54 pages • 1 hour read
The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
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Chapters 9-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Ice at the End of the World”
In January 2019, a scientific expedition aboard the icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer prepares to journey to Antarctica to study Thwaites Glacier, also known as the Doomsday Glacier, due to its potential to significantly impact global sea levels. The team, consisting of 26 scientists and 31 crew members (including the author), is part of a joint research project by the National Science Foundation and the British Antarctic Survey. Their mission involves mapping the seabed beneath the glacier, analyzing ocean currents that bring warm water to its base, and examining sediments to understand historical patterns of retreat. The urgency of this research lies in determining whether the West Antarctic ice sheet is on the verge of an unstoppable collapse, which could lead to catastrophic sea-level rise affecting coastal cities worldwide. In the 1970s, glaciologists like John Mercer and Hans Weertman theorized about marine ice-sheet instability. They warned that warm ocean waters could cause glaciers resting below sea level to retreat rapidly, leading to significant sea-level rise—a prediction that is becoming increasingly relevant as signs of instability in glaciers like Thwaites emerge.
The researchers on this expedition use unconventional methods, including tagging Weddell seals to collect data on ocean temperatures and salinity beneath the ice shelves. These seals naturally dive deep and navigate under the ice, making them ideal partners in gathering information about warm water currents that might be melting the glacier from below. Upon reaching Thwaites Glacier, the team is awed by its immense and imposing presence. The glacier’s towering ice shelf displays chaotic formations and signs of significant melting at its base, suggesting that warm ocean waters are indeed affecting its stability.
Chapter 10 Summary: “The Mosquito is My Vector”
As global temperatures rise, heat-loving species such as the Aedes aegypti mosquito are expanding their range, leading to increased transmission of diseases like dengue fever, Zika, and yellow fever. Aedes aegypti, one of the deadliest animals in human history, has a highly efficient mechanism for biting humans and transmitting pathogens. Its ability to thrive in warmer climates means that by 2080, an estimated 5 billion people could be at risk of dengue infection. Heat alters ecosystems and facilitates the spread of pathogens by creating favorable conditions for microbes and vectors, thereby increasing the incidence of diseases.
The warming climate not only affects vector-borne diseases but also drives animals to migrate in search of more suitable habitats. This mass movement leads to increased interactions between different species and between animals and humans. Such encounters heighten the risk of spillover events, where viruses jump from animals to humans. Bats, for instance, are particularly effective carriers of deadly viruses due to their immune systems and increased contact with humans resulting from habitat loss and climate-induced food scarcity. They have been linked to outbreaks of Hendra, Nipah, Ebola, and various coronaviruses, including potentially SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.
The emergence of diseases like the Hendra virus in Australia and the Nipah virus in Malaysia and Bangladesh illustrates how environmental changes force wildlife into closer proximity to human populations. In these cases, bats transmitted deadly viruses to humans either directly or through intermediary hosts like horses and pigs. Scientists warn that as climate change accelerates, such spillover events are likely to become more frequent, posing significant threats to global health. An estimated 15,000 instances of viruses jumping to new hosts could occur in the coming decades, increasing the likelihood of pandemics.
Efforts to control vector-borne diseases face challenges due to the adaptability of vectors like mosquitoes and ticks. In regions like Houston, mosquito control experts monitor populations of Aedes aegypti, but the mosquitoes’ resistance to insecticides and preference for human environments make them difficult to manage. Similarly, ticks are expanding their range as climates warm. Diseases such as Lyme disease have surged as ticks move into new territories, and fragmented ecosystems favor the proliferation of hosts like white-footed mice. As temperatures rise, vectors like mosquitoes and ticks expand into new areas, pathogens emerge from thawing permafrost, and animals under environmental stress come into closer contact with humans.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Cheap Cold Air”
Harold Goodman entered the air-conditioning market in the 1950s, recognizing the growing demand for affordable cooling solutions in Texas. He founded Goodman Manufacturing, focusing on producing inexpensive, conventional air-conditioning units under the philosophy that consumers primarily desired “cheap cold air” (214). Through minimizing costs, avoiding advertising expenses, and focusing on high-volume sales, the company experienced rapid growth, establishing Goodman as a prominent name in the industry.
The development of air-conditioning technology traces back to early innovators like John Gorrie in the 1830s, who attempted to cool air to combat diseases but failed to commercialize his invention. In 1902, Willis Carrier successfully developed a practical air-conditioning system to address humidity issues in a printing company, marking the beginning of modern air-conditioning. The widespread adoption of this technology transformed the American South, enabling rapid population growth and economic development in regions previously considered too hot for comfortable living. This shift led to changes in architectural design, moving away from features that promoted natural cooling—such as wide porches, high ceilings, and airflow-oriented structures—to sealed buildings reliant on mechanical cooling.
The increasing reliance on air-conditioning has had substantial environmental and societal consequences. The use of refrigerants like CFCs and later HFCs contributed to ozone depletion and are potent greenhouse gases. Air-conditioning units consume large amounts of energy, often generated from fossil fuels, creating a cycle where increased cooling demands lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions, further warming the planet. This situation is particularly problematic in urban areas, where heat expelled by air conditioners contributes to the urban heat island effect. Additionally, the proliferation of air-conditioning has widened the gap between those who can afford it and those who cannot, both domestically and globally, leading to disparities in comfort and health outcomes during heat waves.
Chapters 9-11 Analysis
Unlike visible disasters like floods or hurricanes, heat undermines ecosystems and infrastructures quietly, often without immediate recognition. Goodell’s description of how the Thwaites Glacier is melting from underneath becomes a metaphor for the way heat operates: It doesn’t announce its arrival with sudden devastation but rather erodes foundations quietly and persistently, fatally weakening systems before the collapse becomes apparent and thus exacerbating the Inadequacy of Current Responses to Extreme Heat.
Air conditioning also embodies this hidden danger, as it provides a superficial sense of relief from heat while contributing to the underlying crisis. This creates a dangerous paradox, Goodell suggests. As the Earth becomes warmer, “the more air-conditioning feels necessary. The more it feels necessary, the more electricity is required to power it” (218). In other words, relying on air conditioning boosts energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions, ultimately contributing to global warming. Air conditioning thus becomes a symbol of society’s flawed approach to climate adaptation—an attempt to mask the symptoms without addressing the root cause.
Goodell’s discussion of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever similarly harkens to his broader characterization of heat as an insidious, invisible threat. Like heat, pathogens are invisible (at least to the naked eye) but have devastating consequences for human health. Moreover, their transmissibility mirrors the interconnectivity that Goodell associates with Ecological Vulnerability to Extreme Heat. Goodell shows how rising temperatures enable threats to cross natural boundaries that once protected certain populations. For instance, as temperatures rise, heat-friendly mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti expand their range into regions that were previously too cool for them, exposing new people to tropical diseases. Goodell’s clinical description of how a mosquito “inserts what looks like a tiny hypodermic syringe” to spread disease mirrors how heat (188), in an almost surgical fashion, creates pathways for illnesses to spread across the globe. Goodell’s depiction of this migration, with the statistic that by 2080, five billion people could be at risk for dengue fever, illustrates the way climate change permeates boundaries, demonstrating that no region or population is immune.
This is not to say that certain populations do not face heightened risks, however. Rather, Goodell continues to explore Socioeconomic Inequality in Climate Resilience by highlighting the inequality embedded in access to air conditioning. Air conditioning, therefore, symbolizes not only the overreliance on short-term solutions but also the growing social inequalities worsened by climate change, suggesting that climate adaptation efforts often neglect marginalized communities.
Indeed, Goodell frames heat as a force that amplifies vulnerabilities across natural as well as human systems, further underscoring the inseparability of the two. The melting of the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica illustrates this amplification effect: Even a “one- or two-degree” increase can push ice from stability to meltdown (170), transforming it from a stable structure into a global threat through rising sea levels. This small temperature change, which might seem insignificant elsewhere, has the power to trigger massive, irreversible changes in Antarctica, symbolizing the thin line between stability and collapse in our planet’s most fragile ecosystems.
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