scholarly journals Adaptive Capacity to Extreme Heat: Results from a Household Survey in Houston, Texas

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 787-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary H. Hayden ◽  
Olga V. Wilhelmi ◽  
Deborah Banerjee ◽  
Tamara Greasby ◽  
Jamie L. Cavanaugh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extreme Heat ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Population Vulnerability ◽  
Heat Risk ◽  
Related Mortality

Abstract Extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related mortality in the United States, suggesting the necessity for better understanding population vulnerability to extreme heat. The work presented here is part of a larger study examining vulnerability to extreme heat in current and future climates [System for Integrated Modeling of Metropolitan Extreme Heat Risk (SIMMER)] and was undertaken to assess Houston, Texas, residents’ adaptive capacity to extreme heat. A comprehensive, semistructured survey was conducted by telephone at 901 households in Houston in 2011. Frequency and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results show that 20% of the survey respondents reported heat-related symptoms in the summer of 2011 despite widespread air conditioning availability throughout Houston. Of those reporting heat-related symptoms experienced in the home (n = 56), the majority could not afford to use air conditioning because of the high cost of electricity. This research highlights the efficacy of community-based surveys to better understand adaptive capacity at the household level; this survey contextualizes population vulnerability and identifies more targeted intervention strategies and adaptation actions.

Heat Waves and Innovation in Air Conditioning in the United States

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Heat Exposure ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extreme Heat ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
County Level ◽  
Similar Increase ◽  
Patent Data

AbstractThis study investigates whether extreme heat episodes (heatwaves) have contributed to the development of air conditioning technology in the United States. To this end we use weather data to identify days at which heat and relative humidity were above levels comfortable to the human body, and match these with patent data at the county level for nearly a hundred years. We find that in the two years after a county has experienced extreme heat air-conditioning patents increase. Overall, average extreme heat exposure results in an increase of 7.5% greater innovation. We find no similar increase in the frequency of non-air conditioning related patent filings, and therefore conclude that heatwaves result in innovation targeting their mitigation.

scholarly journals Heat-Related Health Impacts under Scenarios of Climate and Population Change

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 2438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Morefield ◽  
Neal Fann ◽  
Anne Grambsch ◽  
William Raich ◽  
Christopher Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Population Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extreme Heat ◽  
Population Projections ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Coupled Modeling ◽  
Related Mortality

Recent assessments have found that a warming climate, with associated increases in extreme heat events, could profoundly affect human health. This paper describes a new modeling and analysis framework, built around the Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program—Community Edition (BenMAP), for estimating heat-related mortality as a function of changes in key factors that determine the health impacts of extreme heat. This new framework has the flexibility to integrate these factors within health risk assessments, and to sample across the uncertainties in them, to provide a more comprehensive picture of total health risk from climate-driven increases in extreme heat. We illustrate the framework’s potential with an updated set of projected heat-related mortality estimates for the United States. These projections combine downscaled Coupled Modeling Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) climate model simulations for Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)4.5 and RCP8.5, using the new Locating and Selecting Scenarios Online (LASSO) tool to select the most relevant downscaled climate realizations for the study, with new population projections from EPA’s Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios (ICLUS) project. Results suggest that future changes in climate could cause approximately from 3000 to more than 16,000 heat-related deaths nationally on an annual basis. This work demonstrates that uncertainties associated with both future population and future climate strongly influence projected heat-related mortality. This framework can be used to systematically evaluate the sensitivity of projected future heat-related mortality to the key driving factors and major sources of methodological uncertainty inherent in such calculations, improving the scientific foundations of risk-based assessments of climate change and human health.

Differential Adaptive Capacity to Extreme Heat: A Phoenix, Arizona, Case Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary H. Hayden ◽  
Hannah Brenkert-Smith ◽  
Olga V. Wilhelmi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extreme Heat ◽  
Population Exposure ◽  
Excessive Heat ◽  
Extreme Heat Events

Abstract Climate change is projected to increase the number of days producing excessive heat across the southwestern United States, increasing population exposure to extreme heat events. Extreme heat is currently the main cause of weather-related mortality in the United States, where the negative health effects of extreme heat are disproportionately distributed among geographic regions and demographic groups. To more effectively identify vulnerability to extreme heat, complementary local-level studies of adaptive capacity within a population are needed to augment census-based demographic data and downscaled weather and climate models. This pilot study, conducted in August 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona, reports responses from 359 households in three U.S. Census block groups identified as heat-vulnerable based on heat distress calls, decedent records, and demographic characteristics. This study sought to understand social vulnerability to extreme heat at the local level as a complex phenomenon with explicit characterization of coping and adaptive capacity among urban residents.

scholarly journals Public perceptions of the health risks of extreme heat across US states, counties, and neighborhoods

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (14) ◽  
pp. 6743-6748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Howe ◽  
Jennifer R. Marlon ◽  
Xinran Wang ◽  
Anthony Leiserowitz
Keyword(s):  
Health Risks ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Extreme Heat ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Us States ◽  
Heat Risk

Extreme heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States. Many individuals, however, fail to perceive this risk, which will be exacerbated by global warming. Given that awareness of one’s physical and social vulnerability is a critical precursor to preparedness for extreme weather events, understanding Americans’ perceptions of heat risk and their geographic variability is essential for promoting adaptive behaviors during heat waves. Using a large original survey dataset of 9,217 respondents, we create and validate a model of Americans’ perceived risk to their health from extreme heat in all 50 US states, 3,142 counties, and 72,429 populated census tracts. States in warm climates (e.g., Texas, Nevada, and Hawaii) have some of the highest heat-risk perceptions, yet states in cooler climates often face greater health risks from heat. Likewise, places with older populations who have increased vulnerability to health effects of heat tend to have lower risk perceptions, putting them at even greater risk since lack of awareness is a barrier to adaptive responses. Poorer neighborhoods and those with larger minority populations generally have higher risk perceptions than wealthier neighborhoods with more white residents, consistent with vulnerability differences across these populations. Comprehensive models of extreme weather risks, exposure, and effects should take individual perceptions, which motivate behavior, into account. Understanding risk perceptions at fine spatial scales can also support targeting of communication and education initiatives to where heat adaptation efforts are most needed.

scholarly journals Recent Trends in Heat-Related Mortality in the United States: An Update through 2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-106
Author(s):  
Scott C. Sheridan ◽  
P. Grady Dixon ◽  
Adam J. Kalkstein ◽  
Michael J. Allen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Total Mortality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extreme Heat ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Extreme Heat Event ◽  
Excess Heat Factor ◽  
Heat Events ◽  
Related Mortality

AbstractMuch research has shown a general decrease in the negative health response to extreme heat events in recent decades. With a society that is growing older, and a climate that is warming, whether this trend can continue is an open question. Using eight additional years of mortality data, we extend our previous research to explore trends in heat-related mortality across the United States. For the period 1975–2018, we examined the mortality associated with extreme-heat-event days across the 107 largest metropolitan areas. Mortality response was assessed over a cumulative 10-day lag period following events that were defined using thresholds of the excess heat factor, using a distributed-lag nonlinear model. We analyzed total mortality and subsets of age and sex. Our results show that in the past decade there is heterogeneity in the trends of heat-related human mortality. The decrease in heat vulnerability continues among those 65 and older across most of the country, which may be associated with improved messaging and increased awareness. These decreases are offset in many locations by an increase in mortality among men 45–64 (+1.3 deaths per year), particularly across parts of the southern and southwestern United States. As heat-warning messaging broadly identifies the elderly as the most vulnerable group, the results here suggest that differences in risk perception may play a role. Further, an increase in the number of heat events over the past decade across the United States may have contributed to the end of a decades-long downward trend in the estimated number of heat-related fatalities.

scholarly journals Trends in Extreme Apparent Temperatures over the United States, 1949–2010

2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1650-1653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Grundstein ◽  
John Dowd
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Social Vulnerability ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Apparent Temperature ◽  
Clear Increase ◽  
Related Mortality

AbstractBiometeorological indices, such as the apparent temperature, are widely used in studies of heat-related mortality to quantify the human sensation to the environmental conditions. Increases in the frequency of environmentally stressful days as indicated by biometeorological indices may augment the risk for heat-related morbidity and mortality. This study examines trends in the frequency of days with extreme maximum and minimum apparent temperatures across the United States for 1949–2010. An increase in occurrence of 1-day extreme minimum apparent temperatures is particularly notable, especially in the eastern and western United States, with 44% of stations exhibiting positive trends. About 20% of stations have positive trends in 1-day extreme maximum apparent temperature, mostly in the western United States. The median trend for both 1-day extreme maximum and minimum apparent temperature is approximately 2 days per 10 yr, indicating that by 2010 there were 12 more days with extreme apparent temperatures than there were in 1949. Few stations with trends in 4-day extreme minimum or maximum apparent temperatures were noted. An important finding is that there has been a 53% increase in stations with positive trends in 1-day extreme minimum apparent temperatures and a 63% increase in stations with positive trends in 1-day extreme maximum apparent temperatures since a similar study by Gaffen and Ross was conducted using the period 1949–95. Although there is a clear increase in the hazard for days with extreme apparent temperatures, changes in health outcomes are modulated by factors, such as the age of the population and access to air conditioning, that affect social vulnerability.

Community-Based versus Statistical Targeting of Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from Burkina Faso

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-305
Author(s):  
Michael Hillebrecht ◽  
Stefan Klonner ◽  
Noraogo A Pacere ◽  
Aurélia Souares
Keyword(s):  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Poor Households

Abstract Targeting of governmental welfare programmes in low-income countries commonly relies on statistical procedures involving household-level data, while smaller-scale programmes often employ community-based targeting, where village communities themselves identify beneficiaries. Combining original data from community-based targeting exercises in Burkina Faso with a household survey we compare the targeting accuracy of community-based targeting with four common statistical targeting methods when the objective is to target consumption-poor households. We find that community-based targeting is substantially less accurate than statistical targeting in villages, while it is as accurate as the much more costly statistical methods in semi-urban areas. We show that this difference is due to differences in poverty concepts held by rural and urban communities. Its large cost advantage makes community-based targeting far more cost-effective than statistical targeting for common amounts of welfare programme benefits.

Learning from disaster: community-based marine protected areas in Fiji

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshito Takasaki
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Safety Nets ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Disaster Experience ◽  
Household Survey Data

AbstractThis paper examines whether and how experiencing climate-related disasters can improve the rural poor's adaptation to climate change through community-based resource management. Original household survey data in Fiji capture the establishment of community-based marine protected areas following a tropical cyclone. Controlling for the endogeneity of household-level cyclone damage reveals that a household's exposure to the disaster increases its support for establishing marine protected areas, presumably for future safety nets. Evidence suggests that community members' social learning from disaster experience might facilitate their consensual decision making.

The potential benefits of agricultural adaptation to warming in China in the long run

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaixing Huang ◽  
Jinxia Wang ◽  
Jikun Huang ◽  
Christopher Findlay
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Capital Intensity ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Potential Damage

AbstractUnderstanding the extent to which agriculture can adapt to climate change and the determinants of farmers' adaptive capacity are of paramount importance from a policy perspective. Based on household survey data from a large sample in rural China, the present article adopts a panel approach to estimate the potential benefits of long-run adaptation and to identify the determinants of farmers' adaptive capacity. The empirical results suggest that, for various model settings and climate change scenarios, long-run adaptations should mitigate one-third to one-half of the damages of warming on crop profits by the end of this century. These findings support the basic argument of the hedonic approach that omitting long-run adaptations will dramatically overestimate the potential damage of climate change. The paper also finds that household-level capital intensity and farmland size have significant effects on farmers' adaptive capacities.

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