This summer's heat waves wreaked havoc on physical infrastructure, but also highlighted vulnerabilities in our social support systems.

"In an era of escalating climate change," asserts Sarah Kaplan, "extreme heat is the United States’ most fatal form of weather disaster. Already this summer, hundreds of Americans have lost their lives amid a series of record-setting heat waves that scientists say would not have happened if not for human-caused warming." In Oregon and across the Pacific Northwest, "[r]oads have buckled, and train cables have melted. Emergency departments were overwhelmed."
In addition to physical infrastructure, officials "are realizing their social infrastructure is equally in need of repair. Long-standing inequities in housing and health care put the region’s poorest residents at greatest risk. Official warnings and government services didn’t reach those who most needed the help. Almost every victim of the heat wave died alone," Kaplan writes.
"When the heat dome scorched the state last month, Oregon did not have a heat early warning and response system, the gold standard for disaster planning. Residents in the typically temperate region didn’t know how to cope with extreme temperatures" and many didn't receive information about how to protect themselves.
"The most effective strategy for preventing heat deaths is direct outreach, experts say. After a brutal nine-day heat wave killed 118 people in Philadelphia in 1993, the city implemented one of the nation’s most robust heat response programs." Later, "[a] study by a team of Boston researchers found that the Philadelphia system averted an average of 45 deaths per year."
According to Gabriela Goldfarb, manager of the Oregon Health Authority (OHA)'s environmental public health section, "[p]reventing deaths during climate disasters is not just about emergency response, but rather "about building 'social resilience,' addressing the isolation and inequality that make people vulnerable in the first place" by reducing the effects of urban heat islands, expanding access to health care, and funding better outreach for marginalized communities.
FULL STORY: Heat waves are dangerous. Isolation and inequality make them deadly.

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?
Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

Updating LA’s Tree Rules Could Bring More Shade to Underserved Neighborhoods
A new USC study finds that relaxing Los Angeles’ outdated tree planting guidelines could significantly expand urban tree canopy and reduce shade disparities in lower-income neighborhoods, though infrastructure investments are also needed.

California's Canal Solar Projects Aim to Conserve Resources and Expand Clean Energy
California’s Project Nexus has begun generating electricity from solar panels installed over irrigation canals, with researchers and state agencies exploring statewide expansion to conserve water and boost clean energy production.

HHS Staff Cuts Gut Energy Assistance Program
The full staff of a federal program that distributes heating and cooling assistance for low-income families was laid off, jeopardizing the program’s operations.
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