The temperature is finally going down in Phoenix and the few months of great weather that remind us why we live here are on their way.
For most residents of the desert, the end of summer is a welcome goodbye to uncomfortably hot weather. But for some people, like the poor, the elderly and those with health conditions, it's also a sign of survival.
Arizona just experienced the third-hottest summer on record and broke a daily heat record with the first 118-degree day in August. The summer is not only getting hotter and more unbearable, but it's also getting more deadly.
Since 2020, at least 270 people in Maricopa County have died at home when their cooling systems failed or were shut off completely. The Arizona Republic dug into the records of these quiet casualties of extreme heat.
Approximately half of all Maricopa County residents who died from heat-related conditions had trouble cooling their homes. Most of them died after their air conditioner had broken.
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This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen talks with David Konisky, a founding co-director of the Energy Justice Lab at Indiana University. He joins the podcast to talk about what can be done to minimize these fatalities and what policies could be put into place.
Note: The Gaggle is intended to be heard. But we also offer an AI transcript of the episode. There may be slight deviations from the podcast audio.
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