Adapting to Heat: A Texan’s Guide for Oregonians

In Texas, our summers were always hot. But not this hot. It was 81° the day I left Austin for Portland in late February of this year – what would have been a normal summer day, but in the midst of winter. Just a few months later, record breaking heat waves have already scorched parts of Oregon, Texas, and the nation. McCaffrey and Eagle Point, OR, are battling wildfires. Last weekend, more than 39 million Americans were under an Excessive Heat Warning. Many homes in western Oregon weren’t built with centralized cooling and efficient heat pumps, and weatherization retrofits are urgently needed. The fossil-fueled climate crisis has placed ...