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listening to life kit from

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NPR. Hey there,

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I'm Andy Tagle in for Mary Alsaguerra.

0:29

It's officially summer and many people in

0:31

the US are feeling the heat from

0:33

the Midwest to the Northeast. Millions of

0:36

people are experiencing what the National Weather

0:38

Service is calling the first major heat

0:40

wave of the summer. The

0:43

local heat index. That's what the

0:45

weather outside feels like accounting for both air

0:47

temperature and humidity could reach

0:49

105 degrees in some places, according

0:52

to the NWS. Highs

0:54

in the nineties could be seen as far north as

0:56

Vermont and New Hampshire. And the

0:58

rising temperatures are a global problem.

1:00

That's VJ LeMay, a climate

1:02

and health scientist at the Natural Resources Defense

1:04

Council in Pakistan and across

1:07

South Asia recorded temperatures. You know, recent

1:09

years have approached or exceeded 120 degrees

1:11

Fahrenheit. That's

1:14

near the limit of tolerability for what

1:16

the human body can handle. Not

1:18

to mention another massive issue. Impacts

1:21

of climate change on public health

1:23

are hugely inequitable around the world

1:26

and the climate crisis threatens to

1:28

widen and worsen existing health disparities

1:30

both here in the U.S. and

1:33

elsewhere, especially in the global south. LeMay

1:36

also says it's important to remember. You

1:38

know, behind all of the headlines on

1:40

climate extremes and broken temperature records, there

1:43

are real people that are increasingly in

1:46

harm's way. Dr. Renee Salis

1:48

is an emergency medicine physician at

1:50

Massachusetts General Hospital. She says

1:52

when we get exposed to heat, our

1:54

body has ways to dissipate it and to

1:57

keep us cool. But when we

1:59

are exposed to certain environments and certain

2:01

extreme temperatures, sometimes our

2:03

body just can't keep up. And

2:06

that's important to know, because this year

2:08

is slated to be the hottest on

2:10

record. This episode of Life

2:12

Kid and peer correspondent Sarah McCammon shares tips

2:14

from the experts about how to stay safer

2:16

in the heat. This

2:30

message comes from NPR sponsor The Nature Conservancy,

2:32

dedicated to addressing climate change

2:58

and species loss for humanity.

3:00

By working across communities, oceans,

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and aisles, The Nature Conservancy

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is delivering solutions for the

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planet and building a future

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The Nature Conservancy. Together we

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In fact, when it comes to

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or, well, they're happy

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3:53

Founder and CEO Ron Rudson is on

3:55

a mission to bring quality sleep to

3:57

more people. house,

6:01

opening up the house when it's cool, like in

6:03

the morning, and using fans to try to bring

6:05

that cool air in. Even if

6:07

you have air conditioning, these tips can also help

6:09

you use less of it. Dr.

6:11

Sellers says fans can help the body

6:13

get rid of heat by moving air

6:16

around so our sweat evaporates faster. We

6:18

also have to recognize that when it's

6:20

really hot, fans are just moving around

6:22

hot air and won't be enough. Paul

6:25

Schramm with the CDC agrees electric fans

6:27

won't help much once the temperature reaches

6:29

the high 90s. And

6:31

in any case, he says if you're

6:33

unhoused or having trouble staying cool at

6:35

home for any reason, don't hesitate to

6:37

look for a cooling center nearby. That

6:40

might be something like a community

6:42

center, a public library, even

6:44

some places of business such as a

6:47

coffee shop, a movie theater, or a

6:49

mall might operate as a cooling center.

6:52

You can do that by looking

6:54

at local information through your local

6:56

media or your city or county's

6:58

website. That leads us

7:00

to our next takeaway, stay informed. Dr.

7:03

Sellers says it's important to note though

7:05

that sometimes heat alerts are issued too

7:07

late. There's a study that found that

7:09

often these heat alerts are going out

7:11

at temperatures that are actually well above

7:14

when people are already getting sick and

7:16

being hospitalized. And so

7:18

I think that that's really important

7:20

for us to recognize that heat illness

7:22

can happen at much lower temperatures than

7:24

what we'd think. Since

7:26

climate change is making heat more

7:28

intense and as heat waves are getting more

7:31

frequent and lasting longer, we all

7:33

have to become very educated about what to do

7:35

and what the signs and symptoms

7:37

are. So in addition to staying

7:39

informed, try to be proactive, which you're

7:42

already doing by listening to this episode.

7:45

Our third takeaway, know when to seek

7:47

medical help. There are two

7:49

major heat related illnesses to keep in

7:51

mind. Those are heat exhaustion and heat

7:53

stroke. Heat exhaustion, if

7:55

left untreated, can escalate to a heat

7:58

stroke. housing.

12:01

But if we actually look at areas

12:04

that were previously redlined and look

12:08

at them today, that these

12:10

areas can actually be upwards of

12:12

10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than

12:14

areas of the same city

12:17

that were not redlined. And

12:20

there was actually another study that showed

12:22

that six of the largest hundred

12:25

cities out of 175 that it

12:27

looked at actually found that

12:29

people of color had higher exposure to heat

12:32

than white residents. And so

12:34

there are some people who live in areas

12:37

that are just hotter than others.

12:39

If you can, look out for others around you. And

12:41

I think importantly, we also have to make sure we

12:44

need to check on our loved ones and neighbors when

12:46

we know hot weather is coming because we are all

12:48

in this together and we have to look out for

12:50

one another. To recap,

12:54

takeaway one, keep your body as

12:56

cool as possible. Takeaway

12:58

two, stay informed. Check your

13:01

local news for weather updates and

13:03

information about community resources and

13:05

try to be proactive in protecting yourself

13:07

against the heat. Takeaway three,

13:10

learn to spot the differences between heat

13:13

exhaustion and heat stroke and

13:15

know when to seek medical help.

13:17

And lastly, takeaway four, know

13:19

that some folks are disproportionately affected

13:21

by extreme heat. That

13:25

was NPR correspondent Sarah McCammon. For

13:29

more Life Kit, check out our other episodes.

13:31

We have one on how to prepare for

13:33

hurricanes and another on how to get ready

13:35

for a wildfire. You can find those at

13:37

npr.org/life kit. And if you

13:39

love Life Kit and want more,

13:41

subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org/life

13:43

kit newsletter. This episode was

13:45

produced by Audrey Nguyen and Dustin DeSoto. It

13:48

was edited by William Troop, Robert

13:50

Baldwin III, and Rebecca Ramirez contributed to

13:52

the reporting. Mariel Seguera is

13:54

our host. Our visuals editor is Beck

13:56

Harlan. Our digital editor is Malika Gharib. is

14:00

the supervising editor, Beth Donovan is the

14:02

executive producer. Our production team also includes

14:05

me, Andy Tegel, Claire Marie Schneider, Margaret

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Serino, and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering

14:10

support comes from Joshua Newell. I'm

14:12

Andy Tegel. Thanks for listening. This

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message comes from NPR sponsor,

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The Nature Conservancy, dedicated to

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The Nature Conservancy is delivering

14:36

solutions for the planet and

14:38

building a future where people

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and nature thrive. The Nature

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Conservancy, together we find a

14:44

way. Learn more at nature.org

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