Surviving extreme summer temperatures requires difficult choices, such as paying for medicine or a high energy bill associated with running the air conditioner. As a result, many low-income Americans living in communities designated as "urban heat islands" live without air conditioning.
Pat Murray, an African American in her late 60s living on a fixed income, resides in a section of Durham, North Carolina, where a major highway, concrete sidewalks, asphalt-paved parking lots, and a scarcity of mature shade trees can make the temperature on a hot day 10 to 15 degrees hotter than in other parts of the city.
Coping With Extreme Heat is a two-part project that aims to show what it's like for vulnerable people—including older adults, children, pregnant women, low-income individuals, and Black and brown residents—to live in areas where the energy burden makes living in urban heat islands a health risk.
