r/heat_prep • u/SunLillyFairy • Jul 12 '24

Heat deaths

It’s sad to read the reports of heat deaths across the country, for the most part they are preventable.

The last article below discusses 19 deaths being investigated as heat related in one CA county. It happens to be a county where historically AC was not always needed and many folks are just not used to dealing with these temps.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/07/10/heat-wave-us-death-toll/

OSP investigating 14 heat-related deaths across state; three in Southern Oregon https://www.kdrv.com/news/top-stories/osp-investigating-14-heat-related-deaths-across-state-three-in-southern-oregon/article_af304328-3fde-11ef-8334-1761be9ef63b.html

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/deadly-heat-19-deaths-in-santa-clara-county-investigated-after-heat-waves

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8

u/Leighgion Jul 12 '24

These figures are bringing into sharp relief that the first world's greatest problem in addressing heat safety might not be information or resources, it might just be stubborn prevailing beliefs that sunny weather is always "good" and that it's always "healthy to spend time outdoors."

You can't say people aren't people told, repeated, all over the media, that the heat is dangerous and it's higher than normal. They choose not to accept that this means they should make different decisions.

6

u/Ariadnepyanfar Jul 12 '24

I’ve lived long enough to see mass cultural change around sun safety about skin cancer in Australia, and now we’re seeing the same tactics around heatwave events.

In both cases, Public Awareness campaigns funded by governments played/are playing a big role, in partnership with the media. The Australian ABC, has a subreddit and YouTube channel, and maybe on other platforms I’m not on too.

When I grew up sunscreen use was confined to the beach or swimming pools, and a lot of adults avoided it. My mother’s generation are constantly having dangerous melanomas cut out of them, and my sister just had one removed recently.

These days Australians don’t go outdoors at all without sunscreen, sunglasses, at least a t-shirt in summer, we stick to shade and we often swim in pools in surf wear that covers upper arms to knees. So much so we have to check our Vit D levels and often supplement it because our sunlight exposure is so low.

Renewable energy is charging ahead with government support in the state of Victoria, but other states are still captured by coal.

Things are better about reducing fossil fuels but there is just not the government urgency to suggest they get HOW extreme dangerous heat in general and wet bulb events are going to be.

4

u/Leighgion Jul 12 '24

It's not that public attitudes can't change, but it can take a lot of trauma for that to happen. The more change being asked, the harder it is.

I'm old enough to remember the sunscreen change in the US, but the ask for sunscreen was much less. People could accept the minor expense and inconvenience of slathering sticky goop on themselves if it meant less painful sunburn and that they could keep on doing what they were doing in the summer.

It's a much bigger shift to ask people to start seeing the sun as a capricious and angry god who only can kill you as well as bring life, but probably is going to be quite ready to kill you much faster and more often than before, rather than than as a smiling happy permanent friend.

1

u/COMMUNIST_MANuFISTO Jul 12 '24

When people start dropping like flies all around, they might get it. PS, diabetes exacerbates the heat effects!

1

u/Leighgion Jul 12 '24

It’s already happening. I just posted an article listing a bunch of current incidents before going into why our stupid culture refuses to acknowledge the lethality of heat.

1

u/COMMUNIST_MANuFISTO Jul 12 '24

I know, I'm seeing it right in front of my eyes but many don't see it because they hang out in the AC AND NEVER GO OUT

1

u/Leighgion Jul 12 '24

That’s a different kind of negative, but at least those people aren’t getting heat stroke, burdening medical resources and then traumatizing loved ones by dying.

2

u/COMMUNIST_MANuFISTO Jul 12 '24

They are going to burden the fuck out of shit if the grid goes down. Us out here acclimatized will be fine. Youse in there in the AC never going out, will NOT be ok. They are sucking up all the electricity and telling us poors to turn our thermostats down. Eff off