Record heat waves illuminate plight of poorest Americans who suffer without air conditioning

DENVER: As Denver neared triple-digit temperatures, Ben Gallegos sat shirtless on his porch swatting flies off his legs and spritzing himself with a misting fan to try to get through the heat. Gallegos, like many in the nation’s poorest neighbourhoods, doesn’t have air conditioning.

The 68-year-old covers his windows with mattress foam to insulate against the heat and sleeps in the concrete basement. He knows high temperatures can cause heat stroke and death, and his lung condition makes him more susceptible. But the retired brick layer, who survives on about US$1,000 a month, says air conditioning is out of reach.

“Take me about 12 years to save up for something like that,” he said. “If it’s hard to breath, I’ll get down to emergency.”

As climate change fans hotter and longer heat waves, breaking record temperatures across the US and leaving dozens dead, the poorest Americans suffer the hottest days with the fewest defences. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.

As Phoenix weathered its 27th consecutive day above 43 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the nine who died indoors didn’t have functioning air conditioning, or it was turned off. Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.

“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”

It’s the poorest and people of colour, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face gruelling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 US metro areas.

“The temperature differences … between lower-income neighbourhoods, neighbourhoods of colour and their wealthier, whiter counterparts have pretty severe consequences,” said Cate Mingoya-LaFortune of Groundwork USA, an environmental justice organisation. “There are these really big consequences like death … But there’s also ambient misery.”