At some point in your life, you’ve probably heard about or even been in the path of a hurricane or tropical storm. You can probably identify it by the name it was given by meteorologists.
But the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance, an international organization whose mission is to prevent heat-related injuries and deaths, believes that we need to start naming heatwaves, as well.
This may seem like a frivolous thing to worry about. After all, if you’re caught in a heatwave, you can definitely tell what’s going on, right? Actually, it’s not that simple. In the US alone, heatwaves have caused nearly four times the deaths that hurricanes do, and part of the issue is that many people don’t take hot weather very seriously.
Giving a name to a heatwave may make the public realize how dangerous they are, and that they put their health – and the health of their loved ones – at risk.
Read on to learn more about the fight to educate people about heat-related conditions and mortality in an increasingly warmer world.
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Contact Our Writer – Alysa Salzberg
