asador, a grill her husband built. Here are pots for making chicharrones or tamales. She tries to cook dinner early in the morning before the sun rises.
She has a few laundry lines in her backyard. Here she hangs blankets, towels, and most of her clothes to dry in the sunshine.
These are important health precautions. It’s crucial to not do anything that can make it more hot inside. She says, “I need to be in cool places.”
This also saves money. Their electricity bills in summer run between $600 to $800 per month. After the landlord spent $3,000 to repair the air conditioner, the rent was raised to $1,300. Minerva plans to pay off the summer’s electricity bill in monthly installments until January next year.
She’s not optimistic that California will meet cooling standards aEUR” as of yet. She says, “I would love it very much but I always believe that money wins over everything.”
