by WASHINGTON (AP) – During the summer, Levena Lindahl closes off entire rooms, covers windows with blackout curtains and budgets to manage the monthly cost of electricity for air conditioning. But even then, the heat finds its way in.
“Going upstairs, it’s like walking into soup. It’s so hot,” Lindahl said. “If I walk past my attic upstairs, you can feel the heat coming through a closed door.”
Lindahl, 37, who lives in North Carolina, said her monthly electricity bills in the summer used to be about $100 a year ago, but have since doubled. She blames climate change on a gradual warming trend.
About 7 in 10 Americans say that over the past year, extreme heat has affected their electricity bills to some extent, and most have seen at least a small impact on their outdoor activities, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC. Center for Public Affairs Research.
As thousands of Americans navigate another summer of historic heat waves, the survey results show how extreme heat is changing people’s lives in ways big and small. The poll found that about 7 in 10 Americans have been personally affected by extreme hot weather or heat waves in the past five years. Extreme heat is therefore a more common experience than other weather events or natural disasters such as wildfires, extreme droughts and hurricanes, which up to a third of US adults say have been personally affected.
Substantial shares of Americans – about 4 in 10 – report that extreme heat has had at least a small impact on their sleep, pets or exercise routine.
Jim Graham, 54, lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and worries about the safety of his dog’s paws when he walks outside, especially when it gets over 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). To protect their feet, they go out for walks at 5:30 a.m. “It seems to be warmer than usual this year,” Graham said. His single-level home has central air conditioning and even with the thermostat set to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) he runs over $350 a month in electricity bills, a big jump from what he paid about a decade ago since then.
He’s not the only one watching the rising dollar: About 4 in 10 Americans say they had unexpectedly expensive utility bills in the past year due to storms, floods, heat or wildfires, including nearly half of the homeowners.
Like Lindahl, many see a link to climate change. About 7 in 10 US adults who have experienced some type of severe weather or weather disaster in the past five years say they believe climate change was a contributing factor. Three out of ten think that climate change was not the cause.
Last year the Earth was 2.66 degrees Fahrenheit (1.48 degrees Celsius) warmer than it was before pre-industrial times, according to the European climate agency Copernicus. Some people may consider that increase as insignificant, but temperature is changing unevenly around the world and it can be dangerous for human health. Several regions of the United States set all-time temperature records this summer, and Las Vegas reached a scorching 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius) on July 7.
According to the poll, about 1 in 10 Americans say extreme heat has had a big impact on their sleep in the past year, while about 3 in 10 say it has had a little impact and 55% say it has had no impact. Hispanic Americans are more likely than white Americans to report that their sleep is affected, and lower-income Americans are more likely than higher-income Americans to report that their sleep is affected.
The effects of extreme heat are more widely reported in the West and South. About half of people living in the West say their sleep is at least slightly affected by extreme heat, while about 4 in 10 people living in the South say their sleep has been affected, compared to about 3 out of 10 people live there. the Midwest and the Northeast. People living in the West and North East are also more likely to say their exercise routines are affected.
Other aspects of daily life – such as jobs and commutes, the timing of events such as weddings and reunions, and travel and vacation plans – have been less affected, but their impact is felt disproportionately among specific groups of Americans. About one-quarter of Americans say extreme heat has affected their travel or vacation plans, and Hispanic and Black Americans are more likely to say so than white Americans.
Some people find it harder to even enjoy time outside. The poll found that about 6 in 10 Americans say extreme heat has affected their or their family’s outdoor activities.
In general, people who do not believe that climate change is happening are less likely to report being affected by various aspects of extreme heat compared to people who believe. For example, about 8 in 10 Americans who believe climate change is happening say extreme heat has had at least a small impact on their electricity bills, compared to half of Americans who are not sure climate change is happening or don’t think it’s happening. happening.
Mario Cianchetti, 70, is a retired engineer who now lives in Sedona, Arizona. His home has solar panels and a heat pump, which he installed because he was interested in lowering his electricity bills to save money. “When you retire, you’re on a fixed income only. I didn’t want to have to deal with rising energy costs,” said Cianchetti, who identified himself as a political independent.
Cianchetti noted that temperatures feel unusually hot but said installing sustainable technologies in his home is a financial matter. “It’s not that I don’t believe in climate change, yes I do believe we’re going into a warm cycle here, but I don’t believe it’s man made.”
Regarding general views on climate change, 70% of US adults say climate change is happening. About 6 in 10 of those who believe climate change is happening say it is entirely or mostly caused by human activities, while another 3 in 10 say it is caused equally by human activities and natural changes in the environment and believe 12% that it is mainly due to natural causes. environmental change. Nine in 10 Democrats, 7 in 10 independents and about half of Republicans say climate change is happening.
Those numbers are essentially unchanged from when the question was last asked in April and have held steady in recent years, although about half of Americans say they have become more concerned about climate change in a year down
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The poll of 1,143 adults was conducted July 25-29, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the US population. The margin of sampling error for each respondent is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
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O’Malley reported from Philadelphia.
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