A man rests at the Dula Community Center Monday, July 12, 2021. The community center was turned into a cooling center for people trying to get out of the record-breaking heat.
Saturday, April 9, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Editor’s note: We interviewed experts, policy makers and community organizers about how climate change is impacting the mental and physical health of residents. These conversations will be presented in “Heating Up,” a podcast with the Sun’s Arleigh Rodgers. At the end of the series, the interviews will be presented in story form. Enjoy.
Last summer, fires from California bled into Northern Nevada. The intense burning was initially sparked by humans and spurred on by that summer’s intensely dry conditions and high temperatures.
Meanwhile, residents in Southern Nevada were dealing with the increasingly common scorching mornings turned blazing afternoons — and evenings that didn’t quite cool down. Air quality advisories for smoke and ozone were issued frequently from the Clark County Department of Environment and Sustainability that summer.
The department this year issued a blanket smoke advisory from April 1-Sept. 30 — a first for the department.
These events are linked by climate change, a long-established threat to our physical health. But the alarm and stress of a hotter, drier future, one we may not leave habitable for generations hereafter, also takes a toll.
The American Psychiatric Association reports that “climate change and related disasters cause anxiety-related responses, as well as chronic and severe mental health disorders.”
In our first episode, Rodgers speaks with Louis Lacey, director of crisis teams at HELP of Southern Nevada, and Albert Nelson, a formerly homeless man who through HELP of Southern Nevada now lives in a permanent residence.
Take a listen:
Las Vegas Sun
Heating Up: Climate change and mental health in Las Vegas
The extreme heat in Las Vegas is taking a toll on region's homeless population. And that toll is more than physical. The Sun's Arleigh Rodgers discusses that and more with representatives of HELP of Southern Nevada, a homeless outreach organization.
