This last week or so has taught me a great deal about heat. Some of it through first hand experience, some of it through reading. As the climate crisis impacts on us, I am clearly going to need a better understanding of how to survive in hotter temperatures.
My home is not designed for hot weather. I assume these flats were built with single occupancy in mind, but many of them now house families, and we're not unusual in having three of us. Most of the advice for staying cool assumes you have resources and aren't overcrowded. Human bodies put out heat and moisture, and if there are too many of you for the space, then keeping out the heat by closing the windows doesn't really work.
We managed during the hottest days, by changing when we slept and when we work. Many people don't have that option. Capitalist industrial work habits aren't adaptable, and being able to adapt is going to be key to health and survival. While the focus is on profit it will be hard for front line workers to be gentle with themselves. Bake or starve are not reasonable options to have. To change this, we'd have to value human life and wellbeing more than we value making profits for the few.
It turns out that hot nights are a far bigger problem than hot days. My body can tolerate heat if there's a chance to cool down overnight. When the night is also hot, sleeplessness and panic ensue, and these also undermine health. It's not just me. Heat is much more likely to kill when it continues through the night.
One of the contributing issues here is the way in which urban spaces retain heat. Hot tarmac and hot buildings stay hot after sunset and it takes time for that heat to dissipate. To combat night heat, we need more green spaces. Tarmac that has been shaded doesn't have heat to emit at night. Trees help us stay cooler in the day and that benefit extends into the night as well.
The obvious solutions - electric fans and air conditioning - increase our energy consumption and add to the problems we're already experiencing. One of the things a heatwave can do is knock out the power supply, so an electric fan might not be a good investment for dealing with extreme heat at night. I'm exploring other options.
My takeaway from this is to keep a closer eye on the anticipated night temperatures during heatwaves, and to prioritise night strategies when hazardously hot nights are predicted. Finding ways to cool down is essential, but unless we deal with the climate crises, this is just firefighting and we can't solve anything that way.
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