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GALVESTON, Tex. — Adolfo Guerra, a landscaper in this port city on the Gulf of Mexico, remembers panicking as his co-worker vomited and convulsed after hours of mowing lawns in stifling heat. Other workers rushed to cover him with ice, and the man recovered.

But, for Mr. Guerra, 24, who spends nine hours a day, six days a week doing yard work the episode was a reminder of the dangers that exist for outdoor workers as the planet warms.

Continue reading:  In Sweltering South, Climate Change Is Now a Workplace Hazard

25 thoughts on “In Sweltering South, Climate Change Is Now a Workplace Hazard”

  2. Climate change is NOT an argument in the least, it’s fact and now really only a question of WHEN the irreversible tipping-point is reached and what can be done (as a unified planet) to slow it and eventually reverse it (hopefully) over the next 30-, 60-, and 100-years… if that quickly. But I don’t completely agree with Professor Robert D. Bullard of Texas Southern University:

    “For too long, a lot of the climate change and global warming arguments have been looking at melting ice and polar bears and not at the human suffering side of it […] They are still pushing out the polar bear as the icon for climate change. The icon should be a kid who is suffering from the negative impacts of climate change and increased air pollution, or a family where rising water is endangering their lives.“

    First of all, HUMANS are unequivocally tied to ALL of Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystems in countless ways! One biosystem collapses, another is effected and begins its collapse, and so on. Some biosystems are so inter-related that they collapse simultaneously. It is ALL quite fragile! Does Professor Bullard fully understand Earth’s exhaustive interconnectedness? Hmmmm. Nevertheless, he and all of us have our UNIFIED parts to do without trivial criticisms. It’s polar bears, peguins, birds, fish, coral reefs, fresh water rain, crops, temperatures, ice-shelves and permafrosts, insects, plants, EVERYTHING we humans absolutely need to survive! Need I go on?

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    • I do agree, Prof, but you might be missing the salient point here. That irreversible tipping-point you highlighted is much closer to being reached than most in the general populace realize. Shifting the focus away from polar bears, etc. and towards us emphasizes the urgency of climate change by appealing to basic human psychology. No matter how many responsible people embrace the general concern for nature, there will always be many more who are primarily motivated by self-interest. A sad commentary? Yes, but a realistic one. We just don’t have sufficient time left to change the hearts and minds of those who are dragging their feet on climate mitigation or those who are in denial about global warming.

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      • Yes indeed. You are right Robert, the tipping-point is much closer than climatologists and scientists first feared. I know that, I do and in my full acceptance of that reality, I did unintentionally redraw the emphasis on a forest rather than one or two trees. I guess what I was overemphasizing was the entire forest as well as the trees that makeup the forest. Apologies.

        You do make a very good point by putting the bulls-eye squarely on human beings — since afterall, WE are the culprits — that got us into the mess, but are capable of fixing it! I was gazing through my own personal lens, that every bit of MY OWN existence hinges in so so many ways with other humans, other entities on this planet, that I just NEVER get so self-absorbed in my own world only. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been enthrawled with the detached opulent lifestyles and their “subscribers” who, unlike Galveston’s Adolfo Guerra and most of us myself included, who are not inside and with day in and day out and (much?) closer to Earth’s health/sickness. :/

        Does that make sense?

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        • Well, thank you Robert, but I just don’t see it as very difficult to realize that we humans are so EXTREMELY dependent on countless other systems and entities on this planet for our survival!!! And need I list all the interstellar systems and entities that effect our liveliness, from the ancient past to the present and into the the future… the far distant future?

          “Exclusion makes us suffer. Inclusion makes us thrive.”
          —- E. O. Wilson

          The renown Dr. Wilson was speaking about our dependancy with all things on Earth.

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        • Grrrrr…typo up there. It should read:

          “…unlike Galveston’s Adolfo Guerra and most of us myself included, who are not inside and with day in and day out and (much?) closer to…”

          Would you be so kind Robert to correct that for me? Thank you Sir. 🙂

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  3. Robert, did you happen to see Richard Heinberg’s video links on Garry Robert’s blog you shared the other day? The one video about 300 insatiable years of consumption — particularly fossil fuel consumption — like there’s no end, no consequences was especially disturbing. Growth, growth, and more growth! Profit, profit, and more profits every quarter every year! Never settle for enough or ‘moderation’… sell, consume, repeat ad infinitum! Here’s the video:

    And his other video “Don’t Worry, Drive On” is excellent as well!

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  4. Reblogged this on Three Worlds One Vision and commented:
    “For too long, a lot of the climate change and global warming arguments have been looking at melting ice and polar bears and not at the human suffering side of it. They are still pushing out the polar bear as the icon for climate change. The icon should be a kid who is suffering from the negative impacts of climate change and increased air pollution, or a family where rising water is endangering their lives.”
    ~ Robert D. Bullard, a professor at Texas Southern University who some call the “father of environmental justice.

    We’re feeling the heat here in Los Angeles. I now have to avoid going out until after five in the evenings. For my son, an independent contractor who often works outdoors, it’s hell.

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