“I Feel Suffocated:” Understandings of Climate Change in an Inner City Heat Island

Abstract

Global climate change is contributing to a range of adverse environmental and weather shifts, including more intense and more frequent heatwaves and an intensification of the urban heat island effect. These changes are known to produce a set of significant and differentially distributed health problems, with a particularly high burden among poor and marginalized populations. In this article, we report findings from a qualitative study of community knowledge, attitudes, health and other concerns, and behavioral responses regarding mounting urban temperatures and related environmental health issues among Latinos living in the city of Hartford, CT in northeast United States. Findings suggest the need for enhanced participation in knowledge dissemination and preparedness planning based on the coproduction of knowledge about climate change and community responses to it. The special role of anthropology in such efforts is highlighted.

Vulnerability to heatwaves and implications for public health interventions – A scoping review

“…Interventions that included education and awareness measures were frequently deployed and linked to influencing behavior. Adequate behavioral advice is, however, complex because it has to match people's risk-and self-perception and experience, which remains under-researched (Singer et al, 2016).…”

“Whenever there’s trouble, just yelp for help”: Crime, conservation, and corporatization in Paw Patrol

“…On other occasions (S1E17, S4E15, S4E22), characters complain about extreme temperatures but all one seemingly requires is a pool and some “cool treats to beat the heat.” Similar to the findings of other green cultural criminologists (e.g. Brisman and South, 2012; Di Ronco et al, 2019), PAW Patrol misrepresents the threat that extreme heat, and climate change more generally, poses, particularly to marginalized individuals and communities (see, for instance, Dennis and Mooney, 2018; Singer et al, 2016). Moreover, various regions in the Global South remain particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels, droughts, and floods.…”

The Medical Anthropology of Climate Change: Eco-Risks and the Body Environmental

“…Air and water are cornerstones of life; climatic warming and environmental pollution are profoundly altering the quality of both. Singer, Hasemann and Raynor (2016) demonstrate that sometimes people are clearly aware of linkages between their predicaments and the changing climate. Singer and his colleagues take the important step of directly asking people about their understandings of the ramifications of changing weather patterns.…”

“…Climate refugees within and between countries already number in the millions, and those numbers will surge as coastal areas flood, wildfires destroy large tracts of land, and food and water become more scarce. 1 It is time to reset our disciplinary intentions and our research goals to clearly include a focus on the health effects of human created climate change (Baer 2008;Singer 2016). Anthropology encompasses the long view of how cultures and environments change.…”