Heat Waves

Heat related deaths kill more people every year than any other natural disaster and given what is happening to our climate heat waves are only going to get worse and more frequent.

One of the difficult public health aspects of heat waves is that most cities and states have no set criteria for determining a heat related death. To this day, countries in Europe are adjusting their mortality numbers from the 2003 heat wave. When all is said and done the final number will probably be around 50,000 dead.

Sociologists have studied the factors that lead to heat related deaths and they are primarily social, not physical. The poor, elderly and socially isolated are at the highest risk, especially if they live in the inner city, where the heat island effect makes temperatures higher and fear of crime combined with lack of a social safety net lead to disaster. I think it's important to note that in the 1995 Chicago heat wave 41 of the over 700 total deaths were interned in a Potter's Field because no family members claimed them.

Heat related death reflect our failure to be good stewards of our planet and each other.


In California, Heat Is Blamed for 100 Deaths
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER, The New York Times, July 28, 2006

FRESNO, Calif., July 27 — A searing heat wave nearly two weeks old is responsible for more than 100 deaths across California, the authorities said Thursday. So overwhelmed is the local coroner’s office here that it has been forced to double-stack bodies.
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I'm Average

The most 'representative' state: Wisconsin
By Mark Preston, CNN Political Editor

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Looking for a state that is a microcosm of the whole country? You won't find it in Iowa or New Hampshire -- there are 25 states that come closer to average statewide measures on important characteristics such as race and income.

What about Nevada or South Carolina? Nope. They're even further away from "real America" than New Hampshire -- or Utah, for that matter. Michigan? You're getting warmer, but there are 10 states that can claim to be more representative than Michigan.

In fact, a politician looking for that mythical microcosm -- the most typical state in the country -- should look no further than Wisconsin.

The Badger State comes closer than any other to state-by-state averages on 12 key measures, according to a new analysis by CNN Polling Director Keating Holland that takes a fresh look at U.S. Census data.

"For years, politicians who put the presidential calendar together have wrestled with the question of which states really are the most typical or more representative of the country," Holland said. "Here is one way to determine that."
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