海角大神

For 12 nights in a row, The Mission at Kern County shelter has been filled to capacity. That鈥檚 unusual for summer months in Bakersfield, California, where many of the city鈥檚 unhoused residents tend to sleep outdoors during the warm nights. But Bakersfield鈥檚 warm nights have become unbearably hot.听

鈥淧eople can sleep outside if it鈥檚 a summer night, 80 degrees, 78 degrees,鈥� says Carlos Baldovinos, The Mission鈥檚 executive director. 鈥淏ut if it gets [as] hot as we鈥檙e seeing ... over 100 degrees, people don鈥檛 want to be out there because at night it鈥檚 hot, too.鈥澨�

Hot, arid Bakersfield sits in the western margin of a record-breaking heat wave that spreads across the United States.听Phoenix is making headlines for its record duration of days over 110 degrees 鈥� 29 as of Friday. Las Vegas has been听running 4 degrees above seasonal averages lately.听Though many cities may see some relief in coming days,听the heat wave听currently听stretches from Texas, in the low 100s,听into the rest of the South; heat advisories run throughout the Midwest and along the East Coast, from Virginia through New Hampshire.听

Sweltering, unrelenting heat has come to define this summer, with July shaping up to be the hottest month ever recorded for the planet. It鈥檚 especially challenging in dense urban areas, where temperatures are exacerbated by concrete pavement, auto emissions, tall heat-retentive buildings, and a lack of greenery offering shade.

These urban heat islands are testing resources put in place over the past few years 鈥� Phoenix, Miami, and Los Angeles are leading the way with city heat officers 鈥撎齜ut across the country, state, regional, and local governments are also bolstering programs and services. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his own听plan to help people deal with heat. In these efforts, leaders have their eye on permanently higher temperatures and the dangers they bring, especially for the country鈥檚 most vulnerable people.听

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a shift in awareness of heat at the decision-maker level,鈥� says Ladd Keith, an expert in urban planning and climate change at the University of Arizona who co-wrote a report on how cities can adapt to rising temperatures.听

In addition to Phoenix鈥檚 heat officer, for instance, government agencies in surrounding Maricopa County coordinate with services on the ground to administer help 鈥� and listen. 鈥淲e have a sustained network now of nonprofit, social service providers, and faith-based organizations that are in touch with many of the most vulnerable in our community and can ensure that we鈥檙e providing support to the right people, but also give us feedback on what we should be doing to make sure that we鈥檙e providing the right support in the future,鈥� says Dr. Keith.听听

Chillin鈥� by the AC vent

Back in Bakersfield, it鈥檚 102 degrees at 6 p.m. when the public water park closes and Sirena Salazar packs up the birthday picnic she鈥檚 been enjoying with her children and best friend. 鈥淭he water park cools us off for a minute,鈥� says Ms. Salazar, who stays in a shelter at night with her three kids, and works full time during the day driving people to medical appointments.听

The heat is a constant concern. 鈥淚鈥檓 coping with the summer,鈥� she says, with a focus on her children鈥檚 daily needs.听

Coping means visiting pools or tree-shaded parks whenever they can. At night, 12-year-old Karalynn Salazar tries to keep her older siblings from taking her spot on the top bunk, closest to the air-conditioning听vent. 鈥淪o all of them are hot and I鈥檓 just over there chillin鈥� in the AC,鈥� says Karalynn.

Bakersfield is like other cities that have intense heat concentrated at its urban core. Eighty percent of Americans live in urban areas 鈥撎�41 million of whom live in urban heat islands, where low-income and vulnerable communities also tend to be overrepresented.

Those vulnerable residents have no choice but to endure the heat, says Guangqing Chi, a professor of sociology, demography, and public health at Pennsylvania State University who studied the effects of city planning on urban heat islands. Wealthier residents 鈥渕ay have a seasonal house or may be able to go someplace cooler,鈥� says Dr. Chi. 鈥淏ut these people ... they are kind of stuck where they are.鈥�

A visit to the听interactive heat map by the University of California, Los Angeles shows that Bakersfield鈥檚 Kern County has an average 126 additional heat-related emergency-room visits on days with extreme heat, which experts point out is responsible for more deaths than any other extreme weather event.听听

A city responds听听

The heat map is one of the tools informing Los Angeles鈥� Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, launched last year to implement equitable solutions to climate-related needs. 鈥淗eat has been the silent killer or the silent contributor to excess hospitalizations and excess mortality, and we feel [that鈥檚] preventable,鈥� says Marta Segura, LA鈥檚 inaugural chief heat officer and听director of the emergency center. Ms. Segura is tasked with coordinating resources across government offices,听organizations, and community groups to streamline messages to the public听and harness and implement ideas.

As temperatures rise, the emergency center听deploys resources where they鈥檙e most needed, and connects with residents through websites and apps like Cool Spots LA. The strategy seems to be working: LA added more cooling centers to low-income neighborhoods and saw more than a tenfold increase over 2020 in people using them.听

鈥淲e have seen more people using our resources,鈥� says Ms. Segura, who adds these resources are diverting health problems. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not easy to leave your home and make the trek to a city facility to stay cool. So we feel those people who come really, really need this.鈥澨�

Other efforts underscore the city鈥檚 comprehensive approach to extreme heat: tree planting programs, subsidies for energy efficiency and air conditioners, and links to funding for grassroots projects that combat or adapt to climate change;听plus interactive tools that allow residents to track heat-related issues听like air pollution and to see听which communities are benefiting from public investment.听

These efforts are consistent with a growth in heat resources across the country, which parallel a growing听recognition of a climate emergency.听But experts agree it鈥檚 not enough. 鈥淓very city in the world should be planning for heat,鈥� says Dr. Keith, who adds that strategies will look different depending on local risks. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e historically a hot location, they鈥檙e going to have to plan for chronic heat. .... If they鈥檙e a cooler, temperate location, they may have to focus more on what they do during an extreme heat event that may come suddenly.鈥�

Cities like Boston, New York, and Baltimore don鈥檛 have designated heat officers, but manage extreme heat through related offices like emergency services or health departments. Thousands of other municipalities across the country lack plans or resources to address extreme heat events. But the participation of every community is essential if strategies to combat extreme heat are going to be successful, says Dr. Chi from Penn State. 鈥淭he solution is there,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e really need the entire society, individuals, communities, all levels of government, different sectors of the economy, and even globally. ... Nobody can say, this has nothing to do with me. Everybody is affected.鈥澨�

United efforts听听

California has long been unified on a need to address climate policy. The state Office of Planning and Research was established to develop climate听policies and regulations in 1970 鈥� under Republican Gov. Ronald Reagan.听

Decades later, this wave of extreme heat should make clear the need for听more action to correct long-term climate change and find immediate relief from extreme heat,听says the office鈥檚 director,听Sam Assefa. If people don鈥檛 believe the science, they should believe their eyes, he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 happening right in front of you.鈥澨�听

Today,听California agencies have access to unprecedented funding to address extreme heat and other climate issues. The state is in its second year of a听$54 billion听climate initiative aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and extreme heat, fires, and floods. Add to that听billions in federal funding听through the bipartisan infrastructure act, and general bipartisan support in the state for prioritizing climate action.

The funding, science, and known solutions combine for a historic moment, says Mr. Assefa,听who notes the considerable state and federal resources flowing toward climate and infrastructure.听鈥淭he challenge is, how do we deploy those resources in the most effective ways to significantly minimize the impact in some cases and in certain areas reverse the trend鈥� of global warming, he says.听

Under Mr. Assefa鈥檚 purview, a new听Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program听supports on-the-ground initiatives through targeted grants.听Unincorporated communities in the Eastern Coachella Valley, for instance, received more than $644,000 to develop a plan for adding shade to low-income, Spanish-speaking neighborhoods where temperatures can exceed 120 degrees. Other cities like Stockton, San Fernando, and Lake Elsinore received hundreds of thousands of dollars each to create or update local climate adaptation plans.

Dealing with extreme heat is going to require city planners to channel their efforts in new directions, and especially in places that need them most, says Dr. Keith. 鈥淚t will require new ways of planning our cities, new ways of operating our government, new ways of living our lives.鈥�