Phoenix area librarian's shoes melted to the sidewalk during crosswalk duty

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Originally published at: Phoenix area librarian's shoes melted to the sidewalk during crosswalk duty | Boing Boing

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I wish this were our new normal, but so long as carbon dioxide emissions remain high, it’s just a step on the way there.

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… except when the next thing to melt is one’s feet

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Where this is not possible because of water accessibility or infrastructure reasons, construct shade structures instead

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Here in Australia, we’re all reminded each summer to “touch-test” the walking surface before walking our dogs.

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Some future generation will see old photos/movies of people putting pies out on the windowsill and feel right at home because that’s how they bake things too

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IMG_3159

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Melting your shoes is bad, but imagine what happens to your skin if you, say, fall down or even pass out on that surface. I was reading that something like 85 people had suffered serious burns (1st, 2nd, even 3rd degree) from contact with pavement in Arizona (which is getting up to 185 degrees), and seven of them died.

Something like 50 times more people are now dying of heat every year in that state, compared to the worst year in the '90s (which itself was anomalous). It’s the result of a simultaneous rise in both temperatures and the number of unhoused people in that state.

Although in Arizona, if you try that, you’ll need a skin graft on your hands. Seriously. People are requiring skin grafts for touching the ground with exposed skin…

Old cartoons where they joke about frying an egg on the sidewalk, only now it’s not actually a joke.

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I wonder if Phoenix will be the first city humanity has to abandon as a direct result of climate change (as opposed to rising sea levels or extra-strong hurricanes caused by climate change). It was barely habitable even decades ago- what happens when a broken air conditioner or your car running out of gas becomes a death sentence within minutes?

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Or grid-down, rotating blackouts, or load-shedding based on profit rather than who’s going to die without power.

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Wear shoes with leather soles?

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Or asbestos?

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I don’t know how feasible it is - but I had this idea for places like the desert in the US or in the Middle East cities:

These umbrella like trees. When extended, the have flat carbon fiber or polymer tubes that splay out to form a faux canopy for shade. The poles could have community wifi transmitters as well as lights UNDER the canopy so that the lights aim at the ground, not up. They could fold flat against the pole for for windstorms and other bad weather events. It would passively cool down the surrounding environment some, cooling down the city some. I mean, it would be very minor, but for people, having some shade would be nice, right?

Anyway - that’s my back of the envelope idea, I don’t have the skillset or money to do anything with it.

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ceramic ! be careful about the glue , though - - -

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It’ll never get warm enough to bake bread, but you could already cook eggs on the pavement - it only requires 160 degrees F, and dark colored surfaces in this kind of weather could get up to 200 degrees…

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