Photographs by Rachele Daminelli / Connected Archives and Zara Pfeifer / Connected Archives
words by miranda green
You might have noticed that this summer has felt cooler than last year.
Aside from a major July heat wave that hit much of the East Coast, temperatures have seemed milder. As I sit writing this from Washington, D.C—a city built on drained wetlands that usually feels like walking through a carwash in August—the days have been surprisingly pleasant. Along California’s coast, June and July were the coldest since the 1990s. San Francisco averaged just 64°F.
But this sense of a cooler summer is a mental trick. We are becoming desensitized to how hot it really is.
As The New York Times summarized in an Aug. 1 article featuring comments from UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain:
“For someone under the age of 30, this might be the coldest… summer in his or her lifetime, and yet it would have been more typical of a summer a century ago… That’s because the planet’s average surface temperature has risen about two degrees since the late 19th century, and most of the warming has occurred in the last 40 years.”
What many of us are experiencing is similar to the boiling frog allegory—the frog doesn’t realize the water is heating up until it’s too late.
In fact, this summer is likely to go down as the second- or third-hottest since records began in 1850. Last year was the hottest. The year before that, second-hottest. Summers are trending hotter every year, and in some places, summer is growing “longer,” permanently altering our sense of “normal.” (Even the heat out west is picking up this week).
And heat is deadly. Extreme heat kills more Americans annually than hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes combined, according to the National Weather Service. Yet the U.S. remains behind in responding to this new reality.
Until recently, America’s greatest weather risks were extreme winters. Health care professionals and government leaders have had centuries to build social safety nets and physical infrastructure to thwart the risk of cold, but not heat, Grace Wickerson, a senior manager at the Federation of American Scientists, tells me.
For example, while 40 states and Washington, D.C. have cold-weather disconnection protection policies that prevent utilities from shutting off power during winter months to residents who can’t afford to pay their bills, just 21 states and Washington, D.C. have such policies for hot weather during the summer.
And there is no nationwide policy when it comes to banning utilities from shutting off electricity to those who can’t pay their bills.
“The real challenge,” Wickerson says, “is prioritizing extreme heat and finding the political will to make changes. The attention hasn’t been matched by the resources or protections people need in their homes, schools, or workplaces.”
The lack of political will to tackle extreme heat is being exacerbated with the Trump administration’s recent cuts, both to agencies and proposed for the 2026 congressional budget. Taken together, the administration has targeted federal programs that measure heat, offer hot weather mapping tools and provide grants to those who can’t afford AC.
Among the programs halted or under threat:
● Plans to establish national workplace heat safety regulations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have been halted.
● The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, which helps state and local governments monitor hazards like extreme heat, is expected to be eliminated.
● The National Heat Strategy, crafted by 29 agencies, was taken offline.
● The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which oversaw protections for workers facing extreme heat, has been gutted.
● The staff of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program—a multi-billion-dollar federal grant that helps more than 6 million Americans afford electricity and air conditioning each year—was fired in the spring. The program itself is expected to be eliminated.
You can read a broader list compiled by the Federation of American Scientists here.
As summers grow hotter, air conditioning use is expected to increase—as will the emissions that come from them. AC is responsible for around 3% of global greenhouse gases globally, but it’s also seen by medical professionals and researchers as an essential tool for protecting people from heat stroke. A true climate conundrum.
Research shows that the most efficient air conditioners are powered by renewable energy, which could go a long way to curbing these emissions. Yet, the Trump administration is putting blockades on solar panel and wind installations and eliminating tax credits for clean energy technology, which is anticipated to curb overall electricity supply.
And, not everyone can afford to pay for AC.
Nearly a quarter of all US homes–about 34 million households–experienced energy insecurity, meaning an inability to afford their basic energy needs such as AC and heat, according to a 2020 survey. For low income Americans, the threat of being disconnected and left without cooling is even higher. Low-income households spend roughly 10% of their income on energy while nationally Americans spend 6% on energy.
And that was before energy prices started to rise.
Household electric bills are up 10% nationally since Trump took office and overall, Americans’ electric bills are expected to increase 6.2% from last year. Adjusted for inflation, that’s a 4.3% jump.
“Energy bills are going up,” says Mark Wolfe, an energy economist and executive director at the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. “If low-income people are struggling, middle-class people are also struggling.”
Some blame the administration’s push for expanded liquefied natural gas exports. Others point to skyrocketing energy demand from AI, crypto mining, and data centers.
Utilities, meanwhile, are requesting record rate hikes. Earlier this month, Florida Power & Light, the nation’s largest utility, proposed a nearly $10 billion increase over four years, which could raise bills 22% over the next two years. Con Edison in New York sought a $2 billion hike in February. While New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed back against the request, she has no say and the Public Service Commission is still reviewing the request. If passed, the increase is estimated to raise average residential electric bills by 11.4%.
Wolfe warns of a vicious cycle: “Utilities are asking for these massive rate increases, so the price is going to go up, and then temperatures are going to keep going up, and so you’re going to need more of it. And I think this is a climate change issue specifically because cooling is electric.”
Researchers I spoke with warn that without federal leadership, extreme heat will be addressed in a patchwork way: Democratic-led states with stronger safety nets may take action, while residents in Republican-led states risk suffering.
But several places across the political spectrum are showing leadership.
● States: California, Arizona, New Jersey, and New York have heat action plans. Phoenix and New York City now track heat-related deaths annually, data that is often undercounted.
● Cities: In 2024, New Orleans required landlords to keep bedroom temperatures below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Chicago launched a real-time disconnection dashboard and regulators approved a new program that would offer discounted electricity rates to financially struggling utility customers in central and southern Illinois.
● Congress: Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced a bipartisan bill in June to protect LIHEAP and has 31 cosponsors.
● Global: The World Health Organization released guidance for protecting outdoor workers from extreme heat, while Johan Stander of the World Meteorological Organization told Politico that after last year’s record-breaking heat, extreme heat is now “a case of adapt or die.”
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It’s Going to Be Harder to Afford Hot Summers
