Be careful wishing for more sizzling summers. For Vancouver’s poor and unemployed, soaring temperatures that come with climate change could be deadly. A new study suggests that more economically vulnerable neighbourhoods in Metro Vancouver have the highest death rates during extreme heat waves.
And according to B.C. Centre for Disease Control scientist Sarah Henderson, who co-authored the study in Environmental Health Perspectives journal, the findings could help protect people from more frequent extreme heat — such as by planting more trees in heat-absorbing highly paved areas, and educating residents about drinking more water during heat waves.
“Heat is a silent killer,” explained Henderson, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health, in a phone interview. “You don’t see it, but from a public health perspective it has a really big impact.”
David P. Ball – Metro Vancouver – June 29, 2016.
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