Heat Waves: Global Warming's Wake Up Call
A new report from National Wildlife Federation (NWF) was released in Cleveland on August 25, 2009.

See a video, Plain Dealer article, photos and and the full report.

• 2 minute video explaining the report and a link to the full report.
• NWF Press Release
• Plain Dealer article from 8/26/09
• Photos of the press conference on the green roof of the Cleveland Environmental Center, 3500 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, Ohio

National Wildlife Federation, Physicians for Social Responsibility say global warming will affect minorities, the poor in cities the most
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Michael Scott
Plain Dealer Reporter

Global warming will hit Cleveland and other American cities hardest - especially the poor, elderly and minorities who lack money for air conditioning or other home weatherization, two environmental groups said Tuesday.

Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo made a list of 30 U.S. cities that would suffer the worst health effects from global warming, issued in a new report by the National Wildlife Federation and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

"Under any global-warming scenario, it is urban areas that will feel the heat the most," Tracy Sabetta of the NWF Ohio office said at a news conference on the solar-panel-covered rooftop of Cleveland's Environmental Health Watch on Lorain Avenue.

The report also asserts that air pollution in urban areas will increase with higher temperatures, bringing a greater risk of heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks. Children, the elderly, the poor and people of color are especially vulnerable, the report said.

"The reality is that a higher number of minorities - of people of color - live in urban areas and live at or below poverty," Sabetta said. "That means that they will be among the most affected by extreme heat."

Urban areas already feel heat more acutely because asphalt, concrete and other structures absorb and reradiate heat, causing temperatures to be as much as 10 degrees higher than nearby rural areas, Sabetta said.

Further, 49 percent of Cleveland households are without central air conditioning and 30 percent of the population is living below the federal poverty level of $16,530 for a family of three, according to the report. That is more than double the national average, Sabetta said.

Other factors in determining which cities made the list included the average number of oppressively hot days each year, percentage of the city population living in poverty and the quantity of ground-level ozone pollution.

The report did not rank the cities in order but placed them in three tiers based on several factors. All three Ohio cities were in the least affected tier, but were still considered at risk.

The full report can be read at the National Wildlife Federation's Web site, nwf.org.

The dire climate predictions, even while echoing those made by the International Panel on Climate Change and other climate scientists, come on the heels of one of the coolest July months on record throughout the Midwest and East.

Sabetta and others admitted that talking about a heat wave in the middle of a cool summer is a tough sell - but they said there is a crucial difference between the weather we experience day-to-day or even seasonally, and climate.

"This has been a wonderful summer here in Northeast Ohio, making it easier to be lulled into a false sense of security that global warming is nothing to worry about," said Eric Schreiber, a Cleveland doctor who is active in the Climate Project.

The group describes itself as a "nonprofit organization with over 2,500 volunteers trained by Al Gore to educate the public about climate change."

"Climate changes occur over decades all over the world - not in weeks in a single location - and the trend is clear," Schreiber said.

"The world average temperature has been rising sharply over the past 50 years."

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