Book Group: The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell

Please join me in discussing The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell.

From the publisher
An explosive, completely new understanding of heat, the lethal force which threatens every living cell on Earth. New York Times best-selling writer Jeff Goodell presents a deeply-reported examination of the impact that temperature rise will have on our lives and on our planet, offering a vital new perspective on where we are headed, how we can prepare, and what is at stake if we fail to act.

From The New York Times
In his fast-paced new book about climate change, “The Heat Will Kill You First,” Goodell denounces the term “global warming” for sounding “gentle and soothing, as if the most notable impact of burning fossil fuels will be better beach weather.” He says that the word “hot” has too many pleasing connotations: sexy, winning, in demand. Sure, hell is supposed to be hot, too; but for those who can afford it, air-conditioning has sapped the metaphor of its power, allowing a hellish heat to seem like a matter of intermittent discomfort instead of eternal damnation.

From the Economist
The book is a remarkable exploration of the deadly consequences of rising temperatures wrought by humans pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Unlike wildfires and hurricanes—which create whirls of flame, paint skies an apocalyptic orange and drown cities—heatwaves cannot easily be captured on film. Heat slaughters silently, snuffing out more American lives each year than any other type of weather. “How do you make visible the story of an invisible killer?” asks Mr Goodell. [...] The book’s biggest takeaway is that the harm from heat falls unfairly on those least able to protect themselves. “A heatwave is a predatory event,” writes Mr Goodell, “one that culls out the most vulnerable people.” Rich places and people can plant trees for shade, paint heat-absorbing asphalt to reflect more sunlight, retile zinc roofs, make their cities oases of air-conditioning or move to colder places. But adaptation is much harder for poor people and places. At the end of a chapter devoted to “cheap cold air”, Mr Goodell concludes that “the most enduring legacy of air-conditioning may be the divide it has created between the cool and the damned.”

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