Rogue Columnist Jon Talton: JULY 24, 2023 BROILING POINT

 

  JULY 24, 2023 Broiling point

Phoenix doesn't lack for national news coverage this month, but the headlines aren't likely to please the local-yokel boosters.

• From the New York Times: "In Phoenix, Heat Becomes a Brutal Test of Endurance." "Phoenix Breaks Heat Record Set in 1974." And, "In Phoenix, Firefighters Battle an Invisible Inferno."
• From the Washington Post: "Phoenix will be the first major U.S. city to average 100-plus degrees all month," "Phoenix hits record for 19th day of 110-plus degrees — with more to come," and "A Phoenix power outage amid a heat wave could possibly kill thousands, study says."

The only comfort I can take is that the newspapers used Phoenix in their headlines, not "the Valley." (Which Valley? Silicon Valley? The San Fernando Valley?" "San Joaquin Valley?" "Red River Valley — of the north or of the south?" "Valley of the Jolly — Ho Ho Ho — Green Giant?).

• I spent a month in my hometown in June and it was plenty hot and getting hotter. 
• The day we flew out of Sky Harbor it was 111 degrees. 
• But that was only the overture to this hellish July.
•  I could say I told you so, but what would be the point?
•  I've been doing Phoenix for 15 years and little has changed for the better . . .

. . .Now local warming faces the specter of human-caused climate change, which is happening faster and more severely than climate scientists had feared.

"We’re seeing temperatures exceed those that can support life,” Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told the Washington Post.

 “Certain places are becoming uninhabitable."

No wonder people on Quora keep asking this question about Phoenix.

Regular readers know my "solution": 

Stop sprawl. 

Return to the footprint of the Salt River Project. 

Plant shade trees and, in the old city, keep grass, oleander hedges, and other cooling landscaping. 

It will be a less populous, denser, high-quality city. 
And it will never happen. . ."

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