The Bronx, a Steaming Symbol of Climate Inequality in US
The Jordan Times
By: AFP
Reinaldo Morales, a 68-year-old military veteran, went to a seniors’ community centre with air conditioning because turning it on at home is too costly.
“We live in a cement jungle,” he said.
“It’s nice that they have a cooling center like this. But the idea that we can’t even afford to cool our home is outrageous,” said Morales.
Temperatures soared as high as 35ºC this week in New York, far from the 48ºC that roasted Las Vegas.
But one image here stuck out: a swing bridge linking the Bronx and Manhattan got stuck in the half-open position for hours on Monday as the heat expanded the metal in its hydraulics. Boats pumped water to cool it off.
The Bronx endures problems with poverty, healthcare and air pollution, and some of its neighbourhoods suffered more than others in the heat because of a lack of trees to cool things off.
