Written by Alejandro Villafuerte

As an oppressive heat wave the likes of which has not been seen in 20 years rolls in through Spain, one cannot help but think reflect on our ever-heating planet. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has recorded a consistent rise in global temperatures since the 1980s, with every year racing neck-to-neck to be the one to hottest ever one record.

            Though we are all of us affected by this crisis, a population that is often overlooked in this conversation are those experiencing homelessness. This is for two reasons, one is that global climate change not only effects to day-to-day lives of these people, it also plays a role in the increase in the amount of people experiencing homelessness.

Heating climate’s impact on lives (and amount) of the homeless

To get a better sense of the problems that are faced by the chronically homeless, we can look at the work gathered by researchers Ramin and Svoboda, writing for the National Library of Medicine. Together they identified four primary obstacles that will be exacerbated. Those four include heat waves, air pollution, floods & storms, and infectious disease.

            In 2009, Ramin and Svoboda posited the following health impacts on homeless individuals:

·       Increased morbidity and mortality during heatwaves.

·       Increased morbidity and mortality secondary to underlying respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.

·       Increased mortality from floods and storms. Increased morbidity following floods and storms including: anxiety, PTSD, infectious diseases.

·       Increased incidence of West Nile virus including meningoencephalitis.

These hypotheses would prove to be true. The American Journal of Public Health identified that visits to the emergency room were increased during heat waves with more extreme temperatures, and that homeless individuals were more 1.29 times more likely to be admitted compared to their housed counterparts.

Unexpectedly, there is also an emerging link between the heating planet and extreme winter weather events. The American Association for the Advancement of Science posited in their article Linking Artic variability and change with extreme winter weather in the United States that it is a fact that Arctic warming is twice the global average, which is leading to harsher weather events. In either case, these events are increasing, and events like last winter’s cold snap in Texas had casualties – especially those that had no refuge.

Cooling Down

As with any major social issue, there is no “silver bullet” solution to address each of these all at once. The following have been proposed as possible short and long-term solutions to different components:

·       Cooling centers: Local NGOs that are geared towards aiding homeless individuals often offer pop-up cooling centers wherein their beneficiaries can find temporary relief from the oppressive heat. If you would like to become involved, you can donate your time, talent, or treasure to supporting your local NGO in these efforts.

·       Environment-forward organizations: Climate change is happening. Do your part! To learn more about how to do this, The Grantham Institute from Imperial College London has a great, easy-to-follow website here. You can also learn more about climate change through events like the UN’s yearly COP’s climate change conference. Pictured above is Homeless Entrepreneur’s Andrew Funk attending COP25 in Madrid, Spain.

·       Aid the homeless: homeless can be the result of a myriad of life’s circumstances, including systemic economic inequity. Multi-faceted problems require holistic solutions, which Homeless Entrepreneur offers.

Homeless Entrepreneur’s mission is to promote economic empowerment and poverty reduction via work and active citizenship, so people living in social exclusion can improve their quality of life. The quality of the lives of the homeless live is directly tied to those who are housed as well when it comes to climate change. Though homeless individuals bear the brunt of our heating world, what affects few today will affect many tomorrow. Click the link below to find out more about the work we do and how to get involved: