Issue: Climate Impacts

I write to you from my AC-less apartment, with my windows wide open and hoping for a breeze. The west coast is experiencing another record-breaking heat wave and while I’m spared from the worst of it in typically cooler San Francisco, the Bay Area is being scorched, fueling several fast-moving wildfires. At the same time, an unimaginable one-third of Pakistan is currently underwater due to catastrophic flooding, displacing 33 million people. Extreme flooding and record droughts contributed to Jackson, Mississippi, a predominantly-Black city, losing access to safe drinking water. Both examples and realities continue to show how climate change disproportionately impacts people of color and those who have contributed the least to warming. Within this context, it feels timely to refresh ourselves on everything we know about extreme weather and public engagement as we work to engage our communities and audiences on climate action in these extreme times (You can find our last deep dive on this from 2020*).

These maps allow users to see how many extreme heat events have happened in what zip codes and congressional districts since the beginning of June 2022. Users can select specific zip codes or congressional districts and time periods of interest.