I often joke that I have the luck of an Englishman, usually right before some unforeseen disaster occurs.
But as the mercury skyrocketed this week, I turned out to be one of the lucky ones. Deep in the archaeological excavation pit of the Inuvik Drum’s storage closet, I found an ancient air conditioner and jury-rigged it to my screen window with more packing tape than I would care to admit. How ancient? The only temperature it gives is in Fahrenheit — an archaic form of measurement abandoned across the civilized world.
It took a few days and likely a ton of greenhouse gas emissions to do it, but I managed to overpower my building’s heat-trapping insulation and bring my home-office down to a comfy 23 C.
My privilege in this regard appears to be fairly unique. With the exception of major capital projects and modernized houses, Inuvik seems wholly unprepared for big heat waves such as the one we just went through.
In fairness, the community planners who designed the town in the first place were far more concerned with Cold Wars than hot climates, and the subsequent construction blitzes of the fleeting oil booms did not take global warming into account either. Everything here is designed for -40 C, not temperatures above 30 C.
Regardless, that’s the reality we’re now dealing with. Recent research suggests parts of the Arctic are warming not just three times faster than the global average, but up to seven times faster. Climate scientists will quickly point out the weather event that was this heat wave was only exacerbated by climate change, not caused by it. But with summers trending warmer almost every year, we would be foolish to not expect more and hotter heat waves in the future.
With such a skewed distribution of air conditioning — or even fans — across the town, the lack of a means to cool off could eventually become a humanitarian disaster. This is particularly true for the town’s unhoused people, who effectively have to choose between trying to sleep in a sauna-like shelter or spend their nights under the uncomfortably warm midnight sun. People here are having a rough time with 30 C highs. If the mercury pushes to 40 C, there’s a good chance someone could die.
Fortunately, this is one of those problems we can see coming and can prepare for accordingly. Cooling systems can be built into new developments and buildings can be constructed in ways to both preserve heat in the winter while avoiding it in the summer. The region’s high solar power capacity could be put to use to run air conditioning systems. Retrofitting older buildings may also be an option, though likely far more expensive.
Another priority the town should put front and centre is a splash park for those unable to get inside to escape the heat. Even something as simple as an outdoor fountain where someone can push a button and get a good soaking could be enough to stave off heatstroke in the middle of the bright Northern night.
Concerns about people freezing to death in the winter aren’t going away, but issues of people dying of heatstroke in the summer may very well join them in the near future. We need to prepare now.