No matter what your local newscast says
Estimated reading time: 3m 22s
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For the Reckon Report this month, we’re going to be focusing on climate change, the increasing violence of natural disasters and solutions communities are trying out to keep life going on our warming planet. “Ways to beat the heat” is a common refrain in local and national news every summer. Stock videos and images of ice cream cones, open fire hydrants, kids running and shrieking through sprinklers and people fanning themselves are so numerous you could probably build your own news story around it without ever having to set foot in a broadcast studio, or outside for that matter. But the heat is here to stay, for better or worse. The expectation that summers have some uncomfortable days that ebb and flow like tides at the beach before abating altogether for the fall is part of a bygone era. This summer, with its record highs getting shattered around the world, will likely be the coolest summer of the rest of our lives. Words like “heat dome” have quickly become part of the national conversation as people try to wrap their heads around all the ways heat can wreak havoc on our lives. From crop failures to droughts to dying cacti, we can’t escape the impact of global warming. |
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(Image credit: Associated Press) |
Scientists figured out how the greenhouse effect worked in the late-1800s and theorized that coal emissions could enhance the warming of the planet. By the late 1960s, some climatologists started sounding the alarm on the impact. Even the oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil knew about the dangers of climate change decades ago, although they worked to keep data that implicated their role in the burgeoning crisis from the public. Laws like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act have attempted to address some of the issues, but they’re often mired in bureaucracy if not undercut altogether. |
(Photo credit: Getty Images) |
In the first week of July, the world recorded three back-to-back days of the highest temperatures in recorded history. Heat waves from Arizona to Texas to Georgia are causing surges in hospitalizations, straining the power grid and endangering the lives of people who have no choice but to be outdoors. So what are we going to do with this information? Who bears the responsibility? What can we do to help? These are all questions we'll be diving into in the weeks to come. |
Things are not great right now, but some change is still possible. It is unlikely that we will see a full scale reversal of the damage done to the climate in our lifetimes, but there are people and groups working toward a better future. We'll be digging into some of that work in the coming weeks. |
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Got something you want me to dive into next week? Let me know at [email protected].
That's all I've got for this week!
Thanks for reckoning with me, Aria |
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