A delivery driver relies on 15 bottles of water to get him through his route. A beekeeper keeps a portable fan under her veil. A construction worker starts as early as 6 a.m. but still ends the day with a sweat-soaked shirt.
Last week’s triple-digit heat wave pounded workers across Southern California, particularly those who labor primarily outdoors or whose workplaces, like many warehouses, lack air conditioning. It’s yet another way that climate change is contributing to inequality, and it is only going to get worse.
“We’re seeing temperatures increase, we’re seeing heat waves become more common,” said Amir Jina, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy who researches how environmental change affects societal development. “This is really an effect less borne by the person in the high-paying job in an air-conditioned office” and more by people in lower-income jobs, such as warehouse workers and delivery drivers.
