Tuesday, July 19, 2011

For some, going to the library to cool off is not an option


Heat wave hardest on nation's poorest communities. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/18/2011)

Excerpt:   Norma Salazar, who shares a tiny trailer home with her husband and six children in Horizon City, on the outskirts of El Paso, has to rely on an evaporative cooler, a cheap alternative to air conditioning that sucks the hot, dry desert air through a mesh of water-soaked fibers.

But it only cools half of the trailer, and when the heat climbs above 100, not even that.

"When it gets really hot, we turn on the fans and stay inside," Salazar says. Going to a library or a mall to keep cool is not an option, she says. "The car doesn't have air conditioning so, getting there is even worse than just staying inside, not moving
."

Looks to be at least a 5-mile drive to the closest library.

No comments:

Post a Comment