Extreme Heat's Many Local Impacts

Hello and welcome to the Covering Climate Collab newsletter! July brought a month of record breaking heat, threatening the health and safety of millions. Across the country, our partners are documenting the struggles of those in harm's way.

The collab is a project of the Local Media Association, which brought together 38 news organizations to better cover one of the greatest issues of our time: climate change. This weekly newsletters features partners' reporting, collab initiatives, and work from our science partners. Thanks for joining us.

– Michael Crowe, Editor/Project Manager, Covering Climate Collab

Reporting from Our Partners

Ines Martinez, 44, wraps fruit with plastic bags to protect them from pests on a farm in Homestead. MATIAS J. OCNER

WWNO New Orleans: If you live in New Orleans, you probably live in a 'heat island,' report says

Nearly three in four New Orleans residents likely live in so-called “urban heat islands” where the local temperatures are at least eight degrees higher than less-developed areas, according to new modeling released last week.

Colorado Department of Transportation crewmembers work to clear a landslide of rocks from a highway in Boulder County, Colo., on June 23, 2023.

Word In Black: Drought Is Hitting Black Farmers Hard

With the phrase “heat dome” entering our vocabulary and more than 2,300 heat records smashed so far this summer, extreme temperatures are endangering lives. And for farmers, the scorching hot, dry weather also threatens their livelihoods.

Climate Central climate fingerprint analysis map

Miami Herald: Calls for change after Florida farmworker, 29, dies in heat. ‘Is that what we deserve?’

Efraín López García survived eight sweltering summers as a farmworker in Homestead, Florida. But on July 6 — the hottest day recorded on earth since at least 1979 — López García died on the job.

News from the Collab

Observations from SEJ: Connecting extreme weather and climate change

We all recognize that extreme weather events have become both more common and more severe. This increasing, and increasingly obvious, threat to communities also creates an opportunity to make the connection to climate change.

From Our Science Partners

Climate Change in the American Mind is conducted jointly by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.

Climate Central Analysis: Urban Heat Hot Spots

Climate Central analyzed how urban heat island intensity varies within 44 major U.S. cities that together account for nearly one-quarter of the total U.S. population.

What we're reading

Civil Eats reports on food chain workers, threatened by climate change, fighting for labor protections
The Associated Press and Grist's new collaboration on the connection between climate change and disease
A relevant throwback to 2021 from High Country News, why investing in libraries is a climate justice issue

You can support the work of the climate collab by donating to our GiveButter fundraising campaign here. Donations are tax deductible, and help us continue these important projects.

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