[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 113 (Thursday, August 1, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H5269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Ellison) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk today about important issues 
involving climate change going on all over America, all over this 
world. But specifically today, I want to talk about our urban 
communities. Global warming is expected to increase the frequency and 
intensity of natural disasters, like wildfires in the West and 
hurricanes like Sandy on the east coast, and record drought conditions 
that continue for another year across the Midwest.
  But in urban areas, cities like D.C., or my hometown of Minneapolis, 
we have something known as an urban heat island. Urban heat islands are 
a serious problem because urban areas tend to have temperatures 5-20 
degrees warmer than rural areas, which is known as heat island effect. 
Heat islands are caused by a lack of natural vegetation, dark colored, 
impervious roads and concrete, and exhaust from vehicles and industry. 
As global temperatures increase, urban areas are warming at double the 
rate of the average global temperature, so this is a real serious 
issue.
  Heat islands drive people to increase their use of air conditioning, 
which of course has a vicious effect in terms of just increasing an 
already serious problem. In turn, increasing the air conditioning 
drives up energy costs and increases power plant emissions, which 
contributes to the heat island in the first place.
  These emissions not only contribute to global warming, they impact 
human health, increase emissions of carbon monoxide, mercury, and 
particulate matter, which leads to increased risks of heart attacks, 
strokes, and asthma. Particulate matter is very fine pieces that are 
emitted from coal plants. They go up into the air and come down, and we 
breathe that stuff in.
  The effect of extreme heat in urban areas disproportionately affects 
some Americans as opposed to others. It affects anyone who lives in an 
urban area. But given the populations of urban areas, it affects 
certain communities more, including communities of color, low-income 
communities, and the elderly.
  This housing segregation that we have in our country in which you 
have this disproportionate number of some populations in urban areas, 
concentrates racial ethnic minorities in dense environments, and that's 
why we see African Americans experiencing some of these heat-related 
hazards that have to do with everything from asthma and other sorts of 
issues like that. The low-income, minority, and elderly are less able 
to adapt and recover from these extreme climate events and are the 
communities most at risk from heat island effects and heat waves.
  These communities are already plagued by higher pollution than 
wealthy, white communities. Coal plants, bus depots, and trash 
incinerators are disproportionately located in these areas that I speak 
of, and the heat island effect makes it worse.
  The high cost of air conditioning, the inability to move into special 
heat wave shelters increases risk. Urban minorities often have more 
underlying health issues, such as higher rates of asthma, as I 
mentioned before, which also creates susceptibility to increased 
pollutants in these heat islands.
  In 1995, a Chicago heat wave killed more than 700 people over 5 days, 
mostly elderly people who couldn't escape. The European heat wave in 
2003 killed 30,000 people, although some estimates put that number as 
high as 70,000. Socioeconomic disparities will worsen through the 
health and economic effects of climate change.
  As global temperatures continue to rise, heat waves in urban areas 
are increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity; and the effect on 
my community of Minneapolis, and urban areas all over this country, 
will be devastating. This is a serious issue that we need to focus on. 
We need to do something about it. The time is now.
  I want to thank the Safe Climate Caucus for organizing Members to 
discuss this issue for the public today so we can all come to a greater 
level of awareness about the true dangers of ignoring global climate 
change.

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