In Phoenix, heat wave further exposes gap between rich and poor

Melanie Floyd took her children to the Phoenix Zoo in the morning, when temperatures in the middle of the heat wave that suffocates the city and much of the southwest of USAThey are still bearable.

Standing in front of some turtles, he downplayed the intense heat in a world struggling with climate change.

“As long as we have air conditioning and everyone makes smart decisions”the 32-year-old housewife told AFP. “Staying hydrated, being in the shade, staying cool and not overexerting yourself, I think it’s tolerable”he added.

In fact, it’s cool at home. She keeps the air conditioning between 70 and 80 degrees so she can comfortably watch her children, ages two and six, as they play with crayons and coloring books.

Meanwhile, outside, day after day and for more than three weeks, the temperature in Phoenix exceeds 43ºC.

The heat wave that affects much of the southern states and the American Southwest – including record temperatures in Phoenix – is igniting the debate about how fast global warming is advancing.

“You have to fluctuate like the weather fluctuates, so you have to be flexible with this,” Floyd said.

In this city in the middle of the desert, several people who have spoken to AFP have similar views on the increasing frequency of heat as global warming caused by human activities continues: “You have to learn to live with this.”

no air conditioning

For many of them, life is a series of headlong runs between offices, restaurants, and shops, all with the air conditioning on full blast.

In the city center and in affluent neighborhoods, residents don’t think twice about leaving the car running while they go out to run their errands, so it stays cool when they return.

But in the less fortunate suburbs, the heat is something else.

“If the temperatures continue like this, many people will not be able to bear it”said Rosalía Licea, 37, who has to raise her five children alone.

She lives in a trailer park where most of the trailers are from the 1950s. At the start of this heat wave her air conditioner stopped working.

For two days the temperature inside his mobile home reached 36ºC. The entire family had to take refuge in the room of the eldest son, which has an air conditioning unit in the window. One of the younger children began to have headaches.

Licea, originally from Mexico, works various low-paying jobs to make ends meet. She doesn’t have the $2,000 it costs to buy a new air conditioner. An improvised solution, spend 800 on the fix

“I do not have a choice”says. “It was the priority, more than buying supplies or paying my rent.”

Despite having a new motor for the air conditioning unit, one of the pipes is broken so that fresh air does not reach your room. Something else you will have to pay for.

Full power air conditioners

Licea did not qualify for aid offered by the city or by some public service companies to upgrade air conditioners.

An Arizona State University study found that mobile homes, which are up to a 5% of homes in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and its suburbs, the 30% of the city’s heat-related deaths.

“It’s easy to say ‘we can adapt’ when you have access to everything”Licea complains. “For us it’s different.”

A few days ago, a fire broke out in the mobile home park where he lives, and in which these residences are directly connected to power poles with poor quality connections.

One of these mobile homes was destroyed and the fire is believed to have been started by an electrical surge, with full-power washers, dryers, refrigerators and air conditioners operating at the same time.

After 19 years in Arizona, Licea lives in fear of a short circuit. So she only makes salads for meals and tries to avoid turning on lights to keep power consumption low and the temperature as cool as possible.

“If I could go to a state that is not so hot, I would” says Lycea.

Source: AFP