This April in Vancouver was the warmest since record-keeping began in 1937 – just the latest piece of evidence that temperatures in the region are rising.
A heat wave in B.C. broke 64 temperature records across the province last summer. And that followed on the heels of another record-breaking heat wave in 2014.
This isn’t really surprising. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that climate change will be accompanied “by an increase in the frequency and intensity of heat waves.”
But like so many of the impacts of climate change, heat waves are likely to disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable.
A new study out of Columbia University has found that 3,331 New Yorkers could die annually from heat waves by 2080. The aging population was an important factor in the study, because “older adults are more vulnerable to heat-related health effects,” co-author Patrick Kinney told Scientific American.
And recent research from Sarah Henderson, an assistant professor in UBC’s school of population and public health, found that people in Vancouver neighbourhoods with high rates of unemployment and retirement have an elevated risk of death during heat waves. Parts of the Downtown Eastside were particularly high-risk, for instance. Areas with few trees and lots of concrete were also more dangerous.
The study comes after 110 people were killed by an extreme heat wave in Vancouver in 2009.
“Being able to map and target the most vulnerable areas will be highly beneficial for public health intervention,” Henderson said in a news release.
But heat waves don’t always act in isolation. The IPCC reports that increased air pollution often accompanies heat waves, creating an additional layer of risk.
Currently, 5.5 million people die prematurely each year from household and outdoor air pollution, according to research presented earlier this year by Michael Brauer, also from UBC’s school of population and public health. More than half of those deaths occur in China and India.
“Reducing air pollution is an incredibly efficient way to improve the health of a population,” Brauer said in a news release in February.
Decreasing the health risk caused by heat waves and air pollution is a complex task. In developing countries like India, steps must be taken to curb industrial coal burning and to find alternatives to burning wood and dung in homes for heating and cooking, according to Chandra Venkataraman, a professor of chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
But in Vancouver, there are relatively simple measures that can reduce the risk from extreme heat. According to the Vancouver Sun, the city installed five temporary drinking fountains during the heat wave last July, and may look at installing more in future. There are currently 250 permanent fountains across the city.
During heat waves, the city also works with non-profits in the Downtown Eastside to distribute bottled water and provide shelter from the extreme temperatures.
By Maura Forrest, 07 July 2016