Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz

In the article This is Inequity at the Boiling Point, writer Somini Sengupta makes several key points:

• the trapped atmospheric gases which come from man’s use of oil, gas, and coal have had a negative effect on the earth’s temperatures
• the “extreme heat” is a current—at this moment—phenomenon, and crisis
• those who subsist at the lower levels of the economic and class scales suffer the most
• it is a crisis that has worldwide consequences

As evidence, the article provides links to outside sources which support the statements the writer expressed. For example, when Sengupta mentions that “heat waves are more frequent and longer lasting,” a hyperlink takes the reader to a page from the website of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes which summarizes the results of a study which assessed heatwaves around the world. Additionally on that page a link to “Increasing Trends in Regional Heatwaves,” the academic article summarized is provided.

A second hyperlink will take the reader to a page on the National Bureau of Economic Research’s website where he/she/they can download a study called “Valuing the Global Mortality Consequences of Climate Change Accounting for Adaptation Costs and Benefits.” On page 2 of this article, the authors state that “that poor countries are projected to disproportionately experience these impacts through deaths, while wealthy countries experience impacts largely through costly adaptation investments.” Human life appears to be less valuable in the less wealthier countries, but there is not and cannot be a price tag

If the reader was to follow the hyperlinks and read the material, they would find researched information that provides the basis for what Sengupta states.

Another piece of evidence is a visual which illustrates how many days of extreme heat certain countries and continents shown might expect for the years 2020 to 2039. The graphic is taken from the Climate Impact Lab, which states on its website that they are “measuring the real world costs of climate change.”

This visual enhances the writer’s storyline by showing how many days above 95 degrees parts the world are experiencing yearly, and in what countries those days are being experienced, now and in the future. The reader can see it with his/her/their own eyes.

This evidence establishes a foundation for Sengupta’s argument that extreme temperatures do not affect all equally.

The research articles and the graph are logical pieces of support. Sengupta’s use of this researched material establishes credibility. However, good arguments appeal to audiences using not only logos (logic) and ethos (ethics) but pathos (feelings) as well. To have the reader feel the impact of high global temperatures, Sengupta shares the stories of people living in six different places across the globe and shows how their social and/or economic status as well as age or immigration status exacerbates the situation of living in extreme temperatures.

The visuals that accompany the personal stories either reinforce the argument by showing the measures individuals go to in order to deal with the heat or illustrate the fragile economic state of their lives.

In several of the personal stories, Sengupta also links data and studies relevant to the location of the individual; again, providing researched information to support the argument.

Questions raised by this article include:

What are governments doing, singularly or in union, to combat climate change?

The title states that extreme temperatures and inequity have reached a boiling point. But has the world reached the tipping point? Can we stop this? Is there still time to combat climate change in such a way that damage is reversed, slowed down considerably, or are we too far along?

Why do the poor have children they cannot afford? In terms of economics, not eugenics, why are children laboring to help support a family?

There is money. Why do governments allow the vulnerable to suffer? Why do churches? Are the lives of the elderly not worth the cost of being able to access air conditioning or fans?

There is no other side to the argument that the poor and those lowest in a caste system suffer the most in catastrophic situations. They do not have the resources. Prejudice and pomposity keep many from helping those most in need. Perhaps those in power care, but it seems, that they are doing so little as they sit in their air-conditioned offices while the less fortunate burn up around them.