Extreme Heat is Already Here

Extreme heat is easy to dismiss as just a few uncomfortable days, until it changes how a city functions. This summer, Boston showed what that looks like. On July 2nd, the city reached 101°F, breaking the previous daily record of 98°F set in 1963. These conditions were prevalent all summer, and forced citizens to plan around it. Planning how long they will be outside, where they can find air conditioning, and how difficult it is to stay comfortable while moving around. In a city where people walk, use public transportation, and spend a lot of time outside, something as simple as walking to the closest train stop or going from one building to another can suddenly become a much bigger task. Boston is not unique in this. Heat waves are becoming more common across major U.S. cities, and any community that depends on shared infrastructure and time spent outdoors faces the same challenge.

This is what makes extreme heat a climate and social problem rather than simply a weather issue. Boston's own government recognizes that the city is experiencing higher temperatures and more frequent heat waves because of climate change. The city defines a heat wave as three or more consecutive days above 90°F. The City of Boston has also emphasized that extreme heat does not affect every person or neighborhood equally. During the summer, the city prepared cooling resources and urged residents to check on people who may be more vulnerable to extreme temperatures.

That last point is especially important. Climate change is not just about temperatures rising on a thermometer. It affects how people live, and it does not affect everyone equally. Older adults are disproportionately affected, because they do not adjust as well to sudden changes in temperature. In Louisiana, adults 65 and older accounted for 38% of heat-related deaths between 2023 and 2025, while making up only 19% of the state's population. This gap reveals that older residents face higher risk than their share of the population would suggest, so cities have to plan for them specifically.

Beyond those of an older age group, there are others disproportionately affected by extreme heat. Someone working outside, like a construction worker or mail carrier, cannot simply decide to stay inside during a heat wave. Someone without reliable air conditioning does not have the same options as someone who can easily escape into a cool building. A person who relies on public transportation may have to spend more time outside waiting for a bus or walking between stops. Extreme heat exposes problems that already exist within a city.

This is where climate action has to go beyond individual choices. Turning off the lights, using less plastic, or remembering to recycle can all be useful, but they do not solve the larger problem on their own. If cities are going to prepare for a future with more extreme heat, they need systems that are designed for that future. That can include more trees and green space, better access to cooling centers, buildings that are designed to stay cool, and infrastructure that can withstand increasingly extreme weather.

The City of Boston is already working on heat resilience, but the frequency of extreme temperatures emphasizes why this work needs to continue. Climate action should not only focus on what individuals can do during a heat wave. It should also focus on what communities, cities, businesses, and governments can change before the next one happens.

So what can we do? Individual action still matters, just in a different form than recycling. The most direct way to push for systemic change is to engage with the people who make these decisions. Attend local council meetings and public budget hearings, contact city councilors and state representatives, and ask what their plans are for tree canopy, cooling centers, and heat-resilient building standards. Residents can also look up their own city's heat plan and cooling center locations before a heat wave arrives, volunteer with local organizations that run heat outreach or check-in programs for older adults, and check on neighbors who are elderly, live alone, or lack air conditioning. Because heat deaths are largely preventable, even small acts of preparation and community care can make a difference.

Climate change can sometimes feel like a distant problem, especially when it is discussed through global temperature averages and projections for decades from now. Extreme heat brings that problem much closer. It affects where we live, how we work, how we travel, and how safe our communities are today. Boston's record temperatures should not simply be remembered as an unusually hot summer. They are a reminder that climate change is already here, and that the question is no longer whether cities need to prepare, but how quickly we are willing to act.

Individual action matters, but lasting climate progress requires collective action. If we want cities like Boston to remain livable as temperatures continue to rise, we have to look beyond surviving the next heat wave and start changing the systems that make extreme heat more dangerous in the first place.