human-induced climate change has contributed to rapidly increasing temperatures throughout the southwest region of the united states since 1901. according to the fourth national climate assessment, “the average annual temperature of the southwest increased 1.6° f (0.9º c) between 1901 and 2016.” in san jose, six of the 10 average hottest years since 1893 have occurred since 2014. this past summer, san jose broke its all-time heat record when the city hit 109° f on sept. 6. this rapid increase in temperature is caused by the overabundance of greenhouse gasses in the earth’s atmosphere, trapping more heat and causing more extreme climate and weather. 

missing winter

my best friend throughout elementary school lived on the hill near our school. as temperatures cooled each winter, i would giddily wait to see her car drive into school with several inches of fresh snow packed neatly on top. while it didn’t snow in my suburban neighborhood, it was a reliable treat to see those glistening five inches of snow atop her car each year. by my senior year of high school, however, no cars were arriving in the parking lot with that delightful symbol of winter. 

when a slight dusting of powder drifted down onto the hill that year, everyone i knew took off immediately after school to play in the anomalous, pitiful excuse for a seasonal luxury. we stomped around in the icy dirt, giggling at the unfamiliar crunching sound, and threw half-frozen snowballs at each other. the warming that has resulted in such pitiful winters is set to continue as current greenhouse gas emissions will likely cause the state to experience warming by more than 6° f by the year 2100.

rising smoke

rising temperatures in the southwest have also led to increased wildfires in the region. according to the  fourth national climate assessment, the area burned by wildfires across the western us from 1984 to 2015 was found to have been twice what would have burned without climate change. as 2022 has been the driest year in san jose in the past 128 years, the area is now, more than ever, increasingly susceptible to wildfire. according to calfire, six of the seven most destructive california fires since 1932 have occurred since 2020.  

one day in fifth grade, my friends and i were dismayed to learn that we were not allowed outside during lunch or recess due to the smoke levels from a nearby wildfire. eight years later, after returning to california from college due to the pandemic, the intensity of my already isolated quarantine escalated when smoke from the scu complex lightning fire cast a warm orange tint over the entire bay area for a week. i began my virtual classes staring out my window at the endlessly red sun and my ash-covered car parked outside. 

planning for a new climate

the stark comparison between the climate when i first moved to california and when i left 10 years later paints a clear image of how rapidly climate change has affected the lives of many in the area. san jose has been working to reduce its own carbon footprint on the environment, launching the climate smart plan in 2018. the plan aims for the city to be carbon-neutral by 2030, despite its rapid population growth. the city has partnered with over 34 local organizations and stakeholders including mothers out front south bay, the committee for green foothills, and the santa clara valley audubon society to establish their community-centered plan. by creating climate-friendly infrastructure from the outset, including all-electric appliances and community layouts that reduce miles traveled by vehicles, san jose hopes to reduce its impact on the globe. 

below: a thick shroud of smoke engulfs my neighborhood during the scu lightning complex fire, in 2022. (kay jewler)

lobstering and living on the coast are part of my family and the area’s culture. as a teen, my father would take his skiff out every summer morning to check his traps, bringing his bounty to a nearby cove for sale. the money he made from selling his captured crustaceans funded his first car. when i was little, my father, brother, and i would take our boat out fishing and check the few lobster pots we kept in and around the cove. 

family friends continue to lobster today, utilizing the state’s miles of shoreline as their outdoor office and primary source of income. the quintessential maine fisherman, the ubiquitous term used for both fish and lobster harvesters, respects the water and understands the gulf’s deep-rooted value to the region. however, the ever-increasing impacts of climate change are stressing the gulf of maine’s ecosystem, creating life-altering ramifications for sea and land inhabitants alike. 

reaching the boiling point

today, the gulf of maine is undergoing what oceanographers term a marine heatwave. caused by warm water currents confined by cold water ice cap melt, marine heatwaves are calculated when the water temperature rises above the 90th percentile (of average temperatures) for more than five days. in 2018, during the height of the lobster season, the gulf of maine spent over 180 days in a marine heatwave. the gulf of maine institute published evidence that “sea surface temperatures in the gulf of maine are warming 99% faster than any other global water on the planet” and surging up to 4°c warmer annually. 

to avoid these heat waves, lobsters are slowly migrating north in the gulf of maine in search of colder habitable water. because of this, maine is currently experiencing a lobster boom. last year, the state of maine recorded an all-time high of 100 million pounds harvested, creating a street value of over $725 million, according to a february 2022 state of maine fisheries press release.

the maine lobster’s uncertain future

while record harvests are great news for the fishermen and the local economy, two concerns can’t be ignored. as the catch numbers increase, more consumers are exposed to the toxins the lobsters’ filter and carry in their bodies. according to the national climate assessment, “harmful algal blooms, which can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans,  have become more frequent and longer lasting in the gulf of maine.” fishermen face potential harvesting restrictions because of the toxins, which will lead to reduced sales and reduced incomes. a harbinger of what is to come may be just a few years away. in the 2019-2020 lobster season, a common algae drastically increased its population during a marine heatwave in the southern section of the gulf of maine. when the algae bloom died, it fell to the ocean floor, drastically reducing the water’s oxygen levels. the local lobster population was decimated. 

i fear for my maine coastal community and what the future holds as marine heat waves increase in frequency and alter the viability of local lobster populations. while harvests may be plentiful now, the northern migration of lobsters to find colder temperatures means the fishermen either move with them or risk losing out. after investing in a boat, traps, buoys, and fuel, they may run the risk of no lobsters or harvesting ones exposed to toxins. maine may be at the beginning of the end of its deepest tradition. there is only so much this beautiful yet fragile ecosystem can take and only so much a local economy and its people can endure.

this story was featured in our series, slipping through our fingers: the future of water.

warm weather begins in march and lasts until late october in south carolina — and our summers are not for the faint of heart. my hometown of columbia, the capital city, once had the slogan of “famously hot” and still boasts the famously hot new year event and famously hot pride festival every year.

as sweaty and miserable as it can be, we think of the heat as a point of pride. if you can last through a blistering south carolina summer — packed with the thick humidity of the coastal lowcountry, 100-plus-degrees days, and mosquitos that latch to your skin — you can survive anything. the heat is part of the southern experience, and it comes with the territory. 

the weather is the reason that my mother moved to south carolina from indiana, after visiting in december and seeing people wearing shorts. it’s the reason that people visit the tourist hotspots of charleston, hilton head, and myrtle beach year round, which brings in more than $20 billion to the state’s economy. the environment is reason why the state was founded on plantation agriculture and small farming and why the coastal port of charleston became an economic hub for business and slave trade in the early 1800s.

the weather and the environment are deeply intertwined in the culture of south carolina and they cannot be divorced. in many ways, the cultural landscape of south carolina mirrors the physical landscape.

but like elsewhere, south carolina is feeling the impact of climate change. the weather gets hotter, the water level gets higher, and the hurricanes get fiercer. and yet the state government lacks a comprehensive plan to combat climate change, leaving local officials to grapple with flooding, heat, erosion, and drought in their communities. the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health and trust for america’s health found south carolina tied with louisiana, kentucky, and mississippi as the second most vulnerable state to climate change. of these four states, south carolina is the second least prepared to deal with negative health outcomes.

in 2015, south carolina faced a “thousand year flood” from record-breaking rainfall. the flood, exacerbated by outdated infrastructure and failing dams, hit columbia particularly hard, killing 19 people. in the six years since, four major hurricanes have pummeled the state, and “hurrications” away from school and work have become a new fall routine.

charleston—the coastal city that has topped travel + leisure’s “best cities in the u.s.” list for nine consecutive years—is one of the most vulnerable cities in the country to rising sea levels. the union of concerned scientists notes that charleston’s tidal flooding, or sunny day flooding, averaged six times a year in 1970 but by 2045 is projected to rise to 180 times per year. when my cousin started her freshman year at the college of charleston, she made sure to buy a new pair of rainboots so she could wade through the water that regularly inundated the downtown campus.

the warming, rising seas are killing wildlife and plant species, resulting in ghost forests where salt marshes once stood and fewer shrimp for trawlers off the coast.

and then there’s the heat. the hot, sticky south carolina summers seem to stretch longer and longer. while the heat has long been a point of pride, it is quickly becoming a source of discomfort and anxiety. extreme heat kills more than 700 americans each year; disproportionately people in low-income neighborhoods, of which there are many in the state. knowing that this is the future, i struggle to embrace the charm of the weather that i used to feel.

what happens when the “thousand year flood” comes every decade, or when the “unseasonably warm weather” becomes the new norm? 

we know that climate change will affect the physical and environmental conditions around us — although americans are still less concerned about the personal impact than people in other advanced economies — but we don’t think as much about how climate change will impact our culture. in south carolina, the weather and the landscape is the culture. it’s sweating at football games in the fall, kayaking the rivers, and smelling the salt air of the pluff mud marsh. the culture is cotton fields and their dark history, soon to go dry from heat and drought. the culture is the gullah/geechee communities in the sea islands, which are being swallowed by the ocean.

but culture, and the creativity associated with it, provides an opportunity for new solutions to climate change. and while there are practical solutions, there are also cultural and emotional adaptations that are necessary to confront the climate crisis. this means redefining historic preservation in charleston, where picturesque 150-year-old homes are being elevated to avoid the flooding that already comes more than 75 days a year. it means curbing our insatiable desire to build high-rises, beach houses, and businesses on top of salt marshes where they don’t belong. and it means listening to, learning from, and collaborating with communities that have ties to land that is being threatened. 

south carolinians have long defined their identity on the sunshine, beaches, mountains, rivers, farm fields, and heat of the state. if we care so deeply for that landscape, then we should care as deeply about the ways it’s being threatened, and how we work to find solutions.

we’re famously hot, but we’re only getting hotter. when will it be too much?

—

editor’s note: check back each day during cop26 for more pieces in planet forward’s climate hits home series.“

children are our future, as the song goes, and it turns out they are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat. unfortunately, temperatures continue to rise as a result of climate change. multiple factors put children at a higher risk of heat illness or exhaustion, including an absence of school heat policies and a lack of resources — in addition to children’s inability to identify when they are starting to overheat.

the good news is there are many solutions that we have identified through our research in south phoenix, arizona, that could be implemented to help reduce the impact of rising temperatures on children’s health.

extreme heat is dangerous to children because their thermoregulatory systems are still being developed, which influences their ability to recognize how hot/cool their bodies actually are, and in turn negatively impacts their classroom performance, health, and cognitive abilities. 

with so many other challenges facing children today, we need to give educators the tools to create solutions that can help reduce the compounding effects of increasing temperatures.

the challenge is schools often lack the appropriate resources for preparing youth and staff to manage the negative impacts of extreme heat. problems such as tight budgets, old infrastructure, and gaps in awareness of the issues and resources available prevent schools from taking action. 

therefore, we are studying how schools in south phoenix are adapting to high heat, and what they perceive are the most important elements of supporting schools to prepare for heat. 

our vision is to create heatready schools: those that are increasingly able to identify, prepare for, mitigate, track, and respond to the negative impacts of schoolyard heat. in collaboration with the city of phoenix’s heatready city program, our goal is to focus on community-level heat action plans that are correlated to city-wide plans to help boost the connectivity of mitigation and adaptation strategies. 

during our research, we conducted surveys and interviews and identified some potential solutions to the extreme heat that schools and communities experience. 

one of the most arduous challenges for schools experiencing extreme heat is funding for resources, such as shade coverage to increase adaptability. 

our interviewees and survey panelists offered their recommended solution to this, which is applying for grants to build shade structures and partnering with funders who share like-minded goals and values. 

in addition to partnerships for funding, it would be beneficial for a heatreadyschool to partner with local environmental and health organizations such as arizona sierra club, hue, arizona forward, dignity health, and phoenix children’s hospital. in doing so, heatreadyschools can access outside resources to fund school-wide initiatives, promote awareness of extreme heat, and educate community members about how heat affects them and how it will be resolved over time. a collaboration would also help alleviate and redistribute the weight of responsibilities that school staff carry already, creating more space for efforts to improve heat readiness within their school.

just outside of the cvs that i could barely get myself to walk to, there was always a man sitting on the corner, covered in beads of sweat from the thick humidity and sun beating down on his bald head. earlier in the spring, when it wasn’t so hot, he asked for spare change. now, he asks if i can get him a bottle of water. 

heat already kills more americans than all other extreme weather events combined. by 2100, some projections show that deaths from heat may surpass the current rate of deaths from all infectious diseases combined.

and one of the greatest solutions to extreme heat is planting more trees. us cities are pouring millions into tree planting initiatives––washington, d.c., seattle and houston are already on track to meet million-tree planting goals by 2030. i dove into the heat issue last summer when i wrote a piece for the guardian about the shortfalls of these plans. i found that cities are really good at planting trees in high-income neighborhoods, and not so good at planting trees in low-income, majority minority neighborhoods, where it can be up to 15 f hotter.

the issue becomes even more complex when you factor in tree micro inequalities––yes, it’s actually a thing. boston seems to be doing pretty well in distributing tree canopy across all neighborhoods. but david meshoulam, president of boston tree nonprofit speak for the trees, described that low-income neighborhoods rank well in tree canopy because they have big parks nearby, which factor into the neighborhood total. boston is really struggling to plant street trees, which offer that shade on your walk to the grocery store, but you can’t see that in the data.

we really don’t know where to plant trees if we look at tree totals by neighborhood, like we have been. those totals will hide those micro inequalities that cities should be targeting. so, if houston has a goal to plant 1.6 million trees, where should they put them? 

that’s exactly what 100 community scientists in the city set out to answer.

on august 7, the nature conservancy and the city of houston had scientists with thermal sensors attached to their cars and bicycles to cover 300 square miles––the largest geographical mapping effort in u.s. history––in hopes to produce a detailed thermal map to inform their tree-planting decisions.

these 100 scientists, who i like to think were armed in their white lab coats, thick glasses and wirey hair––the archetype of a scientist––pedaling all over town with their heat-sensing devices, are sparking a trend across the country. the nature conservancy also has similar projects going on in phoenix, denver, los angeles and new york.

jaime gonzalez, tnc’s lead on the urban heat map community event, said strategic mapping like this will solve multiple problems at once. not only will it help with heat mitigation, but it will also fix inequities and help the city to laser-focus their mitigation efforts on areas that need it the most. 

many cities are starting to realize that many steps come before actually planting the trees. initiatives like finding where to put them are just as important as the planting itself––what’s another tree in an already tree-heavy area going to do? and it’s becoming more and more important as our summers continue to get hotter.

“this year there were 10 days that felt 105 f or greater in houston,” gonzalez said. “by 2065, if no actions are taken, that jumps to 74 f. that’s an entirely different city to live in, and we already see the inequity and we know that that’s going to get worse.”

as we see more lab coats hit the streets, hopefully we’ll also see city planners fill in those tree gaps. although we have a break from the heat for a little while, we can still prepare for what’s to come in just a few months.

my dad clearly felt the same way. he would get this resigned look when preparing to call someone, postponing as long as possible, and finally holding the phone pensively. in an ever changing world, i took my dad’s phone-phobia as a given.

except now my dad makes a lot of phone calls. and he answers them, too. 

he’s not a scientist, but understands evidence, and climate change. he’s a true alaskan—a cultural geographer by training, but also a gardener, a sailor, and a woodsman. he knows and cares for the land on which he lives. and caring a lot about something can push someone to do scary things.

now he is on the phone talking about heat pumps. 

not just heat pumps. he spends a lot of time on the landline (no smart phones for him yet) talking about electric vehicles, too, and committee meetings, fundraising, and our town’s potential to become a national leader on local sustainability. 

my dad is one of three founders of renewable juneau, which advocates for climate sanity, economic vitality, and quality of life for alaska’s capital city. born in 2016, renewable juneau supports local, renewable energy, and disseminates practical information about sustainability in juneau, providing workshops and brochures such as “renewable juneau’s guide to heat pumps in juneau” and “renewable juneau’s brief guide to buying a used nissan leaf.” such guides are welcomed, and evs are booming; the number of evs in juneau more than doubled in 2017, to over 200.  this gives my hometown, with around 30,000 residents, one of the nation’s highest per capita rates of ev ownership.

but renewable juneau is more than an ev advocate. it is serving as a catalyst for an ambitious local aim: 80% renewable energy in juneau by 2045. 

“juneau can choose to take local climate action and improve our economy at the same time,” my dad explains. “we can use our abundant rainfall and hydroelectricity to shift away from fossil fuels for heating our homes and powering our cars.” 

my dad’s organization believes that juneau is poised to take national leadership on cutting fossil fuel use. perched between the mountains and ice fields of coastal southeast alaska and the sea, the city is already powered by local, fish-friendly hydropower. “we’ve had 100% renewable electricity for a hundred years,” renewable juneau’s website proudly declares.  but my father emphasizes the need for improvement:  “folks purchase fossil fuels for much of our town’s transportation and heating needs, which is why we have been advocating for the renewable energy strategy.” 

juneau’s isolation, with no road access, makes the costs of bringing fuel into the city high—$140 million a year to import fossil fuels, according to the strategy. so not only does the strategy make sense environmentally, it also makes economic sense. renewable juneau has advocated for the strategy by rallying local businesses to sign on as clean energy supporters. the group’s original goal was “80 for 80”—80 businesses supporting an 80 percent renewable energy future. shortly after calling for partners, they were at 105 businesses and counting. in a city juneau’s size, that represents a significant portion of the local economy. clean energy supporters span juneau’s unique economy; commercial fishing vessels are listed alongside premier architecture and engineering firms, and law firms, medical centers and wilderness tour companies intermix with plumbers and bars. despite their different niches, all acknowledge the importance of weaning juneau from fossil fuels. 

even through i am now studying on the other side of the country, i stay abreast of the call for local government action back home. it would be hard not to—most phone conversations with my mother these days feature her slightly bemused observations (“your dad’s off to another meeting” or “he’s been talking on the phone all morning”), followed by an update on supportive businesses or recalcitrant assembly members. it seems that for every two steps forward there’s a icy slide backwards, but despite frustrating days and phone calls that go in unexpected directions, my dad keeps educating folks about heat pumps and evs, and continues gathering support.

the momentum is working. in january, a key city committee approved the strategy, moving it on to the full assembly. despite earlier concerns from several members over possible economic impacts, committee recommendation was unanimous. another step forward.

juneau is a small city; reducing its fossil fuel use hardly makes a shift on a national graph of hydrocarbon consumption. “but as alaska’s capital, and as host to a million cruise ship visitors annually, we have the potential to have a large impact nationally,” my dad emphasizes.

i take inspiration from the people in my hometown who have a vision of a fossil fuel free future, and who have the guts to work and make the phone calls and spread the conviction that will make it happen. these men and women know that focusing on the hydropower with which southeast alaska has been blessed is the economically healthy option, and they are not ashamed to dream that juneau could be a national leader in and example for sustainable success.

my dad just called: “the assembly adopted the strategy tonight — it was unanimous!” he’s overjoyed. he knows that many trying days and phone calls await as our town makes the strategy a reality and becomes an 80% renewable capital city, but this good fight is won. i heard the twinkle in his eyes even over the phone as he recounted the victory, and i am proud to be his daughter. 

the story of the rocket stove began in 1979, when winiarski, a ph.d. graduate in mechanical engineering, was working at the epa. after his wife died in a freak traffic accident leaving him with three sons to raise, winiarski made what he called a religious vow to dedicate the rest of his life to doing the right thing.

“i said ‘lord i can’t handle this but if you somehow help me get through this, i’ll try to devote all my expertise, time and talents to where it will do real good in the world,’” winiarski said.

his search for a cause brought him in contact with aprovecho — spanish for “to make best use of” — a non-profit based in cottage grove, oregon, that was focused on improving cookstove technology for the approximately 3 billion people worldwide that still cook indoors over an open fire or traditional cookstove.

according to the world health organization, over 4 million people die prematurely due to indoor air pollution from cooking or heating with wood, animal manure, or coal.

“you go into places into places in south america and then they don’t even bother cleaning the walls because the next day it will be all be black again. the cobwebs are like stalagmites of creosote,” winiarski said. “and the women has the baby on her back and they are breathing this all the time.”

drawing on his childhood experience with efficient fire-making as well as his years as an engineer and scientist, winiarski set about developing a set of basic stove design principles to improve combustion efficiency which became the origin of the rocket stove.

the key, winiarski explained, is the insulated vertical combustion chamber which concentrates the heat and also produces a strong upwards draft from the warm air being drawn upwards. another major component is that the fuel (usually wood) must be introduced bit by bit so all of the material burns efficiently without overloading the combustion process. finally, a sleeve at the top of the stove circulates the hot gases rising from the fire around the cooking pot, maximizing heat transfer to the food.

these simple innovations put aprovecho research center on the frontlines of a revolution in clean cookstove technology. studies indicate that rocket stoves can reduce the amount of fuel used by 39% to 47% compared to an open fire, and can reduce emissions by about half what is produced by an open fire or traditional chimney stove. in many developing countries, using less wood is directly linked to decreased deforestation and the increased efficiency means that less co2 gets released into the atmosphere. the higher temperatures inside a rocket stove also drastically reduce black carbon, a particulate component of wood smoke that is a large contributor to climate change.

despite its many benefits, winiarsky has never attempted to patent his rocket stove technology, insisting instead on open sourcing his basic principles to be shared, adapted and improved by stove makers and entrepreneurs around the world.

“i’m so proud that i’ve created local businesses for people that do a good job on the stoves,” winiarski said.

andrew mclean, chief operations officer at aprovecho, explained the importance of having the rocket stove design be fluid and adaptable to fit regional cooking styles.

“in china all they want is high heat all the time because they are using a wok. in mexico they’re boiling beans; so a low simmer for a very long time and they also need a griddle for tortillas,” mclean said.

 “in africa, they have a huge pot they’re making a very thick porridge in and they’re pounding the top of it all the time so they need a very durable stove that won’t break down from all the force.”

aprovecho now operates 30 laboratories serving communities in 15 different countries around the world such as nepal, india, senegal, and china. local rocket stove manufacturers can come to these labs and have their rocket stove prototypes tested for their efficiency and emissions level using the same technology which aprovecho developed and uses in oregon.

every summer, aprovecho also hosts a “stove camp” in oregon where students and researchers from the international labs come and learn how to operate the testing equipment such as the emission monitoring hoods. representatives of the u.n. high commission for refugees and the world food programs have attended these events in past years.

“this has advanced far beyond what i would have hoped for or i could have imagined,” winiarski said.

but he’s not done yet. besides his ongoing research into garbage incinerator and dehydrator designs, winiarski is also working on an improved prototype of the rocket stove that uses double vortex directed airflow in the chimney to improve mixing of oxygen and fuel molecules and push the stove’s efficiency to new records. 

the first animation demonstrates no solar gain at the summer solstice. a south-facing home can be sheltered from the summer sun with sheltering overhangs. this reduces heat build-up during the day, and shifts the peak cooling load to later in the evening as the sun is going down. the air-conditioning savings can be dramatic. the second animation demonstrates the full solar gain at winter solstice that can be utilized in passive solar design. during the winter, as the sun rides lower in the sky, the sun bathes walls facing southwest, south, and southeast in light — to warm the home throughout the day.

but it does take one to help understand why we should adjust the ways we stay warm this winter.

since 1970, global surface temperatures have risen at a trend of 0.28°f per decade. scientific models illustrate that the 2000s were hotter than the 1990s, which were hotter than the 1980s, and so on.

some days happen to be colder than others, which make it hard to feel slow changes in climate. but looking at temperature data from recent decades shows that new record highs occur about twice as often as new record lows. this all largely caused by human greenhouse gas emissions over time.  

that’s where you come in.

household space heating makes up more than 40 percent of all energy consumption and heating costs are projected to climb higher than usual this winter in response to forecasted, low-digit temperatures. 

while heating is a high priority, there are steps you can take to stay warm, limit greenhouse gas emissions and save a buck or two on energy bills.

one option could be to invest in a programmable central thermostat. according to a recent survey, only 37 percent of households use a programmable thermostat to heat their homes. these systems can save an average person about 20 percent of costs on their original heating bill.

if your household is already one of the 48 percent that contains a non-programmable central thermostat, you can still minimize heating costs by setting the thermostat to a maximum of 70°f when occupied and 61°f when unoccupied.

and, of course, you can always wear a sweater.

heat responsibly!