Hot Alone

Much of the United States is embroiled in a horrifying heat wave, and today is likely to be the worst day yet.  High temperatures are bad enough, but there is also high humidity, partly fed by remaining flood waters.  Dr. Jeff Masters:  A major reason for the remarkably high humidities accompanying the July 2011 Midwest heat wave is the record flooding the region experienced over the past three months. As pointed out by wunderground's climate change blogger Dr. Ricky Rood in his latest post, with hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland still inundated by flood waters, and soils saturated over much of the Upper Midwest, there has been plenty of water available to evaporate into the air and cause remarkably high humdities. This makes for a very dangerous situation, as the human body is not able to cool itself as efficiently when the humidity is high."   

The lessons of what super-heat does seemingly must be learned again and again: thousands of animals (including cattle) dying, damage to plants, huge demands on power, and of course the dangers to human health--particularly the vulnerable.

And increasingly the most vulnerable are paying the price for the GOPer madness in slashing programs that offer their only protection against such exegencies as these heat waves.  According to the Washington Post: "Many states hit hardest by this week’s searing heat wave have drastically cut or entirely eliminated programs that help poor people pay their electric bills, forcing thousands to go without air conditioning when they need it most." 

This is the result of state budget cuts, and decisions to cut back on administering federal programs--mostly based on ideological rather than economic choices.  It's the kind of thing the GOPers in Congress are doing with the federal budget: cutting back essential programs to help the most vulnerable through emergencies, and even funds for emergencies that affect everyone, such as hurricanes, floods, droughts and tornadoes.

This historic heat is the latest in a series of historically hot summers, and it's all just going to get worse.  The cost of denial is in the life and death of people who have no lobbyists or powerful friends to speak for them.

I'm worried about my friends and family in these heat wave areas.  I fear for the suffering of everyone--for not even air conditioning can counter the effects of heat and humidity over days and nights.  But it is the lack of common decency in the public rhetoric and public decisionmaking in this country that is the source of shame.