Extremely hot days aren’t just uncomfortable. They’re unhealthy too. And the number of them is growing – nationally and in Utah – according to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
About two-thirds of Americans live in counties where heat threats are already high, the report says. For Utahns, it’s worse: 86 percent. Heatstroke, asthma, heat exhaustion and infectious diseases are on the rise too.
Kim Knowlton, a senior scientist for NRDC, points to numbers like these to show why dealing with climate change is so important – and why moves by the current administration like dismantling the Clean Power Plan are counterproductive.
“Instead of taking dangerous steps to unravel historic climate action, we help keep people healthy when we reduce carbon pollution,” she says.
Knowlton points to federal action as one answer, but communities like Salt Lake County aren’t waiting for that.
“Knowing that we’re already on this trajectory and it’s going to get worse, we have to plan on how we deal with it,” says Royal DeLegge, director of environmental health for Salt Lake County. “And that’s what the adaptation efforts are all about.”
Salt Lake County is part of the “HeatRisk” national pilot project that includes heat-related health warnings and a network of “cooling centers” where people can go for relief from high temperatures.
