10.5 The Social Construction of the Climate Crisis
LO 10.5: Apply the social construction of reality approach to the climate crisis.
The 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave affected the northwestern United States and western Canada, with North America experiencing temperatures up to 40° F above normal (Kramer, 2024). The heat wave resulted in nearly a thousand heat-related deaths: 685 in Canada (British Columbia Government News, 2022; Gilligan, 2022); and 242 in the United States (Casey et al., 2023; Oregon Office of Emergency Management, 2021). Wildlife was also affected. One study showed that at least 70% of mussels (which improve water quality) died (White et al., 2023). Further, approximately 651,000 farm animals died in British Columbia (Ryan, 2021). The heat wave increased wildfire activity, decreased crop yields, and increased snow and ice melt (leading to flooding and landslides) (White et al., 2023). Overall, “[e]xtreme heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States” (Howe et al., 2019, p. 6,743). Heat-related deaths have increased in the United States by 117% between 1999 and 2023, when 2,325 died of heat-related causes (Howard et al., 2024).
Journalistic accounts of heat waves communicate how readers and viewers should understand and interpret heat waves. On June 28, 2021, the Associated Press images of the Pacific Northwest heat wave showed pictures of people playing in water fountains and jumping into a lake to cool off (Grygiel, 2021), like Photo 10.16. These photojournalist accounts portrayed extreme heat as an opportunity to play in the water, suggesting that cooling off is within the individual’s control. In other words, heat waves can be fun, and it is up to individuals to cope.
Photo 10.16
A Child Playing in a Public Fountain
The next day, the photos still highlighted the heat wave as manageable by cooling off in the water with a photo of beachgoers and people wading in water (Associated Press, 2021). Despite positive images, the headline for day two’s coverage was more somber: “Sweltering heat wave linked to sudden deaths in Vancouver.” One image for this article included people in an irrigation canal with rocky shores, like Photo 10.17. The photo, however, suggested something is deeply amiss, as the waterway did not appear to be a body of water people typically enter. As more people are drawn to the water during heat waves, drowning also increases. At least six people drowned during the heat wave (Barreda, 2021; Campuzano, 2021; Zoellner, 2021).
Photo 10.17
People Usually Do Not Cool Off In The Water of Irrigation Canals With Rocky Shores
On June 30, or day three, the images suggested danger and a more alarming headline: “Hundreds of deaths could be linked to Northwest heat wave” (Selsky & Morris, 2021). The first image showed two firefighters offering water to a man lying on the ground in distress from the heat. However, the remaining images published in this story include more images of hot-weather fun, interspersed with images showing that something is awry. The media had begun constructing the heat wave as something beyond the individual’s control, which may require emergency workers’ aid. Cooling off is no longer presented as a private trouble but as a public issue.