The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
by Jeff Goodell
View on GoodreadsYour body, the work you do, the city you live in, your food and the diseases that reach you are all being reshaped by extreme heat, in Goodell's account. He treats heat as a direct and deadly force of climate change and reports it from Texas, California, Paris and the polar regions.
Core ideas
- Outdoor workers first: Sebastian Perez, a Guatemalan farmworker, died of heat in Oregon's Willamette Valley, and the book presses for laws protecting outdoor workers.
- Costs already paid: The 2003 European heat wave killed roughly 15,000 people in France, and cities now turn to tree planting, cooling centers and air conditioning.
- Hard but possible: The changes required are difficult and need political leadership, but in Goodell's view they are still achievable.
Published2023
Pages400
ISBN9780316497572
ReadOct 2024
