This summer, historic heat waves have hit every part of the United States. About 140 million people nationwide were under heat alert on July 13, and July 21 marked the hottest day on planet Earth ever recorded. 

This devastating heat poses a massive threat to our health, food, and water — and it will only get worse as climate change intensifies. As we all sweat through this summer, we urgently need policies that protect us from extreme heat and tackle climate change at the root.

Climate Change-Fueled Extreme Heat Can Be Deadly

If you’ve been outside this summer, chances are you’ve been hit by shocking temperatures. And we can lay blame for this heat squarely at the feet of human-caused climate change. For instance, researchers estimate that climate change made a June heatwave in the Eastern U.S. two to four times as likely.

The consequences have been deadly. As one headline read, “A historically hot summer is on a killing spree.” In just the first two weeks of July, at least 37 people in the U.S. died from extreme heat. 

In fact, extreme heat kills more people in the U.S. than any other extreme weather event — 1200 people each year, by one estimate. Older adults, children, and people with chronic diseases are at highest risk. Heat can worsen cardiovascular and respiratory conditions as well as diabetes. 

Environmental justice communities face the brunt of the impact. In U.S. cities, majority-Black and low-income neighborhoods tend to be hotter, often due to a lack of cooling tree cover. We can trace this lack directly to historical racist housing policies that led to Black and low-income neighborhoods receiving less public resources than whiter and wealthier neighborhoods. 

At the same time, low-income families are disproportionately less likely to have life-saving air conditioning in their homes. They are also more likely to struggle to pay their power bills, which can lead to agonizing tradeoffs between electricity, food, and medicine — or the utility pulling the plug entirely. Many unhoused people don’t have access to air conditioning at all.

As temperatures rise, it’s clearer than ever that relief from the heat is a human right. We all need to be able to protect our health from extreme temperatures.

Extreme Heat Puts Agricultural Workers and Our Access to Food at Risk

Rising temperatures threaten our food system on so many levels, and from farm to table, we are all feeling the shocks. 

For example, agricultural workers are keystones of our food system, and they are incredibly vulnerable to extreme heat since they work outdoors. According to the CDC, crop workers are 20 times more likely to die from heat than the average civilian worker.

Moreover, since many are undocumented immigrants, they often don’t report dangerous working conditions out of fear of retaliation. Many are denied basic needs, like water and breaks, on the job. And without federal protections, corporations and their cronies in Congress have cruelly blocked several states’ efforts to pass their own.

Climate change-driven heat waves also impact crops and animals. During last year’s record-breaking summer, corn and soybean operations in Texas and the Midwest were under threat, saved only by rains at the end of the season. Beekeepers and cattle ranchers have seen animals die en masse amid extreme heat. They also affect fisheries, as heatwaves on land are often accompanied by high water temperatures, which can threaten populations of cod, salmon, crab, and more.

While a few species may flourish in higher temperatures, the trouble is the sudden and often unpredictable shifts to extremes. Our current food system is not adaptable; it’s built on a few corporations all mandating the same crops and harmful industrial models, like factory farming. Given the fragility of our current system — prioritizing profit, not resiliency — extreme heat jeopardizes our access to food. 

But before we lose any crop or species, food will become increasingly expensive, as farmers face shrinking yields and struggle to adapt. Soaring temperatures are directly contributing to the inflation that has driven grocery bills higher these past few years.

Extreme Heat Threatens Our Water Supplies and Infrastructure

Extreme heat is also imperiling our access to clean water. For one, the high temperatures stress the infrastructure and equipment vital to treating and delivering water. In Texas, last year’s dry summer heat caused millions of dollars of damage to municipal water systems, leading to thousands of leaks during a drought.

For another, high temperatures increase the likelihood of drought and make them more intense. This has concerning implications for regions like the Western U.S., which is still in the midst of a historic decades-long megadrought despite last winter’s rains.

Already, major water sources like the Colorado River are at historic lows, and groundwater wells are running dry. And the same industries responsible for climate change and rising temperatures — industrial agriculture and oil and gas — are also massive water hogs jeopardizing water access for millions of people across the region.

The summer has already smashed dozens of heat records in the region, with some areas experiencing temperatures 20 degrees higher than historical averages. Things will only get worse as climate change continues and temperatures rise even further.

We Need Policies to Respond to Extreme Heat and Climate Change

Extreme heat may not be as immediately shocking as other extreme weather events, like tornados and hurricanes — nevertheless, it is a powerful threat to our health and the food and water we all need to survive. 

Despite this, heat waves can’t currently be classified as federally declared major disasters like floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes. This leaves communities without access to federal funding and support to respond to dangerously high temperatures. 

Recently, lawmakers introduced legislation to change this. The Extreme Heat Emergency Act would open up federal resources for communities and relieve the burden on local governments.

The Biden administration has also taken steps to treat extreme heat with the gravity it deserves. In July, Biden’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed a rule that would establish the first-ever federal safety standards for extreme heat in the workplace. If finalized, the rules would help protect 36 million workers from heat-related illness on the job, including the agricultural workers most at risk.

These are welcome first steps that acknowledge the urgency and severity of climate change. If passed, they will save lives. 

However, we must go further and tackle extreme heat at the source. We need to rein in the industries, like fossil fuels and factory farming, that are driving the climate crisis and climbing temperatures. Only by stopping corporate climate pollution can we prevent even more catastrophic heat waves in the future.