Toplines and Key Facts:

• Summer 2024 will show Texas some of its highest ever recorded temperatures
• More Texans are being forced indoors due to an increase in +100​​° days
• Temperatures are negatively affecting the health of Texans

Intense Climate Crisis

Texas is facing an intense climate crisis that is placing about 40% of homes in “extreme risk” as a result of a climate related emergency. Texas is in a unique position when it comes to navigating climate change, especially when considering its rapidly growing population. As a result, climate scientists anticipate that the increasing water demand in Texas will place a greater strain on the environment in the coming years. 

Additionally, rising temperatures – caused by the burning of fossil fuels – are creating more 100-plus degree days in Texas, meaning a grim reality not only for outdoor workers, but for those that work in climate controlled environments as well. Homeowners in Texas have to ask themselves how much they want to invest in renewable resources to power their homes. The Farmer’s Almanac highlights that summer 2024 in Texas is expected to be brutal, with some of the highest recorded temperatures in history, anticipating “extreme heat and plenty of storms” in July. 

What do Climate Advocates have to say?

Luke Metzger, Executive Director of Environment Texas explains what issues an increase in temperature will pose for Texans, saying that “2023 was the hottest year ever recorded in Texas, leading more than 300 Texans to die from the extreme heat. As Texas gets even hotter, even more people may die, with one study calculating 4,500 deaths each year by 2040-2059.

Spending time outside, in our rivers and at our parks, is a big part of the Texas way of life. If we don't take immediate action to cut pollution, Texas will get hotter, deadlier, and much less pleasant to live in.”

Becky Bullard, the Communications Manager of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club highlights the myriad of health problems the climate emergency poses for Texans. She explains “As Texans, we're all trying to figure out how to survive these unprecedented weather extremes. I have a chronic illness that makes me prone to heat exhaustion so I'm bracing myself for a summer spent entirely in air conditioning, making a list of indoor activities I can do with my young children on the days that will be too dangerously hot for a simple trip to the neighborhood park. 

And like many other Texans, my grid-failure trauma from 2021's Winter Storm Uri resurfaces every time ERCOT issues an energy conservation alert. Because instead of fixing the electric grid or helping stop climate change, Texas Republican leadership continues to put the wishes of their billionaire oil and gas buddies ahead of the actual needs of our state — we are paying record high prices for energy in the hottest and coldest months while Governor Abbott's climate-change-denying donors get richer.”

Many Texans find themselves worrying about how to grapple with the long term impacts of climate change on their health and household. For their sake, Texas leadership must invest in sustainable climate practices that preserve our state’s environment for years to come.