You know the heat is bad when Alaska is issuing advisories. But while most news outlets zero in on sweltering cities and melting sidewalks, a quieter crisis is unfolding — far from the urban heat islands, in places where the nearest ER might be 30 minutes away.
In his latest story, Vox climate correspondent Umair Irfan looks past the obvious to ask: What happens to rural communities when the systems meant to keep you safe — hospitals, power grids, paychecks — just... aren’t built for this kind of heat?
This story isn’t just about rising temperatures. It’s about the large swaths of rural America that largely get overlooked when the forecast turns deadly.
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—Paige Vega, climate editor
