You’re standing outside your office building on a sweltering summer day when someone passes you a little too closely. It’s not a big deal but, sweating and uncomfortable, you suddenly feel like screaming “Watch where you’re going, #%*!” But they’re already down the block, so you stand there steaming, literally and figuratively. How unlike you!Yes, well, what you’re like—what we’re all like—may be shifting because of climate change.
Since this scenario is more frequent in poorer communities with more Black and brown students, Park estimates that hot temperatures may account for some 5% of the country’s racial achievement gap. Increased ground-level air pollution, including that from carbon dioxide, also affects our ability to reason and take careful risks.